Jacob Shmukler

The internal divide within the GOP between its “establishment” and libertarian members is as pronounced as ever. Coming off a demoralizing defeat in the presidential election and the recent comments by John McCain on the now-famous Rand Paul…

Welcome to Policy Mic's official coverage of the presidential race in the District of Columbia: The District of Columbia promises to be President Obama's safest electoral college votes: in 2008, Candidate Obama secured nearly 95% of the popular vote…

Both candidates are eager to admit that this election is a choice between two visions of America. Many of my libertarian friends, however, would reject that proposition. They would instead suggest that the two candidates actually represent the same…

The Economist magazine recently endorsed President Obama for a second term, though reluctantly.  The general thrust of the publication’s argument is that while the current president has made several grave policy mistakes and has failed to…

When thinking about who is likely to win a presidential election, it is important to focus on the tallies of the Electoral College rather than the popular vote. On that basis, it’s safe to say that if Mitt Romney can take Ohio, Florida, and…

Paul Ryan's nomination as vice president on the Romney ticket was met with mixed reaction among libertarian circles. Some rightly herald him as a small government champion ready to tackle our nation's debt crisis if ever given the chance. Others…

I turn 25 at the end of this month, which for most people would mark a milestone birthday that provokes thoughts of the past, present, and future, time spent wondering where it all went right or wrong. Not me though; I ask the next most obvious…

Princeton Professor Uwe Reinhardt makes a claim that I have heard repeated often from health policy experts who tend to advocate for more government involvement in health care. The thrust of his argument is that people in the United States, despite…

It seems to me that conservatives and libertarians who are either apoplectic or dejected about yesterday’s Supreme Court decision may be missing the bigger picture. In the long run, I think this decision will actually benefit the case for limited…

If you didn't follow national politics, there would be very little physical evidence around the city to indicate that this is an election year.  Here's why. DC can be segmented into a number of very different sub-populations, the most obvious binary…

The conflation of Ron Paul, the Tea Party, and libertarianism is all too common. Using these terms interchangeably, without any real evidence that each of these entities share a similar viewpoint on a particular issue, paints an inaccurate and…