Outside the Beltway

Public perception is not aligned with the top level data.

All states but one receive more in federal money than they pay out in taxes.

Most high-income Congressional Districts are Democratic and low-income Districts are Republican.

UPenn law professor Amy Wax as a test case.

The average American is neither progressive nor all that interested in politics.

The Democrats are apparently selling their omnibus spending package the wrong way.

The long demographic trend continues.

There’s nothing to see here, folks.

One side is arguing over rules while the other is focused on consequences.

The 2020 debate on Twitter does not represent ordinary Americans. Does that matter?

Social media has altered the way writers and readers interact in odd ways.

Damon Linker writes, “Millions of people disagree with your political views. That doesn’t make them moral monsters.”

A new national poll suggests that the newly aggressive tone from Senators Rubio and Cruz has done nothing to stop Donald Trump’s momentum.

When did “politics” become a dirty word?

The unequal distribution of social capital may be more important than the unequal distribution of income.

Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century is making quite a splash.

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

What if the jobless recovery is but the beginning of a trend?

A generation of kids with massive student loans and no prospects is bad news for the status quo.

The main who coined the word “meritocracy” meant it as a pejorative term.

The Happy HoHoHolidays Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

The “makers vs takers,” “the 99 percent vs. the 1 percent,” and “53 percent vs. 47 percent” memes are getting tiresome.

A five year old “shocking” video of President Obama speaking to a group of African-American ministers proves to be not very shocking at all.

Republicans think they found the smoking gun of the 2012 election. They’re kidding themselves.

The Bush tax cuts were much more progressive than you probably think.

One part of the Supreme Court’s PPACA ruling has not received a lot of attention, but it has the potential to have a lot of impact in the future.

“Can Domestic Policy Affect Income Distribution?” Why, yes, yes it can.

The NYT has an interesting piece on the ongoing limted v. big governemnt debate.

Well, maybe not so brief…

Increasing taxes on the rich may be a fiscal policy worth talking about, but it won’t make the poor richer.

Does “Occupy Wall Street” really represent the people they claim to be speaking for?

The Occupy Wall Street movement faces obstacles its Tea Party counterpart didn’t.

With the advantage of hindsight, it’s clear that more creative strategies were needed. But they probably couldn’t have been passed.

Although he didn’t get the words quite right yesterday, Mitt Romney was exactly right about corporations.

Some thoughts on the riots (especially some US partisan responses to it).

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

There really isn’t a lot of redistribution happening in the United States.

Wondering why CATO doesn’t rail against big business is like demanding to know why NARAL doesn’t spend more time advocating for the plight of stray cats or why PETA doesn’t seem to care about the homeless.

The Festivus For The Rest Of Us Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

Is it possible to govern and not engage in some amount of redistribution?

The Bags Fly Free Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

The American copyright system is broken. Cory Doctorow offers some useful suggestions for fixing it.

Okahoma’s James Inhofe has a message for the Tea Party movement — don’t be fooled by the “War On Earmarks.”

Unless eliminating earmarks coincides with a radical reconception of how our government operates, it may be a step in the wrong direction.

If you believe that the United States is built on Judeo-Christian principles, why would you oppose the redistribution of wealth?

While Matt Yglesias is right that talk about “Realignment” after a single election is ridiculous, there have indeed been realigning elections in U.S. history.

American Conservatism has changed significantly since the days of William F. Buckley Jr. One former National Review editor says that it’s changed for the worse.