The founders built a structural limit on federal taxing power, a restriction the Progressive Era removed. The government that followed was not a coincidence. The 16th Amendment, ratified Feb. 3, 1913, gave Congress the power to tax income “from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states.” Those 23 words eliminated the constitutional constraint […]

Spokesmen at the National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System are forever asking people to donate money to support themselves and their programs. “Viewers just like you” do so, we are told, and we are exhorted to follow in their footsteps. What are we who love our country to say about such goings on? […]

The First Amendment doesn’t protect what most people think it protects. The Founding Fathers wrote it to defend a specific thing: political speech directed at government. Not offensive art. Not commercial advertising. Not the content moderation disputes on a social media platform. Two centuries of doctrinal expansion have broadened the amendment’s formal coverage considerably and, […]

The following is an installment of “On This Day,” a series celebrating America’s 250th anniversary by following the actions of Gen. George Washington, the Continental Congress, and the men and women whose bravery and sacrifice led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. June 2, 1776 As it is Sunday, Congress does not […]