RESPONSE ACTION 01/10/2015

Here is your weekly update on the politics and policies affecting our liberties. The endless state of emergency The President has declared a state of emergency. The President in this case is Jimmy Carter, and the emergency was delcared in 1979 in response to the hostage crisis in Iran. The hostages came home in 1981 (on the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated president), but the emergency continues. And it isn't the only such emergency that's still on the books. Eight of the 16 national emergencies declared by Bill Clinton are still in effect, as are 13 of the 14 declared by George W. Bush. And Mr. Obama is no slouch when it comes to never-ending emergencies -- eight of the nine he has declared are . . . Read The Full Article ▶ A "do everything" bureaucracy It's popular in leftist circles to call Congress a "do nothing" institution that is utterly broken and needs fixing (preferrably, by electing more progressives). This argument has always struck us as both wrong and dangerous. And thanks to the Competitive Enterprise Institute's "Unconstitutionality Index," we also know it's completely false: Congress passed and the president signed into law 129 Public Laws in 2014, as I've derived from the Government Publishing Office's archive of Public Laws. There had been 72 laws in 2013. So 201 is the . . . Read The Full Article ▶ Meet the new boss, same as the old boss John Boehner survived a mini-revolt and won a third term as Speaker of the House on Tuesday. As disappointing as that may be for some, there is little reason for Boehner and his allies to crow over their victory, because the last time a Speaker came so close to winning, the nation was on the verge of the greatest crisis in its history: Boehner lost the votes of 25 House Republicans, marking the biggest defection in at least 100 years. According to the book "Fighting for the Speakership," the last time this many members voted against a major-party's speaker nominee was . . . Read The Full Article ▶ Republicans open to the idea of a gas tax hike The new Congress is barely a week old and already, some Republicans are entertaining the idea of increasing taxes: Sen. Jim Thune (R-S.D.) signaled...that Republicans might be open to negotiating increasing the gas tax in order to pay for the highway infrastructure spending bill that expires in May. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Thune said that while he is opposed to increasing the gas tax, lawmakers will need to "keep all options" available when they return to Washington this week. "I don't favor increasing any tax," Thune said. "But I think we have to look at all options." Good grief. If the good Senator really wants to 'look at all the options,' then we strongly suggest he . . . Read The Full Article ▶