Outside the Beltway

208 years ago today, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to The Danbury Baptist Association that has resonated through the years.

What is the proper conservative response to Santa Claus?

Why not just give poor people money rather than start up big charities?

In her new book, Sarah Palin puts forward a view of the role of religion in politics that is in direct contrast with America’s own traditions.

The US has always outspent our G7 brethren on healthcare but the divergence has skyrocketed over the last three decades.

Hamid Karazi says that the United States needs to reduce it’s military presence in his country. Perhaps we should listen to him.

While Social Security has radically lowered the elderly poverty rate, it hasn’t eliminated it. Should we do more?

The Onion spoofs life at a think tank with Boy, I Really Thought Like Shit Today.”

Charles Murray argues that the Tea Party is right to complain about out-of-touch elites.

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. He probably doesn’t know it, though, because he’s currently sitting in a Chinese prison.

It’s worth reminding ourselves, in a country where so many are trying to figure out the best way to keep excess fat off our bodies, how recently abject poverty was widespread here

Western athletes who’ve complained about the conditions at the Commonwealth Games are coming in for a firestorm of criticism.

Among the unintended but not unforeseen consequences of the new health care law is that companies who were previously offering some health coverage may stop altogether. In some cases, that’s just as well.

A third of the Forbes 50 were born billionaires. Does that mean the game is fixed?

Apparently, riding in a gilded carriage with footmen does not preclude one from seeking welfare funds in the United Kingdom.

One Republican analyst thinks that President Obama could learn a few leadership lessons from Vito and Michael Corleone. In order to do that, though, the President would need to stop acting like the weakest of the Corleone brothers.

David Brooks blames our economic woes on a change from a culture that valued productive work to one of gentility. And Bill Cosby.

Should anyone care that Chelsea Clinton’s wedding was ridiculously lavish?

Jim Webb argues that we should stop measuring diversity by race alone.

Before we raise taxes on the rich, let’s first stop the flood of tax money that’s subsidizing their lifestyle.

Senator Robert Byrd has died at 92, after years of poor health.