Chuck DeVore is the vice president of national initiatives at the Foundation. He writes about the economy and how energy, tax and regulatory policies influence general prosperity, and he frequently appears on Fox News. He also guides the Foundation’s growing national work in criminal justice reform. He authored the book The Texas Model: Prosperity in the Lone Star State and Lessons for America.
When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decides to quash the island nation of Taiwan’s successful run at democratic self-governance, will the Chinese try to limit the conflict to Taiwan and its immediate waters, or will they immediately embark on a wider conflict involving the United States, Japan, and other nations? It’s a big question. History...
California is a tax haven for the middle class? Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom made that risible claim during a Sacramento Bee editorial board meeting last month as he battles the Sept. 14 recall election. Newsom’s questionable boast came in response to a reporter who prefaced her question by noting that California has the nation’s “highest housing costs, highest...
California voters have started casting their ballots on their second gubernatorial recall ever and their first in 18 years, deciding whether to give Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom a new lease on his political life. Polling shows the recall on a knife’s edge. At the time of this writing, “Yes” — remove — narrowly leads with 48 percent...
The fiasco in Afghanistan should, by itself, bring a reckoning for the professionals who assured us it was a worthy effort. It won’t. We witnessed the sudden, embarrassing end to a misbegotten nation-building effort costing more than 2,300 American dead and some $2.3 trillion in expenditures for warfighting, civil works projects, the now non-existent Afghan...
By now the misadventures of Texas’s wayward House Democrats, now days into their third quorum-busting effort, have become a nationally known farce. They went to D.C. with a case of Miller then got stuck with six cases of Corona. Texas Democrats busted quorum to prevent consideration of election integrity legislation, such as extending voter ID...
Violent crime is mounting in America. Many reasons—excuses, mostly—have been proffered for this: COVID-19 lockdowns, unemployment, the Defund the Police movement and its budgetary fruits, largely tolerated urban looting and rioting, police reluctance to enforce the law in high-crime areas for fear of being accused of civil rights violations, and soft-on-crime leftist prosecutors. The ramifications...
Texas House Democrats continue their quorum-busting, COVID-19-spreading walkout in Washington, D.C. as they take their public relations disaster to the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday morning in a hearing bearing the ominous title of “Democracy in Danger: The Assault on Voting Rights in Texas.” Texas Democrats fled to D.C. to stall Republican efforts to pass a...
Holdout Texas Democrats remain in Washington, D.C., denying the state House of Representatives the two-thirds quorum needed to conduct business, with their walkout over election integrity legislation now entering its second week. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session starting July 8 to consider legislation left undone when House Democrats walked out in...
Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives just flew maskless in a private jet with a case of beer to Washington, D.C. Normally, this would just be a fundraising trip to see powerful special interests in the nation’s capital. But this flight out of Austin had a different purpose – a quorum-busting walkout to prevent a vote...
California’s electric grid operator declared a “Flex Alert” Friday morning, showing all that mandated solar and wind power can’t reliably keep the lights on in California. California’s politically driven renewable energy mandates are likely to cause more blackouts this summer outside of California after a remarkable ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that allows California to hijack...
Was last week’s record heatwave in the Pacific Northwest caused by a climate-altering buildup of human greenhouse gases? The once-august Scientific American claimed it was, declaring, “Unprecedented Heat Wave in Pacific Northwest Driven by Climate Change.” Other outlets like the Washington Post echoed this narrative. It’s helpful to remember climate change commentators live by two rules: First, everything...
The world wants to come to America and many in America – at least in the Biden administration and the Chamber of Commerce – want the world to come. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the Texas-Mexico border, where the surge of would-be immigrants has completely overwhelmed the Border Patrol and local law enforcement. If current trends continue,...