Did you know there are nine states that have no state income tax? The non-income-tax states (see chart below) are geographically and economically diverse, ranging from the state of Washington in the Pacific Northwest, to Texas and Florida in the South, and up to New Hampshire in the Northeast. Why is it that some of the states with the biggest fiscal problems have the highest individual state income tax rates, such as New York and California, while some of the states with the least fiscal problems have no state income tax at all?  Further, on average, schools, health and safety, roads, etc. are no better in states with income taxes than those without income taxes. Where is all the extra money from these state income taxes going? It is going primarily to service debt, and to pay for inflated salaries and employee benefits.  Thus, as two recent studies by my colleagues at the Cato Institute show, the keys to state solvency are no state income taxes and no public worker unions.

Founded in Dallas in 1989, the New Black Panther party is described by the Anti- Defamation League as "the largest organized anti-Semitic and racist black militant group in America," and the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "black Ku Klux Klan." In a National Geographic special, prominent NBP leader Samir Shabazz was filmed declaring, "I hate white people, all of them, every last iota of a cracker I hate him," and shouting at a black man with a white girlfriend: "You're gonna have to kill some crackers.  You're gonna have to kill some of their babies."  Here's the video, aired on Fox News. J. Christian Adams, in testimony to Congress, said he resigned as a career attorney with the Justice Department last month when he was told that cases of voter intimidation (such as that perpetrated by Mr. Shabazz and the NBP) will not be pursued if the victims are white, nor will laws be enforced against vote fraud. We now have a racist - anti-white racist - government in America.

The Race Card.  So useful to play when you're losing an argument.  Democrats don't leave home without it. The race card was played twice last week.  At its convention in Kansas City, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People adopted a resolution condemning the TeaParty as "a threat to the pursuit of human rights, justice and equality for all" because of "the racist elements" within it. The TeaParty rallies have been an outpouring of public concern about runaway government spending and mammoth budget deficits.  While Democrats could simply argue that such concern is overwrought, to claim that a racial motive underlies it is as preposterous as it is vile. The reasoning, such as it is, goes something like this:  TeaPartyers oppose President Barack Obama's policies.  Mr. Obama is (half) black.  Therefore, TeaPartyers oppose Mr. Obama's policies because he is black. This argument is so puerile people with an IQ above room temperature have difficulty believing those who make it are serious.

If those managing a company had acted as recklessly and irresponsibly as has Congress with the U.S. economy, they rightly would be fired. Congress by its actions is driving away foreign capital, new and existing companies and jobs; burdening the people with excessive debt - and even providing an incentive for murder. The death tax rate this year will be zero as a result of the Bush-era phaseout of this destructive tax, but it is set to jump to 55 percent as of Jan. 1. There have been many articles about the likelihood of individuals attempting to time their deaths before the end of the year to save their heirs many millions of dollars in "death taxes."   When incentive is given to cause a premature death by an interested party in order to gain a great deal of money, the probability is that it will happen in some cases. Members of Congress normally are exempt from civil prosecution for actions and statements made in Congress, but it would not be beyond possibility to see some enterprising lawyer charge those irresponsible members of Congress with abetting murder (which is not protected by congressional immunity) because of their lack of action to "fix" the death tax. How just!

The transformative event in modern American politics was the Great Depression.  It made the Democrat party the majority party, and changed its nature. In 1928, Republican Herbert Hoover was elected in a landslide, with 58.2 percent of the popular vote, and 444 electoral votes to 87 for Al Smith.  Democrat victories were confined to six states in the heart of Dixie, and Massachusetts. Republicans gained 7 seats in the Senate that year, to take control of that body, 56-42.  Republicans gained 32 seats in the House to control there, 270-164.  Such Democrats as there were in the House were mainly southern conservatives.  That all changed in 1930, when the Democrats won 52 seats and control in the House, and then in 1932 with FDR's landslide victory.  By 1936, the political world had been turned upside down. What of today?  We can't continue on the path we're on, so we'll either descend into socialism or fascism, or restore the constitutional government the Founding Fathers intended.  Another transformative event is at hand.