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  • Backgrounder posted May 15, 2013 by Lindsey Burke, Rachel Sheffield 13 Ways the 113th Congress Can Improve Education in America

    There is no shortage of opportunities for Congress to reform federal education policy. Dozens of federal education programs are managed by well-intentioned yet disconnected bureaucrats in Washington, who are far removed from the needs of teachers and children in the classroom. Taxpayers, meanwhile, must send billions of dollars every year to Washington to fund federal…

  • Special Report posted May 6, 2013 by Robert Rector, Jason Richwine, Ph.D. The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer

    Executive Summary Unlawful immigration and amnesty for current unlawful immigrants can pose large fiscal costs for U.S. taxpayers. Government provides four types of benefits and services that are relevant to this issue: Direct benefits. These include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. Means-tested welfare benefits.…

  • Commentary posted April 23, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson Marriage as Purposeful Institution

    When a baby is born, a mother always is nearby. The question is whether a father will be involved in the life of that child and, if so, for how long. Marriage increases the odds that a man will be committed to both the children that he helps create and to the woman with whom he does so. The recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court highlighted this and other key…

  • Commentary posted April 22, 2013 by Jennifer A. Marshall, Sarah Torre A Troubling but Eye-Opening Murder Trial

    Melissa Ohden went through an abortion and lived to tell about it. That might not sound noteworthy in an era when more than 3,000 women a day have an abortion. But Melissa was the baby, not the mother. In 1977, at approximately seven months gestation, Melissa was the target of a saline infusion abortion. She wasn’t supposed to survive. She did. Now a married mother…

  • Commentary posted April 16, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson Redefine Marriage, Make Government Bigger

    Amid all the emotion over same-sex marriage, the limited-government argument for marriage as uniting a man and a woman keeps getting short shrift. It fell to me to make that case during a discussion of marriage law and the Supreme Court with the worthy S.E. Cupp on a recent installment of “Real News from The Blaze,” and I’d like to flesh out those thoughts here. For…

  • Commentary posted April 7, 2013 by Rachel Sheffield It's About Welfare Reform, Not the Sequester

    The sequester is forcing devastating cuts on the nation’s welfare system at a time of record poverty levels — or so shouts a recent Associated Press dispatch, magnified with glee by overseas media. But let’s put this in perspective. First, the much-maligned sequester cuts less than 3 percent of non-defense spending. Spending on the nation’s means-tested welfare system —…

  • Commentary posted March 28, 2013 by Jennifer A. Marshall What I Saw at the March for Marriage: Diversity

    On Tuesday, as lawyers argued Proposition 8 before the Supreme Court, thousands made their way past the Court building as part of the March for Marriage, organized by the National Organization for Marriage. They came from Chicago and New York City, New Hampshire and North Carolina, and beyond. Some were black pastors who had marched for their civil rights a half century…

  • Commentary posted March 26, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson Redefining Marriage Has Consequences

    We’re having a robust national debate over whether marriage should be redefined to include same-sex relationships. It’s an important debate. And in many ways — despite what some activists say — it’s only beginning. Whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court’s deliberations, the only thing that’s inevitable is this: Americans will keep talking about marriage well into the…

  • Issue Brief posted March 25, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson The Consequences of Redefining Marriage: Eroding Marital Norms

    Marriage is society’s least restrictive means of ensuring the well-being of children. State recognition of marriage protects children by encouraging men and women to commit to each other permanently and exclusively and to take responsibility for their children. The norms of monogamy and sexual exclusivity encourage the raising of children by their mother and father. The…

  • Commentary posted March 25, 2013 by Andrew T. Walker Let's Not End the Marriage Debate

    Americans are having a debate about marriage that's too important to be stopped by the United States Supreme Court. A proper understanding of marriage is critical to the wellbeing of future generations of children. With good reason, 41 states define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Marriage exists to bring together a man and woman as husband and wife –…

  • Commentary posted March 22, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson Let's Talk About Why Marriage Matters

    “Pediatrics Group Backs Gay Marriage, Saying It Helps Children,” proclaims a headline in the New York Times. But the advocacy group presented no new studies, no new data, to support this claim. And the studies the group cites have been shown to be insufficient to come to this conclusion about same-sex parenting.   Turns out the press release, picked up nationwide, was…

  • Commentary posted March 20, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson In Defense of Marriage

    Americans respect marriage, not only as a crucial institution of civil society but the fundamental building block of all human civilization. This is why 41 states and the federal government affirm that marriage is between a man and a woman. But these laws are on the line. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in cases that challenge the…

  • Commentary posted March 20, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson Gay Marriage, Then Group Marriage?

    Editor's note: this piece is co-authored by Sherif Girgis and Robert P. George. The attractive civil rights rhetoric of "marriage equality" masks a profound error about what marriage is. Of course, if marriage were simply about recognizing bonds of affection or romance, then two men or two women could form a marriage just as a man and woman can. But so could three or…

  • Issue Brief posted March 18, 2013 by Ryan T. Anderson Marriage Matters: Consequences of Redefining Marriage

    The Supreme Court is considering challenges to state and federal laws that define marriage as the union of a man and woman. After lower courts ruled against these marriage laws, the Supreme Court now has the opportunity to uphold the laws and return to citizens and their elected representatives the authority for answering questions about marriage policy. If marriage…

  • Commentary posted March 18, 2013 by William W. Beach, Ryan T. Anderson We Don’t Need to Redefine Marriage to Fix Policy Problems

    When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) later this month, many casual observers will focus on what they call the fairness of redefining marriage. Interestingly, though, the dispute at the heart of the DOMA case could have been avoided had Congress enacted fairer tax reform years ago. Consider the facts:…