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Single-payer plans elude credibility

National Columnists

Billionaire progressive activist and California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer recently remarked: "Health care companies only care about one thing: profits. Single-payer now." This is the same Tom Steyer who opposed single-payer when he ran for president in 2020. "Bernie Sanders was right," he says. "Boy, was I wrong." He still cannot explain how to pay for it. Can anyone? Single-payer health care has been the progressive left's signature domestic demand for four decades. Brookings Institution economist Jessica Riedl has spent years waiting for one. Her challenge is simple: Show ...

America's story is resilience

National Columnists

When artists canceled their performances for President Donald Trump's June 25 Great American State Fair, one stood out for me: Martina McBride. The first time I saw Martina live in concert was at the Taste of Cincinnati festival in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Memorial Day Weekend in 1994. Her iconic song "Independence Day" had just been released as a single. It's a song we would have no doubt heard if she stayed in the lineup for the D.C. event. Like other artists who withdrew, Martina felt misled regarding the political nature of the event. Artists now say what was originally ...

It's time to clean up election laws

National Columnists

In the lead up to the country's 250th birthday celebration, America has been riveted by two elections in the state of California: the race for governor and for the mayor of Los Angeles. Ever since Democrat and former congressman Eric Swalwell was forced to withdraw because of sex ...

Which party will recover first from self-harm?

National Columnists

Tuesday saw the usual first-week-of-June gaggle of state primary elections. It's a feature of the American federal system that states choose when to hold primary and local elections. Back in the 1850s, as historian Roy Franklin Nichols notes, there was an election in all but one or two of the 24 months in the two-year congressional election cycle. From the results, in those pre-polling days, politicos and pundits drew conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of the Democratic and Republican political parties and their various candidates. Congress in 1872 set a single ...

Party's Senate gamble raises questions about standards

National Columnists

The Democratic Party's approach to Maine's Senate race has sparked a debate that extends well beyond the state's borders. At the center of the controversy is Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, whose campaign has been dogged by a series of damaging allegations and personal scandals. Reports have highlighted Platner's past online activity, including the presence of a tattoo some have characterized as Nazi-related, inflammatory comments on public forums, sexually explicit social media posts and allegations involving inappropriate online communications. Yet despite the ...

Will this be an unhappy American birthday?

National Columnists

In one month, the United States will observe its 250th birthday. It is shaping up more like a memorial service for a lost loved one than a party to celebrate something special. Rather than anticipating a happy occasion, America at 250 is increasingly characterized by anger, name-calling and scandals. Performers are withdrawing from President  Trump's Freedom 250 Great American State Fair in Washington, claiming organizers lied to them about its partisanship. Trump, who has contributed mightily to the growing divisions among us, is threatening to make a "major speech," mostly to his ...