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National voter list creates unnecessary burden

Letters to the Editor

North Dakota is the only state in the country without voter registration, which makes Trump's order on creating a national voter list very concerning. States don’t keep a list of voters ahead of time. They generally verify eligibility when people show up, and it’s worked for a long time without a lot of issues. That’s why Trump's voter list seems to have ulterior motives. It assumes every state should operate the same way, when in reality election systems are built around local needs and are left for each state to decide the process. In a rural state like ours, simplicity ...

Chaos usually sign changes are underway

National Columnists

Here's a scenario from California that would be hard for even a Hollywood screenwriter to come up with. This is a state generally seen to lean heavily to the political left. Its congressional delegation — the largest in the country — stands at 52 House members, of whom 46 are Democrats, and two senators, both Democrats. The state Legislature is decisively controlled by Democrats. Yet there seems a reasonable likelihood that in November's election for governor of California, we'll see two Republicans running against each other. How so? California is an open ...

Quiet crisis of manhood

National Columnists

We are living through a quiet but consequential redefinition of manhood — one shaped not by wisdom, responsibility or lived experience but increasingly by noise, performance and profit. A growing segment of voices, amplified across social media, promotes a hollow version of masculinity rooted in indulgence, detachment and what can only be described as a kind of party-boy nihilism. It dismisses discipline as outdated, responsibility as optional, and commitment as a trap. It celebrates the illusion of freedom while quietly stripping away meaning. But let us be clear: Much ...

What kind of democracy is this?

National Columnists

When the Bill of Rights was being crafted in the House of Representatives, it was left to James Madison to articulate the values that would provide an insulation between government negating freedom and the inalienable rights of all persons. The right to worship freely, the freedom of speech and of the press and basic fairness from the government were relatively easy to reduce to writing. Even the catch-all Ninth Amendment, which recognized the existence of natural human rights, drew broad support. The drafting occurred in a testy environment. The Federalists — the big ...

Radical Islamists mean what they say

National Columnists

In the Western world, there's a weird naivety festering throughout our society, rooted in the notion that evil simply doesn't exist. Thanks to multiculturalism, intersectionality, equity and any other combination of leftist buzzwords, we have the bizarre impression that the world is full of people just like us, who think just like us, who respect the same values as us. For anyone who lives in reality, of course, it's clear that's not true. It's important to acknowledge that the West made massive progress in the realm of equality when it comes to immutable characteristics. ...

Debunking five tax day myths

National Columnists

Every April, Americans spend more than 7 billion hours filing taxes and roughly the same amount of time arguing over them, almost entirely on the basis of several common myths. Here are the five most consequential. Myth No. 1: The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share This is the most repeated claim in American tax politics and one of the least supported by actual data. The top 1% of earners take in 22% of total income and pay 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% earn about half the nation's income and pay 72% of its taxes. The bottom half of earners, collectively, pay ...