Max Ehrenfreund

I’ve felt that much of the commentary surrounding Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency has failed to capture just how radically these revelations may alter our society. A couple of weeks ago, I vaguely assumed that the average citizen had at least a modicum of privacy, but I can no longer justify that belief. […]

Despite its frequent assertions that it represents the interests of law-abiding gun owners and dealers, the NRA has put a lot of time into defending precisely those people who do the most to arm criminals. Lobbying by the association has left the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives almost powerless to enforce laws on […]

Requesting anonymity, officials in the White House told reporters last week that President Barack Obama would talk about the middle class in his State of the Union address. They added that Senator Marco Rubio, delivering the Republican Party’s response, would talk about the middle class, too. They also said that they expected the president to […]

Ezra Klein predicts today that we’ll have a compromise on fiscal issues in time for Christmas. I hope he is wrong, because that would be a real tragedy. Klein was among those speculating earlier this fall that one result of the negotiations could be a carbon tax, but if Congress and President Barack Obama make […]

Voters in Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana yesterday. Although the drug is still illegal under federal law, Reason’s Jacob Sullum explains that there isn’t much Washington can do: With only 5,500 agents, the Drug Enforcement Administration relies almost exclusively on state troopers, sheriffs’ deputies, and police officers to enforce federal drug policy. Washington does have […]