Forbes.com

As Earth Day approaches, environmentalists are bemoaning the impending death of cap-and-trade. The Obama White House offered ambitious revenue estimates for a cap-and-trade program in its proposed budget, but Congressional Democrats have made it fairly clear that they won’t risk following through, at least not this year. Whereas health care legislation has a chance of getting through Congress, any successful cap-and-trade legislation would have to secure at least sixty votes in the Senate--and that, simply put, is unimaginable.

As governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford has made a mark not by creating any new social programs or by slashing taxes or making some other dramatic gesture. He's done it by doggedly opposing new spending at every opportunity, to the point where he's struck many critics as a monomaniacal economic Luddite.

Last week, at a White House forum on reforming health care, President Obama issued a challenge to advocates of less government control of the medical marketplace.

"If there is a way of getting this done [i.e., reforming health care] where we're driving down costs and people are getting health insurance at an affordable rate and have choice of doctor, have flexibility in terms of their plans, and we could do that entirely through the market, I'd be happy to do it that way."

As the Republican tent shrinks, Rush Limbaugh, arguably the most successful and influential radio host in American history, has emerged as its most prominent voice. No elected Republican--not John McCain, not Arnold Schwarzenegger, not Bobby Jindal--commands the loyalty of as many grassroots conservatives. Rather than sit idly by as conservatives find their bearings in the Age of Obama, Limbaugh, who played a crucial role in the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, has decided to use this moment of Republican weakness and

Last year, I had the great pleasure of seeing The Order of Myths, Margaret Brown's brilliant documentary film on Mobile, Alabama's storied, and segregated, Mardi Gras celebrations. Even now, long after the end of Jim Crow, the city's leading white families put together an elaborate series of Mardi Gras balls and parades under the auspices of the Mobile Carnival Association, and they name a royal court to preside over the festivities. Starting in 1938, a number of black families formed the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA)… more

While Democrats and Republicans debate the stimulus package, Americans risk getting blind-sided by a serious security threat. Over the last few months, strategic elites in the United States have finally developed an appropriate sense of urgency about what some are calling the slow-motion collapse of the Mexican state. For at least four decades, powerful cartels have been transporting drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. More recently, as American immigration enforcement efforts have stepped up, transporting people has become another lucrative source of revenue--indeed,

In the summer of 2006, as Republican fortunes dimmed, one of the party's star Senate candidates sat down with reporters for an off-the-record lunch. Dana Milbank of The Washington Post recorded the unusually frank conversation for posterity. Far from towing the party line, the candidate blasted the Bush White House for its failures in Iraq and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When asked if he'd want President Bush to campaign with him, the mystery man said, "To be honest with you, probably

While wandering the streets of Washington, D.C., over the past couple of days, I've seen the capital, which has been my home for the better part of seven years, through new eyes.