Politicians often claim to support “common sense” solutions to various social and budgetary problems facing America. In most instances, however, the “common sense” solution is also the wrong solution.

Looking at some major political issues debated over the last 25 years emphasizes how a “common sense” approach can backfire.

For example, “common sense” says more guns equal more crime and more accidental gun deaths. That statement however was shown to be false by the groundbreaking studies of Professor John Lott. Professor Lott’s studies showed that as more states allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed guns the crime rate and gun accident rate have dropped significantly. Full Story »

The nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court is being hailed as a move by President Bush to unify the conservative base. Such a nomination, however, can’t overshadow Bush’s liberal solution to many of the problems that face America and shamefully, his brand of neo-conservative politics stands as the greatest threat to the modern conservative movement.

Everyone accepts that red-tape and bureaucracy hampers our ability to fight terrorism yet leaders in the Republican Party pandered to the big government crowd by adding another level of management to the process. They cleverly named the new organization the Department of Homeland Security to disguise what it really is – a bureaucratic nightmare. The misguided solution was quickly exposed by FEMA’s poor reaction to the Louisiana government’s failure to properly respond to Hurricane Katrina. Full Story »