Scott Rasmussen
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Past articles by Scott:
Trump Victory A Rejection of Bureaucrats Know Best Government by Scott Rasmussen
The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States has been described with words like stunning, historic and unprecedented. Some view it with exhilaration and others with terror. → Read More
Obama's economic advisers decry red tape
White House says states should limit occupational licenses to areas of legitimate public safety importance. → Read More
Scott Walker's secret weapon: Lack of college degree
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has emerged as a serious contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. In response, the Washington Post researched and published a lengthy article on the mystery of why Walker dropped out of college. The decision to attack Walker for failing to graduate tells us more about the worldview of the Washington Post and the political class than it does about… → Read More
A federal budget on auto-pilot
President Obama's proposed federal budget for 2016 envisions never-ending growth of federal spending. This is a significant change from the past six years in which federal government spending has held fairly steady. Following a big jump in 2009 due to the bailouts and financial crisis, government spending never returned to pre-crisis levels, but it didn't grow either. In 2009, the federal… → Read More
Federal budget deceit
On Monday, President Obama will unveil his proposed federal budget for 2016. Voters should be warned that virtually all the numbers reported in news coverage of the federal budget will be misleading at best. That's because the budget reporting will be written primarily in the language of official Washington rather than the language of everyday Americans. In Washington, if government spending… → Read More
Media miss the real news of the week
This past week, one of the world's most famous and influential men made a major announcement concerning our global future. But you might have missed it because America's national news media was obsessing over President Obama's State of the Union address. Let's face it, a State of the Union address by any president is more political theater than serious news. Perhaps that's why the coverage often… → Read More
Technology, not politics, leading the way
For decades, American presidents urged the American people to reduce our reliance on foreign oil imports by conserving energy. Nothing worked. In defiance of the prevailing political wisdom, individual Americans insisted that the answer was not cutting back on the use of energy but finding new sources of energy. When politicians tried to force people into smaller and more fuel-efficient cars,… → Read More
780,000 good men and women in blue
Trying to make sense of the assassination of two police officers on the Saturday before Christmas, my mind keeps drifting back to the morning of March 13, 2010. That's the day a police officer saved the lives of my family. Shortly after 5 in the morning, my wife and I heard noise outside. I thought it was some drunks and, when we saw police lights flashing, expected it would soon be over.… → Read More
United we distrust
President Obama recently spoke of the simmering distrust between many police departments and minority communities. The president is correct in his assessment, but dramatically understates the problem. Rather than being just a feature of the minority communities in our nation, distrust of law enforcement is widespread. Whether it's the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, regulators targeting small… → Read More
Silicon Valley stands up to NSA
It's been a year and a half since Edward Snowden revealed to the world just how much private information the National Security Agency has been collecting on just about everyone. The massive spying operation raised privacy and Constitutional concerns and set off alarms with reports that some employees had used the system to keep tabs on their love interests. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the… → Read More
Robin Hood and the digital revolution
The lovable legend of Robin Hood with his band of Merry Men making life difficult for the Sheriff of Nottingham offers a great way to understand the politics of 21st-century America. As with any such story, casting is key. The modern version would place tech entrepreneurs in the role of Robin Hood and his gang. They're committed to making life better for the masses and more than a little disdainful… → Read More
Conflict in Ferguson shows need to consider multiple perspectives
From the moment the riots in Ferguson, Mo., burst upon the national consciousness, people all across the nation have tried to fit the storyline into their own preconceived notions. Broadly speaking, most black Americans see a story of racism and overly aggressive policing. The Whole Damn System is Guilty, read a sign carried by a young woman and reported on by USA Today. Most white people see a law-and-order… → Read More
In 1970 we had a riot; what we have in Ferguson looks like a war
The news from Ferguson, Mo., has brought back unpleasant memories from the long-ago riots in Asbury Park, N.J. It was the summer of 1970, and I was a young teenager close enough to the action to be appropriately frightened. The riots I remember were also fueled by racial grievances, and there were similar issues with white officers and black rioters. And, just like the sad story unfolding in Missouri,… → Read More
Tech entrepreneurs have greater impact on nation than presidents
The tech industry will have a more lasting impact on America's future than Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama combined. That's not the sense you get from reading the news these days, but journalists and historians always overstate the impact of politicians while underestimating the impact of entrepreneurs. That was true at the founding of our nation, and it's true today. Consider Thomas Jefferson,… → Read More
Nanny-state mindset leads to police brutality
In Florida recently, police pulled up to a young boy playing in the park and asked where his mother lived. According to a report on WPTV, the mom was then arrested for allowing her son to go to the park alone. Her son had a cellphone, and she would check in with him along the way. The mom believes he's old enough, but Port St. Lucie Police disagree. There is a tendency to dismiss stories such as this… → Read More
Opposition to Hobby Lobby decision highlights problem with mandates
Following the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, one of the key talking points that emerged from enraged opponents of the ruling was: My boss shouldn't be involved in my health care decisions. California State Senate candidate Sandra Fluke says on her official website that such a perspective is common sense. An Ohio Democrat is introducing a Not My Boss' Business Act in the state legislature. Like… → Read More
Political language, not Watergate, to blame for public distrust of government
In his weekly column for CNN.com, Julian Zelizer makes a reasonable case that Distrustful Americans still live in age of Watergate. In his eyes, this helps explain why the president's health care law and other initiatives have encountered so much resistance. The Princeton professor concludes, The worst effect of Watergate is that it created a climate where Americans fundamentally don't trust their… → Read More
After the Supreme Court's decision on recess appointments, a celebration of checks and balances
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling against the president's right to get around Congress by making recess appointments. This is frustrating to President Obama at the moment and will undoubtedly aggravate some future Republican president. The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin wrote that this ruling will make the government function less well, less justly, and less democratically… → Read More
Tech industry looks forward, politicians look back
Silicon Valley and the tech industry exude so much optimism it's contagious. There is a desire to solve the planet's most difficult problems and a belief they can do it. On the other coast, official Washington and the political industry are mired in pessimism. Rather than a sense that problems can be solved, the political discussion focuses on the limits of political power and the threats from outsiders.… → Read More
On health care, repeal or reform lead to same result
Heading into the 2014 elections, some Democrats think they have found a way to minimize the political fallout from the president's health care law. They have convinced themselves that voters are more interested in fixing the law rather than repealing it. A few even believe that Obamacare may someday be popular with voters. Rhetorically, they may be right (if a bit overoptimistic) in the narrow setting… → Read More