Where we stand, and why.

The law that protects ordinary property owners went first, then the economy.

Five times, countries that started alike split on public ownership. The results point the same way.

Same freedoms, same alliance, both rebuilding from the war. Different owners, and very different results.

Paying every retiree a full Social Security retirement could add $1.8 trillion a year to the budget.

At full pay, a thirty-two hour week makes every hour of work cost 25 percent more, and how much of that lands on Washington depends on who owns the employer.

The leading estimate prices the paycheck. The federal government's own books price everything else a job requires.

Pay the Levy wage and families stay eligible for aid. Pay what Washington pays its own workers and the line for the job runs past 15 million. Either way, the savings stay small.

Skipping enforcement and denying due process both threaten the rule of law.

Leaders of both parties have gone around Congress and aimed law enforcement at their opponents, and so far the courts have held the line.

Two socialist platforms promise free health care, guaranteed jobs, and a 32-hour week, and neither says what any of it would cost.

Health care at no cost to the patient still comes with a bill: about $3 trillion a year in new federal spending.

Like a sound roof, the rule of law goes unnoticed until it fails.