US domestic support for Afghanistan mission

Polling suggests decreasing American support for the US presence in Afghanistan. This is fine, but it should not be a cue for a change of policy in Afghanistan. ISAF can succeed by continuing to develop Afghan security forces, continuing to exert pressure on the middle/upper ranks of the Taliban and by continuing to develop local governance and empowerment. If polling data set the course of America's foreign military operations, Iraq would still be plagued by sectarian warfare and used as an operating base by Al Qa'ida for attacks against the west. Politicians are elected to make good policy. They are not elected to make popular policy.

Obamacare Constitutional?

The Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of Obama's new health care law. In my opinion, the President's health care law is a bad law. I do not believe that it will reduce America's absurd annual inflation in health care costs and it imposes new financial concerns onto already struggling businesses. HOWEVER, I do believe that the law is constitutional. Health Care in America accounts for around 18% of the US economy. With increased personal mobility in the 21st century, individuals increasingly seek health care in different states and rely upon health care services/companies that are based in different states. Case law suggests that the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce if there is a rational basis for that regulation. If an individual does not buy health insurance, he risks imposing costs on society at a later date (in the case of requiring expensive medical services in the future and being unable to afford those services). Nearly everyone will require health care services at some point in their lives.

Interpretation of the law requires analysis of the Constitution/case law applied to facts. Personal political ideology should be irrelevant. As such, in my opinion, requiring Americans to buy insurance falls under the orbit of Congressional authority to regulate the health care industry. 

At a political level, I believe that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with reforms to cut health care cost inflation while improving coverage.

Race Relations in America

I like this photo a lot. The hand of a white Secret Service agent moves protectively behind the President as he greets a predominantly black crowd. The photo shows that the US has come along way since terrible acts like this. When it comes to supporting or opposing politicians, for the vast majority of Americans, race is now irrelevant.

President Obama and Trayvon Martin

How the hell did the President become editor of the Harvard Law Review. 

By engaging so personally with the Trayvon Martin incident he has injected huge amounts of new emotion into an already emotionally overloaded situation. A situation in which the facts are not yet clear and in which incredibly serious criminal charges might follow. The job of the President is to stand above the fray and generate good policy. So.. Obama was absolutely right to suggest that the Govt. may need to look at the law etc.. but as President, he was absolutely wrong to engage race into the debate. The effective function of the law requires the accumulation of facts and calm analysis. This function is harmed by emotional outbursts from the Chief Executive.

Obama has a record for this kind of judicial interference. In 2010, he launched a highly partisan attack on the Supreme Court. And of course... when he threw himself into the Gates situation.

Santorum destroys his campaign

Santorum just destroyed his own campaign. Comparing Romney's politics to that of Obama is absurd.

Trayvon Martin and 'Stand Your Ground'

The death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, raises concerns about the conduct of the shooter. However, in my opinion the 'Stand your Ground' (SYG) law is not to blame. If George Zimmerman approached Mr. Martin and then engaged in a fight with him, the law will clearly preference the position that Mr. Martin was the innocent party - the SYG law doesn't change this. I think the issue here is that the relevant phone call did not come out until the aftermath of the incident. In the aftermath of that evidence, the Justice Department have opened their own investigation and that is appropriate. The key point here is that members of a neighborhood watch are supposed to 'stand and report'. In the absence of compelling evidence of imminent/actual criminal activity, they are not supposed to challenge members of the public on the street.   The SYG law was designed to rid Florida of the idiotic 'responsibility to retreat' rule and empower the natural right of self-defense. It was not designed to make everyone a sheriff's deputy. If Mr. Zimmerman breached Mr. Martin's rights, Mr. Zimmerman is looking at a very serious jail term.

While living in Florida in 2010 I worked on a nightclub security team. While doing this job I felt that I had the power to protect myself with the backing of the law. I would not feel the same way in the UK. Perception of an ability (or inability) to defend oneself is an exceptionally important part of individual freedom.

Spring Breakers on Politics

This video goes some way to explaining what is wrong with America at the moment. We are intellectually lazy and we think that it's cool. We should praise intellectual success alongside praising sports stars. The world doesn't begin and end with gas prices and boob jobs. Put simply, we need a kick in the ass.

France Crisis Resolved

The French did a great job in bringing the lone wolf gunman to justice. RAID, the French Special Forces group that killed the gunman is a highly capable unit.

Rick Santorum's base

Rick Santorum's base. And.. why I would never, ever vote for him (and... why he was crushed in Illinois last night). I'm a Christian, but this kind of rhetoric is neither Christian nor Republican. It is arrogance, authoritarianism and prejudice.

The Republican Budget

Paul Ryan's budget shows that House Republicans are focused on advancing serious plans to resolve the extraordinarily high federal deficit/debt. The Democrats will scream that the Ryan budget will hurt the poor, but the simple fact is that Ryan has offered a plan that resolves America's fiscal crisis and preserves medicare/social security for the benefit of future generations. 

As the NY Times notes, 

'Under the House plan, the current $1.18 trillion deficit would fall to $797 billion in the coming fiscal year, compared with $977 billion under Mr. Obama’s plan. By 2016, the deficit would fall to $241 billion by Republican estimates. The Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that Mr. Obama’s budget would still have a $529 billion deficit in 2016.

The Ryan plan would accumulate $3.1 trillion in additional debt through 2022. The president’s would add $6.4 trillion, more than twice that total. The Republican budget cuts spending by $5 trillion more than the president’s plan.' [5.3 trillion/10 yrs]

Ezra Klein at the WPost argues that the Ryan plan resolves the debt on the backs of the poor. I challenge that premise.  49% of Americans don't even pay federal income taxes. In addition, the Ryan plan cuts tax rates to just two rates (25% and 10%) by ridding the system of the tax loopholes/inefficiencies that are used by the rich and that lose the Government huge amounts of revenue each year. At the same time, Ryan adopts the bi-partisan medicare proposal that Democrat Ros Wyden helped author. The Democrats have offered no solutions to the looming medicare bankruptcy. The US should not be a something for nothing society.  Klein suggests that the $5.3 trillion reduction is unnecessarily high..  My response? Not when our interest payments are this high.

Obama and the Democrats in Congress have abdicated the responsibility of governing. They are in full election mode. Look for more political scare tactics like this. There is no question that the GOP is taking substantial political risk in proposing this plan. Pain is rarely popular but sometimes it is necessary. Republicans are gambling that Americans will prefer a future in which medicare and social security are preserved for those who will need it, taxes are low and personal responsibility remains part of the American way of life. The Democrats want to drag America towards a European style social welfare system..  with high taxes and big government. There's nothing wrong with this (in a democracy people should be able to chose to live in whatever kind of system they want and many Europeans are v. happy with their system), but the Democrats are lying to the American people when they pretend that the rich alone can pay off the debt. 

The Republicans now have a plan in which the sums add up. Democrats have a joke.

40% of Americans identify themselves as conservative, 35% as moderates and 21% as liberals. This is a fight that Republicans will ultimately win.