Rather than fixing Medicaid — the deeply flawed and immensely expensive program of health coverage for the poor — Obamacare vastly expands the program, and puts it at the very heart of American health care. Any serious effort to control health-care costs and get America's public finances in order must therefore begin by rolling back Obamacare and transforming Medicaid.

Champions of the health-care legislation enacted this spring point to the law's coverage of Americans with pre-existing medical conditions as one of its chief benefits. But unfortunately, the law throws the baby out with the bathwater — overturning our entire health-care system in order to address a relatively narrow problem, and in the process only worsening other difficulties. A system of state-run high-risk insurance pools would do a much better job of solving the "pre-existing condition problem" — while also preserving and strengthening what does work about American health care.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will entrench and exacerbate, not eliminate, the worst failings of American health care. If any genuine, effective reform of our health-care system is to occur, Obamacare must first be repealed. But what should pro-market reformers advocate in its place? A series of discrete, market-oriented measures to reduce costs, reform our health-care entitlements, and put doctors and patients in the driver's seat.

Amid a new kind of war and unprecedented breaches of national security, Americans' views of executive secrecy are still shaped by an incident that took place four decades ago: Daniel Ellsberg's leak of the Pentagon Papers. In the years since the infamous disclosure, however, our understanding of the episode has devolved into caricature. The truth of the case, and its real legal consequences and moral meaning, are far more complex — and more interesting.

President Obama's expansion of the government service state — at the expense of local, more traditional community associations — is the latest manifestation of a longstanding Progressive ideal. But it is also likely to carve fault lines into the Democratic base. Can conservatives win over those disaffected by Obama's efforts, as they have in past moments of liberal overreach? Perhaps — but only by opening conservatism to new and unexpected sources of wisdom on the question of community.

From taking over General Motors to fixing executive compensation on Wall Street, recent government interventions in the economy have been profound and unprecedented. But are they constitutional? Ever since the New Deal Court stripped economic liberty out of our understanding of the Constitution — especially of the 14th Amendment — that question has become harder to answer. Now more than ever, Americans need a better grasp of the proper place of economic liberty in our constitutional order.

Government measures of unemployment are as widely interpreted, and as frequently misinterpreted, as modern art. So what exactly does the "unemployment rate" measure? And are politicians — on both the right and left — wise to use other so-called "real unemployment" figures to push their pet economic policies?

The past two years have offered a real-world test of some key assumptions behind Keynesian fiscal policy, and the results have not been encouraging. Yet even as their stimulus package has failed to keep unemployment in check, President Obama's economic advisors insist that their models were right, and that what we need now is more of the same. Their experience in this challenging time offers a stark reminder that economists should always be guided by rigorous empiricism — and a healthy dose of humility.

The rise of the Tea Parties has provoked scorn and concern among the political elite, as some dismiss the movement's influence over our politics while others warn of the dangers of demagoguery. But America's brand of populism — so different from the rest of the world's — has often enriched, not harmed, our politics; it has also led to some enduring political coalitions. Can today's Tea Partiers do the same? Only if they heed the lessons of the unique history of American populism.

America's intellectual class seems to adore President Obama nearly as much as it reviled President Bush. Examined in light of the relations between past presidents and intellectuals, this difference in attitudes offers a better understanding of the changing role of intellectuals in our culture — and of the interplay of elitism and populism in our recent political history.

The financial crisis of the past few years, and the government's response, have threatened to undermine American democratic capitalism. Yet in defending our system, too many champions of capitalism have ignored its foundations — both economic and moral — and so have lost sight of the deepest case for capitalism, and of the problems with it.

From the Fort Hood shooting to the Christmas Day bomber, recent events remind us that the threat of Islamist terrorism remains grave, and that the president's responsibility to protect the public remains both enormous and complicated. A look back at the Bush administration's anti-terror policies helps to clarify that responsibility, illustrates the role of each branch of our government in fighting the war on terror, and offers some critical lessons for President Obama.

America's transportation nightmares — from horrendous traffic jams on our highways to costly delays at airports and seaports — result from gross inefficiencies in both how we pay for and how we use our transportation infrastructure. Only by opening ourselves to policies that improve efficiency — including market solutions and partnerships with the private sector — can we hope to get America moving.

The housing crisis of 2008 was not an isolated incident: It was the ugly climax of many decades of naive ideology and heedless public policy. Avoiding another calamity in the housing market requires us to better understand this sorry saga — and to debunk the myths about home ownership that, despite the collapse, endure to this day.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a much-needed response to a profound moral wrong. But in the decades since its passage, it has devolved into a counterproductive mess — often hindering the very racial integration it was intended to advance. With the 2010 census sure to ignite fierce debates over congressional redistricting, it is worth examining the role that this legislative artifact — and the blatant racial gerrymandering it mandates — have come to play in our politics.

Is the provision of health care primarily an economic matter, or a moral one? That dilemma is as old as the medical profession itself, and lies at the heart of our health-care debate. Yet when we think about how American health care actually works, the two options turn out not to be mutually exclusive — and the balance between them points the way toward real solutions to our health-care woes.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Wall Street obviously finds itself in need of reform. But how can we ensure that new banking regulations both prevent another collapse and secure the vitality and energy of the American economy? By using the collective wisdom of the market to signal danger and limit excessive risk, we can protect taxpayers without undermining future growth.

The United States is digging itself into a deep fiscal hole. Deficits are at record highs, the debt is ballooning out of control, our entitlement system is on the verge of bankruptcy, and credit-rating agencies and foreign lenders are beginning to squirm. Yet even now, some still argue that deficits and debt don't really matter. Americans need to understand just why our budget crisis does matter — and how, in the face of fiscal catastrophe, our nation can pull itself back from the brink.

Remembrances of Irving Kristol, who died in September, have tended to emphasize his intellectual journey from the left to the right. But what emerges most powerfully from almost seven decades of writings is Kristol's exceptionally consistent view of the world — a view with much to tell us about our country and its prospects.

Baseball, the great American game, unites the generations and has a played a crucial role in forming our culture. The health of baseball concerns all of America, and the health of America — perhaps especially the American family — finds itself reflected in the state of our national pastime.