Fewer Americans are satisfied with the freedom to choose what they do with their lives compared with seven years ago — dropping 12 percentage points from 91% in 2006 to 79% in 2013. In that same period, the percentage of Americans dissatisfied with the freedom to choose what they do […] Read more »
Eric Cantor’s primary loss and Wall Street reform
Pundits have blamed Eric Cantor’s shocking upset in the Virginia 7th District Republican primary on many things, from immigration, to the broader alienation of “establishment” Republicans from their activist, Tea Party base, to Cantor’s poor performance minding his own district. But challenger David Brat put the coddling of big banks […] Read more »
Voters give California lawmakers higher marks despite scandals
California voters gave the state Legislature its highest marks in years despite a recent spate of political scandals that could put three Democratic lawmakers behind bars, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. CONT. Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times Read more »
Jobs, Government, and Economy Remain Top U.S. Problems
Twenty percent of Americans name unemployment or jobs as the most important problem facing the country in May, up from 14% who mentioned these issues in April. Dysfunctional government (19%) and the economy in general (17%) also rank among the top problems. CONT. Rebecca Riffkin, Gallup Read more »
A State Sized Just Right to Contain Its Pride
… Poor Little Rhody. Not only is it the smallest state, it is often a punch line. And in many state rankings, it comes out on top for the wrong things, like having the nation’s highest rate of unemployment. Now comes yet another blow to the state’s fragile self-esteem. A […] Read more »
The High Cost of Free Speech
After the so called Sheldon primary, when four potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination went to Las Vegas to court the casino owner Sheldon Adelson, it took a heavy dose of audacity on the part of Chief Justice John Roberts to claim on April 2 that “ingratiation and access […] Read more »