by Jacob Sullum

The Republican platform unveiled last week notes in passing that “the Constitution assigns the federal government no role in local education.” Yet the same document offers opinions on all manner of local educational issues, including the virtues of phonics, the evils of sex education, the wisdom of merit pay for teachers, and the folly of social promotion.

That contradiction illustrates the hollowness of the Republican commitment to “constrain the federal government to its legitimate constitutional functions.” The Republicans (like the Democrats) respect the Constitution only when it’s convenient. Continue Reading

by Clay Barham

If there were ever a time where the founding principle of America, as a nation, is justified again, it is the issue of state sovereignty.  The notion of multiple governing entities, contractually united for a few common and limited purposes, where all else are functions of each state, is apparent in the campaign of 2008. Continue Reading