Jacob Sullum

SULLUM: New era of irresponsibility

Last October, while campaigning in Toledo, Ohio, Barack Obama called for "a new ethic of responsibility." The nation's economic troubles, he said, occurred partly because "everyone was living beyond their means," including politicians who "spent money they didn't have."

February 8, 2009

SULLUM: Green snake oil

"We need more than the same old empty promises," President Obama declared Monday. He therefore offered new empty promises, most conspicuously a vow to create "a new energy economy that puts millions of our citizens to work."

January 30, 2009

SULLUM: Lawyers who can say no

When Barack Obama takes office on Tuesday, he will promise to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." His predecessor took that oath twice. But judging from his behavior during the last eight years, President Bush mentally appended the phrase "when it's convenient."

January 18, 2009

SULLUM: The buck keeps moving

Ohio recently became the sixth state to ban Salvia divinorum, a psychedelic member of the mint family native to Mexico, where it has been used for centuries as an aid to healing and divination. The legislator who introduced the ban said he did so after hearing from constituents who blamed their 12-year-old son's death on the drug.

January 4, 2009

SULLUM: Lawless justice

In January 2007, Rep. David Price introduced a bill that would have applied American criminal law to all government contractors who commit felonies while working in areas where U.S. forces are operating.

December 14, 2008

SULLUM: The MySpace case

Although Mrs. Drew's actions were cruel, childish and irresponsible, she had not broken any laws.

November 30, 2008

SULLUM: Financial reversals

Remember when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned us the economy was about to collapse unless Congress immediately authorized him to spend $700 billion on "troubled assets" held by banks? Remember when he said banks would never lend again as long as they remained saddled with these bad investments?

November 23, 2008

SULLUM: Obama’s views on drugs

Last week, voters in Massachusetts approved a ballot initiative that eliminates criminal penalties for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana, replacing them with a $100 civil fine. Michigan, meanwhile, became the 13th state to allow the medical use of cannabis.

November 15, 2008

SULLUM: Green herring

The Apollo Alliance, a coalition of environmentalists and labor unions, wants the federal government to spend $500 billion over 10 years to "build America's 21st-century clean energy economy" and thereby "create more than 5 million high quality green-collar jobs." Barack Obama says he can accomplish the same goal for only $150 billion, which gives you a sense of how reliable these projections are.

November 9, 2008

SULLUM: Obama’s job fetish

Despite all the facile comparisons between the current economic situation and the conditions that preceded the Great Depression, the most recent figures show GDP continuing to grow, with unemployment at a historically modest 6.1 percent.

November 2, 2008

SULLUM: You choose, you lose

On the question of which major-party candidate would do less damage to the country as president, I remain undecided.

October 31, 2008

SULLUM: Either a borrower or lender be

John McCain calls his promise to help millions of Americans with their mortgages the McCain Resurgence Plan. Ostensibly, the "resurgence" has something to do with home values, but his poll numbers are what he really has in mind.

October 18, 2008

SULLUM: Pick your populism

Casting about for an explanation of the baffling resistance among Republicans in the House of Representatives to the $700-billion Wall Street bailout that every well-informed, sensible person in the country supported, the New York Times settled on populism.

October 11, 2008

SULLUM: Revenge of gun owners

Last spring, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to arms, Democrats hoped the decision would neutralize the gun issue. Instead the ruling, by inviting debate over which kinds of gun control are constitutional, has made the issue more salient.

September 28, 2008