During the Cold War, Soviet communists reportedly referred to American liberals as "useful idiots." Although the origin of the quote has been challenged (and attributed to both Lenin and Stalin), it captured many of the adherents of communism after World War II. From higher education to Hollywood, dilettantes on the left embraced Marxism with little real understanding of the philosophy or its implications.

We are now seeing the rise of a new generation of armchair revolutio...

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In a moment when good government can feel out of reach, New York’s congestion pricing program proves something rare and powerful: We can still do big things.  Policy debates in New York often take on a larger-than-life quality, with every decision under a national microscope. Nowhere is that more true than in the area of transportation. From celebrities showing up at town halls about bike lanes to viral videos of subway breakdowns, transit policy here tends to provoke big reactions. 

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In a moment when good government can feel out of reach, New York’s congestion pricing program proves something rare and powerful: We can still do big things.  Policy debates in New York often take on a larger-than-life quality, with every decision under a national microscope. Nowhere is that more true than in the area of transportation. From celebrities showing up at town halls about bike lanes to viral videos of subway breakdowns, transit policy here tends to provoke big reactions. 

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Larry Summers has some nerve. The economist is ripping Republican’s “cruel” efforts to rein in out-of-control Medicaid spending.

Yet he himself participated in one of the biggest welfare reforms of our lifetime.

In 1996, with Summers serving in his Treasury Department, President Bill Clinton signed into law measures that ended welfare as an “entitlement,” pushed people to go to work, made relief temporary and limited federal funding for state programs. 

So...

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