Journalist

Trying to decipher where President Obama really stands on free trade can be like trying to trace the U.S.-Mexico border with a Google map. There are words, and there are actions - but there is mostly that long squiggly line in between.

Scratch the surface at conservative think tanks and universities that house free-market economists, and it's not hard to find proponents of a carbon tax.

In the new economy, we all have to be entrepreneurs with our own lives - with all the rewards and risks and, yes, anxieties that entails.

Presidents can be judged by the company they choose to keep.

In 1996, Bill Clinton declared the era of big government over in the State of the Union address.

I think the danger with the liberal Left is seeing the Republican Party as a monolith.

Direct mail was the basis of a lot of new Right organizations in the '70s and early '80s, and it actually led to the downfall of the majority of them. It's very expensive, and you end up putting your organization more and more in debt if you're not successful with it.

The mission of Patrick Henry College was to attract and cultivate academic stars from the ranks of home-schooled evangelicals, then send them off on graduation day to 'shape the culture and take back the nation,' in the words of a common home-schooling rallying cry.

In the fall of 1996, I sat inside weekly strategy meetings of conservative activists as part of research for my book, 'Gang of Five,' chronicling the rise of the baby-boomer Right.

A huge segment of the country has always felt overtaxed. In 1938, when taxes were roughly 17% of income, a 'Fortune' survey found that nearly half of all Americans thought they paid too much relative to what they got in return.

The longer people are unemployed, the less employable they become. Skills become rusty; managers look more suspiciously at someone who has been out of work for years than a candidate already employed.

Fame legitimizes. Being conspicuous gets confused with being illustrious.

Presidential coverage used to be a very serious endeavor.

The guardians of your company's cyber security should be encouraged to network within the industry to swap information on the latest hacker tricks and most effective defenses.

The pact creating a North American free-trade zone was President Bill Clinton's signature accomplishment; but NAFTA is also the bugaboo of union leaders, grassroots activists and Midwesterners who blame free trade for the factory closings they see in their hometowns.

Successful candidates follow a simple fundamental rule: Define yourself before your opponent can define you.

Public anger over bank bailouts was as much about fairness as the billions of dollars spent.

Sea World's killer whale collection needs constant replenishing. The average life span of the animals in captivity is less than half the average for killer whales in the ocean.

To avoid becoming chronically unemployed, people need more than platitudes offering sympathy. Career reinvention requires encouragement and guidance.

We know that inflation distorts economic behavior. In the 1970s, a combination of high tax rates and inflation prompted investors to flee production in favor of protection.