BY RICHARD L. FRICKER Remembering Barack Obama never carried a single county in Oklahoma, and nearly every elected statewide office and legislative seat is held...

BY FROMA HARROP A Republican leader is doing something right … and good. He is Rep. David Camp of Michigan. Camp has issued a detailed plan for simplifying the tax code. That’s his duty as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax law. Reforming the 70,000-page abomination that is our tax laws – and making them fairer – has long been a stated goal of both parties. But it is a […]

BY SUSAN ESTRICH When he came to Washington in 1981, Ronald Reagan made much of his commitment to the “new federalism,” which in that case, like so many others, had very little to do with federalism. As later detailed by former Office of Management and Budget head David Stockman, in the name of federalism, the Reagan Administration sought to dismantle federal social welfare programs that conservatives opposed, claiming it was an issue of whether state […]

BY JIM HIGHTOWER You know what America needs? More jobs, that’s what. Not Walmart-style jobettes, but real jobs – stable ones with good salaries and benefits, union jobs so workers have a say in what goes on, jobs that have strong protections against discrimination. A job one can make a career, do useful work in, take pride in, earn promotions and be respected for what he or she does. Middle-class jobs that make America strong. […]

BY JOE CONASON In the midst of a crucial political debate that plainly favored proponents of a higher minimum wage, the Congressional Budget Office dropped a bombshell headline last week. Increasing the minimum to $10.10 an hour – as demanded by President Barack Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill – would “cost 500,000 jobs.” At a moment when employment still lags badly, this assertion was potentially devastating. Almost lost in much of the predictable media […]