What with the charges and counter-charges about the war in Iraq, the use—actually, abuse—of Executive Privilege, and locally, the uproar over property taxes, this little tidbit hasn’t gotten much ink. But it is a telling indicator of the wildly different definition of the term “American values” held by today’s citizens.   Sessions of Congress begin [...]

When James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the rest of the Founders devised our system of representative democracy, they envisioned a system where persons—okay, men—of temperance, substance and education would hold public office.     They clearly did not envision Representative Virgil Goode.   There has been quite a reaction to Representative Goode’s letter [...]

John Hostettler, the always entertaining Congressman from Indiana’s Eighth District, is again promoting legislation to repeal what he calls a “loophole” in the law. That “loophole” allows recovery of reasonable legal fees by people who successfully sue government for violating their religious liberties. Hostettler calls his bill “anti-ACLU” legislation—as though the First Amendment and the [...]

In the mid-1990s, the National Constitution Center surveyed national attitudes and beliefs about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They concluded that Americans “revere” the Constitution—and have virtually no idea what’s in it.    I frequently find myself thinking about that study, because it goes a long way toward explaining why many of our public [...]