EPPC - Yuval Levin RSS Feed

Romney vs. Obamacare

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Defenders of Obamacare argue that Mitt Romney is hardly in any position to oppose it, since the law resembles his own health reforms in Massachusetts. But that argument only proves that Obamacare's champions do not understand the nature of our health-care crisis, or the path to real solutions.

Religious Liberty and Civil Society

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The Obama administration's requirement that religious employers provide insurance that covers contraceptives and abortifacients is not only a threat to religious liberty in America but an instance of the administration's much broader assault on civil society.

A State of Denial

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

President Obama's State of the Union address offered a vision of a hyperactive government with its hands in every corner of our economy while ignoring our mounting deficits and debt. It was a very bad sign about what the president would seek to do with a second term.

A Choice of Two Temperaments

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

The race for the Republican nomination has yielded two very unusual front runners in Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. To choose between them, Republican voters must grasp just how substantively similar they are, but how temperamentally different.

What Is Constitutional Conservatism?

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

The Constitution stands opposed to both the populist and the technocratic appeals of the Left. The Constitution is built upon a profound skepticism about the ability of any political arrangement to overcome the limitations of human reason and human nature, and so establishes a system of checks to prevent sudden large mistakes while enabling gradual changes supported by a broad and longstanding consensus.

The Medicare Monster

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST

Medicare is going bankrupt and taking the federal government with it, but the politics of Medicare reform leave too many Republicans terrified of offering solutions. A properly conceived reform, one with innovation rather than austerity at its core, could offer a way out of both the fiscal and political problems—and just such a reform is possible, if conservative politicians could muster the courage to advance it.

Help the Sick and Reduce the Debt: The Moral Economy of the Health-Care Debate

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST

The health-care debate involves not only a difference of opinion about economics, but also a deep moral difference: Should we reduce health-care costs by allowing individuals and families greater freedom to choose among treatment options in a market, or by establishing centralized control that requires utilitarian calculations of the worth of different people's lives?

The Tea Party’s Achilles’ Heel

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST

Unless the tea party movement is willing to step up to the plate on the issue of entitlement reform, its members cannot really be considered champions of limited government or defenders of America's future prosperity.

Will Bush’s Legacy Hurt Perry?

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST

Texas governor Rick Perry's newborn candidacy for president will rise or fall on substance, not on his Texas style.

Unhealthy Debt

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST

Genuine health care reform therefore needs to be at the core of the Republican case for fiscal sanity—a case that in turn must be front and center in the 2012 election.

Missing the Debt

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST

Our debt explosion is a health-entitlement explosion, and to address it we have to fix the fundamental structure of our health entitlements. Any debt-ceiling deal that fails to do that is not a meaningful debt-reduction plan and is not worth huge concessions from Republicans.

’We Don’t Estimate Speeches’

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EST

Thanks to an explosion of government spending combined with a weak economy, America now faces the prospect of a massive debt crisis. But the president and congressional Democrats seem intent on doing nothing to prevent it. The debt-ceiling fight now heating up in Congress might offer the only real opportunity to force them to act.

Beyond Mediscare

Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:00 EST

President Obama's cynical complaisance and demagoguery risk killing Medicare, and doing grave damage to the budget and the economy along the way.

Yes, There Is a Good Alternative to Obamacare

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST

Defenders of Obamacare have recently taken to arguing that there is literally no alternative approach to addressing the problems with our health-care system, and especially the challenge of covering Americans with pre-existing conditions. But conservatives do have better solutions, and it is time that Republican politicians got behind them.

The Missing Reform

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST

As a first incremental step in replacing Obamacare and promoting a thriving market for health insurance, Republicans should support a tax credit for health insurance for people without access to a company plan.

The Radical Gradualism of Paul Ryan

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST

The House Republican budget proposed last week has been greeted as a radical assault on the status quo. But in fact, it is a case for a gradual reorientation of our welfare state, and a mark of just how sharp a break from the American experience the last few years have been.

Obama’s Deficit of Vision

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST

The President's speech outlining his approach to the deficit on Wednesday was terribly lacking in specifics and in substance. But the very fact that he felt compelled to take up the subject is a cause for hope.

The Republican Budget

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST

The budget released today by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan is more than a budget: it is a comprehensive and compelling conservative agenda for the coming years. It should be, and very likely will be, the fiscal agenda of the next Republican presidential candidate.

The Central Front

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST

The effort to repeal and replace Obamacare and to fix our health care entitlements must be well underway by 2013. And that, in turn, means that a Republican president must be elected in 2012 having run on a platform of real health care reform.

Morals and Markets

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST

Nicholas Phillipson's new biography of Adam Smith highlights capitalism's roots in a moral system that neither libertarians nor liberals have quite come to terms with.