VOTER POWER
Size of Government
Myth: Americans think government spending has increased dramatically, especially under the Obama administration.
Fact: Government spending as a percentage of GDP has been remarkably stable since World War II and actually fell during the Obama administration.
Myth: Roughly half of Americans think the government should be run like a business.
Fact: Government and business have entirely different missions and methods of measuring performance.
It’s reasonable to be skeptical or even suspicious of government, but a large portion of Americans believe government is never a solution and only makes things worse. Many have no idea how the government borrows and creates money and assume it does nothing but destroy liberties and sap economic vitality through excessive taxation and “job-killing” regulations.
However, most economic data shows that those beliefs are not supported by facts.
US Will Soon Spend More on Debt Interest Than On the Military
According to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, national interest is projected to cost $390 billion next year, a near 50 percent increase over last year.
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President Trump’s Made Up ‘Legal’ Language
President Trump has repeatedly stated that he’s been cleared of collusion charges and the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt.” By spreading the story that collusion is a well-defined term and has been all along, the president is essentially rewriting the rules so he can’t lose.
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Principles of Democracy: Limited Government
“Limited government” and “small government” may sound alike, but they’re two different concepts. Limited government, as outlined by the U.S. Constitution, puts “constitutional limits on the power of rulers” to prevent monarchs or dictators from abusing their powers against the will of the people.
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Thomas Jefferson Invented Progressive Taxation
Progressive taxation is a concept first introduced in the 1780s by Thomas Jefferson. And until the 1980s, it was still seen as the best way to tighten the income gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans. Looking back, Jefferson understood something important that we’ve lost track of today.
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How Does the Federal Government Spend Its Money?
While individual Americans have no direct control over how their tax dollars are spent, it’s important to know where the money goes. It’s especially important to understand that any major increases, for example in defense spending, require cuts elsewhere.
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A Brief History of For-Profit Health Insurance
Once upon a time, health insurance as we know it didn’t even exist. As medical knowledge and treatments evolved, so did the concept of health insurance.
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Inside the ‘New World Order’ Conspiracy
Belief in a vast conspiracy to build a global totalitarian government with one economy, one language, one constitution, and one leader, is on the rise. Is this “new world order” a real thing, or are these beliefs based on misinformation and misinterpretation?
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Obamacare Has Issues, But Whose Fault Is That?
Democrats have taken the lion’s share of the blame when it comes to issues related to Obamacare. However, a close analysis reveals that Republicans are partially to blame as well. The future of health care is at the mercy of partisanship.
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Executive Orders and Big Government
The history of executive orders is fraught. At their best, they are tools to handle national emergencies, and at their worst they represent a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of the president and the executive branch, undermining our system of checks and balances.
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Do We Live in an Era of Big Government?
Big government isn’t necessarily all bad—but it’s not necessarily all good, either. We need to find a healthy, realistic mix that sees libertarianism, socialism, capitalism, and progressivism as tools to be used as needed to create a better future for all Americans, rather than subscribing to absolutist “all or nothing” ideologies.
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