Commentary: Unchecked Immigration Has Transformed America

Illegal Immigrants

The United States is deep into a season of severe discontent. Our politics are polarized, our Congress is moribund, and our purchasing power has tumbled. A Gallup poll in early 2024 showed that only 20 percent of Americans are satisfied with the “way things are going.” Nearly 70 percent believe the country is on the “wrong track.”

While innumerable failures of government factor into this public cynicism, evidence suggests that U.S. immigration policy is among its most powerful components. Despite our self-image as a “nation of immigrants” and our public celebration of “diversity,” a growing number of Americans sense that immigration, especially in its most frenzied illegal form of the past three years, is implicated in some of the country’s most vexing problems.

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Commentary: Vance Outclasses Walz in Debate That Validates His Selection

Tim Walz and JD Vance

A smiling JD Vance shaking hands with a grim-faced Tim Walz at the beginning of last night’s vice presidential debate foreshadowed the feelings of both at the end of the 90-minute discussion.

Vance not only outshined Walz, he also showed himself as the only truly great debater among the four candidates on the Republican and Democratic tickets. On Tuesday night, he beat Walz, Margaret Brennan, and Norah O’Donnell in yet another three-liberals-on-one-conservative handicap match.

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Commentary: The Case Against Foreign Aid

Maldova

The main argument in favor of foreign aid is that rich countries can and should help poor countries become more prosperous. And plenty of politicians are following that approach. According to the latest data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, donor governments gave away more than $220 billion last year. But advocates of foreign aid say that’s not enough. The folks at the United Nations assert that rich countries should double their foreign aid budgets.

Skeptics of aid have a different perspective. They explain that foreign aid is not successful and that increasing aid budgets would be throwing good money after bad. They argue that foreign aid is wrong in theory since it focuses on giving money to governments rather than the pro-market policy reforms that would boost growth. And they argue that foreign aid has failed the real-world test since countries receiving large transfers have not climbed out of poverty.

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