Policy and Culture

With 72 hours left in the 2012 election cycle, many of us are feeling like this little girl who was caught on camera crying and saying she was “tired of Bronco Bama and Mitt Romney.”  No matter your party affiliation, that video probably captures the sentiment of the nation right now.  This has been probably […]

With 40 days left before perhaps the most important election in our lifetime, you want to make sure you, your family, friends, and neighbors are signed up to participate in one of the greatest actions in our free society: voting! Of course, the mere act of voting isn’t sufficient. You should also make sure you […]

At 4:27 am on Friday, September 14, I woke up at home in Tallahassee…just minutes before my alarm clock was set to go off. Within a half hour I was dressed and walking out the door to drive over to Jacksonville to take the 8:45 am direct flight to Cincinnati. My plane landed shortly after […]

Day 5: We Own This Country After a late night on Wednesday, me and two of my colleagues Joe and Amar got up and left Treasure Island for a lunch put on by the Libre Initiative in the Tampa Westside area. It was a very professional event focused on public policy from the view of […]

Day 4: We Were Born Free, We Want to Stay Free On Wednesday morning I woke up in Treasure Island. I didn’t get much sleep. We had got back to our hotel around 2am the night before and I had to be up around 7am to get out the door and up the road to […]

Day 3: Making Waves on the Convention’s Opening Day When Tuesday arrived, all of the attention of The James Madison Institute (JMI) staff was on our lunch at 717 South – a really nice restaurant in a trendy area of south Tampa. I highly recommend it for an event or a simple meal or drink. […]

Day 2: Welcome to Florida: The Cubans Have Taken Over When we woke up on Treasure Island Monday morning, it was already looking like a pretty nice day. The sun was breaking through the clouds. Good news for us, but later this would be horrible news for the people of Louisiana, as Hurricane Isaac had […]

Day 1: Arriving in Tampa Amid the Gathering Storm This past week had to be up there with one of the most amazing life experiences I’ve had. But it all started with anxiety as Tropical Storm (and later Hurricane) Isaac threatened the Tampa Bay area to such a degree that organizers canceled the opening day’s […]

Last Thursday and Friday, I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh program live, as I typically do several days a week when I’m in my car during my lunch break or running an afternoon errand. It was during those days that this whole Sandra Fluke controversy erupted. While listening, I found nothing he said offensive. […]

  When I initially supported Herman Cain – prior to the Presidency 5 straw poll in Orlando – I didn’t think he’d win the straw poll or even the Presidency. That’s not why I supported him. I supported him because of what he represented: a political outsider who had never held public office and who […]