Free Republic

AS A CARD-CARRYING member of the American Civil Liberties Union, I'd like to have one more card in my wallet. The card I want, contrary to the views of most civil liberties activists, is a national ID card. Privacy advocates have always resisted this idea, for fear of government snooping on citizens. But that cat is out of the bag. Nearly all of us have driver's licenses, Social Security cards, passports. And corporations, credit agencies, and HMOs keep dossiers, too -- often more extensive than what government maintains. For civil libertarians, the real issue is not whether government and business...

If New York State's 2006 elections are a logistical disaster, we will have Gov. George Pataki and the New York Legislature to thank. They have needlessly delayed passing legislation to adopt new voting machines and make other important election reforms. The slow pace might almost be forgivable if they had been hard at work, scrutinizing the complex issues involved. But it seems to be the result of lobbyists' fighting over lucrative contracts, and Albany's usual legislative ineptitude. It is time for the governor and the Legislature to get serious. After the 2000 election mess, Congress allocated up to $3.9 billion...

Yesterday was a proud and hopeful day for Afghanistan. After centuries of monarchy, foreign occupation, civil war and Taliban tyranny, Hamid Karzai was inaugurated as the country's first democratically elected president. Washington, which played a vital role in this welcome transition, sent a high-level delegation, led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But the biggest credit goes to the Afghan people, who braved long lines and threats of Taliban terror in October to have a say in their political future. But their hopes won't be fulfilled until Afghanistan has an elected parliament as well. Parliamentary elections,...

Twelve years ago, the White House and Congress made an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry that seemed eminently reasonable at the time. The industry would supply substantial sums - reaching $200 million a year at latest count - to help the Food and Drug Administration hire more reviewers to speed the approval process for new drugs that might otherwise be held up solely by administrative logjams. The quid pro quo was that the government had to meet tight deadlines for reviewing drugs and had to keep steady its own financing for new-drug reviews, adjusted for inflation. That seemed a reasonable...