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Alexander Hamilton on the role of states vs. the federal government

I have been watching the "John Adams" miniseries on HBO, and it has me fairly obsessed (my wife is getting a little irritated with me starting every sentence with "methinks").  It has gotten me thinking about the founders, and what they envisioned.  I came across this quote from Alexander Hamilton in #45 of The Federalist Papers: The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.  Sometimes people will say that t
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U.S. Tax Rates Compared to the rest of the world–a.k.a “U.S. Corporations are not the evil empire”

Below is a graph showing our tax rates compared to the rest of the industrialized world (taken from Wikipedia): Two things to note: Our personal income taxes are not as bad as some anti-tax zealots would have you believe…they are lower than most. Our corporate rates, however, are horrific.  They are higher than any other industrialized country save Japan. Lesson to be learned:  it’s easy for politicians to sell lower taxes for individuals.  Much harder to sell lower rates for corporations.  And very easy for liberals to paint corporations as getting off easy (the “big, bad conglomerate” schtick).  However, it’s just not true.  “Facts are stubborn things.”  - John Adams
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Oregon's Health Insurance Experiment

Michael Cannon offers a great analysis at National Review online of the experiment Oregon undertook in 2008 to provide a lottery-picked group of Oregonians with Medicaid coverage.  Some of the interesting tidbits: "medical consumption was no higher in the first half of the year, suggesting there was no “pent-up demand” for medical care." "Though President Obama has claimed that broader health-insurance coverage and consumption of preventive care would lead to a reduction in emergency-room visits, the OHIE found no discernible difference in ER use between Medicaid enrollees and the control group." " Though the president has claimed his health-care law will “save lives,” the OHIE detected no evidence that extending Medicaid to 10,000 adults did so in the first year. " There was an improvement in patient's own assessment of their health.  However, "two-thirds of the improvement in self-reported health occurred almost immediately after enrollmen
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NW Republican: Ronald Reagan was more than an actor

This is a GREAT post in NW Republican: NW Republican: Ronald Reagan was more than an actor He is basically making the point that I've made...that while I agree with Christine O'Donnell on points of policy, she was a terrible candidate. We mock Joe Biden for being prone to gaffes, but she was almost as prone to it as he is. We mocked Barack Obama for being unqualified to be President, but what are her qualifications? What has she actually done ? We need to get to a point where someone needs to actually be a good candidate with significant life achievements, not just have the right views and look good on TV. The ones who fit that bill in the last election (Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Rob Portman are examples) won. Here is a link to the original column by Peggy Noonan that he refers to in his blog post: "Americans Vote for Maturity", by Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 11-5-2010
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Things you didn't know about Judd Gregg

He's held all major electoral positions in New Hampshire, serving as Representative (representing the district that includes Nashua) from 1981 to 1989, Governor from 1989 t0 1993, and Senator from 1993 to the present. His father, Hugh Gregg, was Governor of New Hampshire from 1953 to 1955 Gregg stood in for John Kerry during practice sessions held by George W. Bush in preparation for the 2004 United States Presidential Election Debates. Four years earlier he had played the part of Al Gore for the same purpose. Gregg won more than $850,000 in 2005 after buying $20 worth of Powerball tickets at a Washington, D.C. convenience store. Gregg endorsed Mitt Romney in 2008, and is considered a fiscal conservative and social moderate
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Gov. Kulongoski wants to make a "green school" in Vernonia...hopefully the kids will get taught, also

Governor Ted is assembling a team to ask the feds for stimulus money to rebuild a school in Vernonia, damaged by the flooding in 2007. I think this is great - schools are a good thing to spend stimulus money on. But...then his train goes off the tracks... He wants to make the main thrust of the request that we will build a "green school"...now, I'm not opposed to doing responsible things to care for the environment, but I'm guessing doing extra stuff out of the ordinary, would make it much more expensive. With our economy the way it is, I just think that the people in charge of giving the money out are going to look at what can be done in a state, and how cost-effectively it can be done. If Oregon wants $5 million (I'm just making these numbers up) for a school to teach 1000 students, and Arizona will build a school, with the same facilities, same everything else, except they can do it for $3 million becuase it isn't a "green" school, and that m
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