Outside the Beltway

President Obama doesn’t seem to have any idea what he wants to do in Iraq.

Tea Party backed candidates may have lost most of the GOP primary battles, but they’ve won the war for control of the Republican agenda.

There is simply no evidence of the kind of in-person voter impersonation that Voter ID Laws were designed to prevent.

Our laws and social norms have not caught up to modern life.

Todd Akin continues to give Republicans headaches.

A lot of Republicans dislike the President enough to think that he should be removed from office, but will that make impeachment more likely to happen?

It appears that the GOP still has a problem communicating with women.

Much of the criticism of Hobby Lobby, and Citizens United before it, is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what those decisions stand for.

There are legitimate issues regarding Presidential overreach and separation of powers that President Obama’s actions while in office have raised. But none of that will be discussed in our hyperpartisan political culture.

Modern devices are more fragile, frustrating, and resource intensive than those of a decade ago.

Americans disapprove of how the President is handling Iraq, but they don’t like what his critics are proposing either.

Discussions about immigration policy are, unfortunately, very much like Groundhog Day.

Coming across as uncaring doesn’t help advance your political arguments.

Only two 2013 college football games attracted more viewers that Tuesday’s World Cup match vs. Belgium.

Is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act itself an unconstitutional Establishment of Religion barred by the First Amendment? There’s a compelling argument that it is.

There’s been far too much hysteria and hyperbole when it comes to ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws.

My latest for The National Interest, “Neoconservatives, the Iraq Debate and Ad Hominem Attacks,” has posted.

Parties do not own voters, and the job of campaigns is to attract voters.

The evidence is clear. When it comes to the ability to handle foreign crises, the President has lost the public’s confidence.

It is now illegal to teach creationism as science in the United Kingdom in any school, public or private, that receives public funding.

The US Government has deemed the nickname of the capital’s NFL club racially offensive.

Iraq is falling apart for reasons that have nothing to do with President Obama or his policies.

How the richest man in the world quickly changed the education curriculum in 45 states.

When everything’s an outrage, is anything outrageous?

Good intentions and good results aside, the President’s disrespect for the Rule Of Law should concern everyone.

Not every soldier is a hero. Not even every POW.

Good intentions aren’t an excuse for failure to follow the law.

Politics.

It’s no wonder that our politics system is a mess when you realize that people don’t trust each other much anymore.

In her upcoming book, Hillary Clinton strikes a defiant tone against conservative’s continued interest in the Benghazi attack.

The very idea of a “war on religion” in the United States is absurd.

The latest chapter in an all too familiar story.

Not much science from the Congressional Committees devoted to science.

People are still going to jail for being unable to pay their fines. And often billed for the priviledge.

James Oliphant asks, “Why Hasn’t the GOP Treated Fort Hood Like Benghazi?”

Shutting down rational debate one meme at a time.

Is the GOP headed down a road that leads to yet another doomed impeachment and trial?

The Supreme Court has again ruled that prayers that open legislative sessions are not unconstitutional.

It might not be pretty.

An ongoing set of considerations on the relationship between liberty and government.

The Affirmative Action debate is too divisive and largely misses the point.

Does it really matter why Fraizer Glenn Miller murdered three people in Kansas?

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s choices in home decor raise an interesting question.

Our tax system is so complicated that whether we’re filing our returns correctly is a known unknown.

The Second Amendment isn’t broken, and you don’t fix things that aren’t broken.

A pattern continues.

Benjamin Wallace-Wells wonders with some irritation “Why Henry Kissinger Never Goes Away.”

Hobby Lobby has a strong argument under RFRA but the precedent would be dangerous.

It’s simple: We just have to define the problem and then solve it.

Politics, media, and the attention span of the average American haven’t really changed as much as we think.