David Frum argues that a “A Romney-Santorum contest is not much of a contest at all.” He’s probably right about this. Romney beats Santorum hands down in resources, organization, discipline, and support from GOP elites. But there’s one wild-card that could make things interesting: Santorum may somehow learn to master the art of   more

University of Iowa professor Stephen Bloom has gotten a lot of well-deserved criticism for an error-ridden piece in The Atlantic that’s sets new records for academic elitism, distain, and distate for just about everything about his adopted state. Much as I abhor Bloom’s style–it represents just about everything that drove me away from my parents’   more

As 2011 comes to a close, FrumForum plans to re-run some of our best featured pieces from the year. Here is Eli Lehrer’s observation on the GOP leadership.
I’m not the first to make this comment, but the current debt limit debate shows what the Tea Party movement (which I once basically supported) really values: being   more

For at least some of the Republican candidates, I don’t doubt that the position that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape, incest and the mother’s life stems from sincere, deep moral conviction.
But Iowa front-runner Ron Paul’s position that states should outlaw abortion even in these “hard cases” but the federal government should   more

Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich’s mutual failure to qualify for the Virginia ballot raises lots of questions about their long term viability, funding, and organization. But it isn’t that surprising at all for one simple reason: neither has run for President before while the two candidates who qualified, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, both have.  more

The death of Kim Jong-il and the succession of Kim Jung-un to the state’s throne raises the possibility of some sort of opening for the North Korean hermit Kingdom. The possibility of significant reforms–more open markets, freer travel for North Koreans, even elections and a free press–have to be considered. (So, of course, does   more

Journalists need good, shocking examples of the country’s still serious unemployment problems and one offered itself this past weekend when people filled out more than 16,000 applications for about 750 positions as a new Cleveland casino. The deluge of applications made for good TV and appeared on dozens of websites.
Only one problem: dramatic as they   more

Mitt Romney’s proposed $10,000 bet with Rick Perry has earned a lot of criticism for the candidate. Given that it was a rhetorical device (albeit a clumsy one) rather than an actual bet and given that a $10,000 is not really a lot of money for a presidential campaign, I’m personally inclined to give Romney   more

Steve Moore and Walter Williams’ proposed “Millionaire Subsidy Elimination Act” , floated in today’s Wall Street Journal, surely has a lot to recommend it. People who make a huge amount of money surely don’t deserve any true individual benefits from the state.
Nice as it sounds on paper, however, making the idea work in practice seems   more

Rebecca Wodder, President Obama’s nominee to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks will be a topic of discussion in the business meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday. And many Republicans on the committee are sure to raise tough questions about her.
Wodder, the former CEO   more

News that astronomers using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope had discovered an Earth-like “Goldilocks” planet where liquid water can exist certainly deserves the attention it has received. In fact, evidence of life surviving–and even thriving–in very unlikely places on Earth tempts one to believe that, given billions of years and a decent supply of organic molecules,   more

Scottsdale, AZ–Even as he continues to fight off challenges from an ever-changing troop of “flavor of the week” candidates, Mitt Romney’s organization appears to be gaining the type of support it most needs to win primaries–the support of conservative legislators.
Here, as the American Legislative Exchange Council (where I’m a policy advisor) holds its “States and   more

Here’s an interesting fact: With former Governor Rod Blagojevich headed for what’s almost sure to be a long stay behind bars (his most important ally, Tony Rezko, just got a 10 1/2 year sentence) Illinois will have the dubious distinction of being the first state in U.S. history to have two former governors in civilian prisons   more

I am already fretting about where my four year old will go to college. David Frum, also touring colleges with his son, is even more worried than I am. My parents worried like crazy over where my sister and I would go to college.
There’s a good argument that all of this is a waste of   more

Although I did have a brief and not-so-glorious career with a big IT firm, I probably don’t qualify as an expert on the exact consequences of the new intellectual property bill–called either SOPA or PROTECT IP–that’s currently moving through Congress.
That said, I do think it’s important not so much for what it would do–many of   more

Newt Gingrich’s surge in the polls raises at least an outside chance that the former House Speaker is going to end up topping the GOP ticket next November. Nobody disputes that Gingrich is very smart and a good debater. He also has the sort of high-level political experience (including foreign policy) that Herman Cain and   more

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett says he wants new laws to stop crimes like those that Jerry Sandusky is alleged to have committed. He’s wrong.
Terrible as former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky’s alleged crimes are, there’s no case for new laws. In fact, insofar as Pennsylvania’s current procedures are inadequate, the governor himself already has   more

Before he famously stumbled in the debate earlier this week, Rick Perry said he would eliminate the Department of Energy. Ron Paul agrees. Any time one sees a bunch of libertarian minded people in a room together (heck, even libertarian-leaning liberals) the Department of Energy often ends up on the theoretical chopping block.  more

More than a few liberal commentators will celebrate the supposed “shellacking” that the Republicans got in the elections on Tuesday. And, certainly, on two major issues–government union power (in Ohio) and abortion (in Mississippi)–the voters sided with the political Left.
But, in one of the “purple” states that President Obama will probably need to carry to   more

Noah Kristula-Green raises some valid points about views of income mobility but he could go further: Year-to-year income measures are only one way to measure economic status and, like every other measure, give an incomplete picture.
Consider a few examples: measured by income alone, a family with a net worth of $1 billion that parks all   more