In its current form, the US Senate delaying tactic called the “filibuster” hangs on a rule requiring 60 votes for “cloture.” Simply put, it takes 51 Senators to pass a bill, but before that it takes the consent of 60 Senators to end debate and actually get to a final majority vote.
Tag: government
Worrying About The Wrong Things
My parents seem to worry a lot about “illegal immigrants“, just as FOX News tells them they should. They manage to bring this up in conversations that seem (to me) to have nothing to do with the topic.
How Three Women Sought to Sway Americans Away From Socialism
In 1943, as collectivist policies were ascendant, an extraordinary thing happened. Three women published three books that year that would jolt Americans from their socialist stupor and remind them of the fundamental American values of individual liberty, limited government, free-market capitalism, and entrepreneurship. This Women’s History Month is an ideal time to reflect on how Rose Wilder Lane, Isabel Paterson, and Ayn Rand helped to catalyze the 20th century libertarian movement.
What’s Wrong with the Welfare State
What is wrong with the welfare state? The two biggest flaws stem from its nature as a government institution.
Reefer Madness: Biden White House Director’s Cut
The war on marijuana may not be over, but marijuana is clearly going to win it. The only question is how many more victims Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will have abducted and put in cages (or killed) before America recovers from its chronic case of reefer madness.
“Censor”: When a Word Means Everything, it Means Nothing
Lately, the trending “creep people out to get them on my side” word of choice is “censor” or “censorship.” Most of us support free speech. None of us want to be censored ourselves, and most of us don’t want others censored either. But what do those words mean?
Daylight Saving Time Kills
According to a 2016 study by University of Miami economics professor Austin Smith, “springing forward” results in an average of 30 excess auto accident deaths, at a “social cost” of $275 million, each year. So, why do we do it? Well, because the government says we should.
U(nspeakably) S(adistic) Foreign Policy
If you had set out to construct a foreign policy designed to impose indescribable suffering on millions of innocent people around the world, you’d have a tough time coming up with anything more systematic and effective than U.S. foreign policy.
The Government Has Botched the Vaccine Rollout at Every Step
The vaccine rollout crawls forward. Most of us will spend weeks, or months, waiting. Great Britain did better. As of today, one-third of the English are already vaccinated, twice as many as in America. Why?
Mask Mandates: Pope Joe versus “The Science”
“Look, I hope everybody’s realized by now, these masks make a difference,” said President Joe Biden in response to the lifting of mask mandates in Texas and Mississippi. “[T]he last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that [as vaccines roll out], everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters.” Biden’s statement abandons “the science” in at least two ways.