Some of the most important things in history are things that didn’t happen–even though just about everyone thought they would. Recent example: Scads of liberals gleefully predicted that the financial ...

“People of the same trade seldom meet together,” warned Adam Smith 250 years ago, “even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some ...

The best way to gauge the success of American political movements is not by the depth to which they shape their native party, but the breadth to which they extend into the opposing side. By that ...

In 2024, the Biden administration killed a proposed merger between Spirit Airlines and JetBlue. If the two companies were to join forces, declared then-attorney general Merrick Garland, it would ...

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously said, “Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” ...

Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Roy Blunt (Missouri), and Rick Scott (Florida) in D.C. in May 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Regarding George F. Will’s March 19 column, “The ...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new “era of big government” during his inaugural address. Many Americans hate the sound of that. They shouldn’t. Big government can make America better … because it ...

President Trump and the Republicans in Congress insist that the election gave them a public mandate to massively reduce the federal government. They claim that the mass firings of government workers ...

This Pew Research Center analysis examines Americans’ views of problems facing the country. Pew Research Center conducts research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important ...

President Donald Trump’s 2026 “skinny budget” is out, and at first glance it gives small-government advocates reason to cheer. It proposes deep cuts to domestic agencies, calls for eliminating ...

This book review appeared in the Winter 2002/03 issue of The Independent Review. In Big Government and Affirmative Action, Jonathan J. Bean tells the story of the role of small business in the growth ...