March 5th 2008 - Today's Columns:

John Stossel : Influence-Peddling - Stossel spits in the wind in his usual and charming way about "the problem of concentrated benefits and dispersed costs." By that I mean he's right, he makes a tremendous amount of sense, he argues convincingly using relevant real-world examples, and yet his position has about as much chance of implementation as Al Gore's 10,000 sq. ft. mansion being powered by solar panels. For instance he argues, "Only when we eliminate the state's ability to meddle in business will business will [sic] stop meddling in government." Oh, is that all it takes?

Rich Galen : John, John, He's Our Man - Galen focuses on the short-term of Hillary and Obama battling it out for the nomination while McCain can "spend the next eight months building (and paying for) a well-oiled General election machine." So many pundits are focused on the next battle, Pennsylvania, that they're not realizing that neither Hillary nor Obama can clinch the nomination at this point. There simply aren't enough delegates remaining for one to knock the other out of contention. As Rush said on his program today, this thing will go on until June 7th in Puerto Rico and it won't be decided then either. After yesterday's performance Hillary has enough street cred to stay in this to the bitter end. And it will be bitter. Were I a lesser blogger I would put a smiley face here.

Walter E. Williams : Liberty Versus Socialism - Williams takes a closer look at the slippery slope we are headed down with our government approach to health care. If the government has a financial interest in you leading a healthy lifestyle there is virtually no facet of your life over which the government cannot claim control. Smoking and helmets are the beginning. But this inexorably leads to control of fatty foods, exercise, and precious, precious alcohol. But we've been down that road before and I'll have my Tommy gun at the ready.

Jonah Goldberg : An Early Autopsy on the Clinton Campaign - I really feel bad for Jonah publishing this article prior to the results of yesterday's contest. It really seems premature in today's light. But one line is prescient: "Democrats won't be pleased that Hillary raised the who-should-take-the-call question with John McCain in the race."

Lawrence Kudlow : Resurrect King Dollar - Kudlow argues for strengthening the dollar on the world stage. This makes perfect sense from an economic standpoint but he thinks McCain will score political points by making this central to his campaign. But considering that a shockingly large percentage of the American population thinks the government can simply print more money and give it to them, and that since it doesn't, the government is mean, I doubt this is a winning political strategy. I suspect the percentage of the population that understands the role of the dollar with regard to world markets and inflation is closer to zero than to one percent.