Outside the Beltway

Like clockwork, the arguments for creation of a third party are popping up again.

Two-term New Mexico governor finally gets to share the stage with Herman Cain.

Rick Santorum: naked partisan. (Although, really, this is more a post about the EC than it is about Santorum).

Contrary to what Eugene Robinson and Paul Krugman argue today, compassion does not require one to support government social welfare programs.

Of the institutions designed by the Framers, the electoral college is the one that deserves the least amount of defense if one’s defense is predicated on assumptions of the genius of said framers.

The last two GOP debates have featured cheers from the crowd and responses from candidates that ought to be considered problematic.

Jon Huntsman is out with a tax and jobs plan that deserves a lot more attention than it’s likely to get.

Rick Perry isn’t as radical as some on the left are saying, but that doesn’t mean he’s any good.

A new look at Clarence Thomas’s 20 years on the Supreme Court, from a critic, is surprisingly positive.

Ron Paul is again making the argument that American foreign policy has contributed to terrorism. He’s more right than wrong.

Rick Perry’s vision of capitalism doesn’t exactly comply with what Adam Smith had in mind.

Does Ron Paul’s second place showing at Ames mean the media should take him seriously as a contender? No, it doesn’t.

Time for the spinning of the straw poll results to begin.

The cuts to Pentagon spending in the new debt deal are further revealing a split in the GOP over foreign policy and military spending.

You thought you’d seen the worst of Congress in July? Oh, you silly American you.

A social conservative attempts to argue that same-sex marriage is a threat to liberty, and fails miserably.

The idea that the GOP can block a debt ceiling vote and benefit politically is, quite simply, absurd.

While it’s always dangerous to extrapolate too much from high profile cases to the system as a whole, the strange case of Dominque Strauss-Kahn practically invites it.

Recent polls seem to indicate a shift in public opinion in a more libertarian direction.

Paul Krugman thinks liberals understand conservatives but not vice versa. He’s half right.

Government is inextricably linked to the marriage business.

WaPo’s Jackson Diehl asks, “Will the GOP nominate a dove?”

The debate format was the biggest loser last night, but there were a few memorable moments in New Hampshire.

We need to stop talking as if the Medicare debate is a question of the Ryan Plan v. the Status Quo.

A profile of George Mason economist and blogger Tyler Cowen offers this amusing description: “Cowen, 49, has round features, a hesitant posture, and an unconcerned haircut.”

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul wants a full debate on the PATRIOT Act. What’s Congress so afraid of?

The GOP doesn’t have a charismatic superstar waiting in the wings. That’s okay.

With the 2012 GOP field looking very underwhelming, GOP insiders are looking toward Indianapolis for a savior.

Rand Paul has borrowed a bad idea from the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Thanks to an appearance on Hardball we’ve got another story about a 47 year old law.

For as long as the notion of individual rights has existed, one of them has been the sanctity one’s home. As of Thursday, that’s no longer true in Indiana.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who will enter the Presidential race tomorrow, says he wouldn’t have tried to have Osama bin Laden killed.

An attempt at explaining where I am coming from on in the health care discussion.

If you look at the Tea Party’s impact on state politics, you see it really isn’t much different from the Religious Right.

Roger Ebert lays the smack down on the Atlas Shrugged film — but not for the reasons you’d think.