April 15th came and went, and there was a sense of resolve this year.

I didn’t hear about Tax Day Rallies from Tea Partiers — probably because Tea Partiers are still a bit burned out and discouraged from last year’s election.

I didn’t hear stories about last-minute filers waiting in long lines to get their tax forms in on time — probably because many filers did their taxes online. Read More»

[Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at Forbes.com.]

Republicans are flailing about these days, trying to rebrand themselves before the next election cycle. A certain amount of introspection and internecine debate is inevitable after suffering a stinging loss against an opponent with a dismal record.

One thing the GOP needs to do to gain greater acceptance among voters is to improve their credibility by outgrowing a tiresome, unthinking opposition to any and all tax increases. Read More»

The little boy lived on an average street with average friends. They all lived in an average small town. He had average parents who had an average number of children for the time. In fact, if asked to describe his life in a single word, the little boy would surely have replied, “Average.”

Soon fate would take an interest in the little boy. His average life would start down a path toward becoming anything but.

At 8 he was rescued by firefighters and knew what he wanted to be. By 10, he witnessed the first spacewalk on a black and white television and knew what he wanted to be. Read More»

The last time there was a terrorist attack on America, we got the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration.

Each entity has spent billions to keep us safe, but neither could stop two brothers, Tamerlan, a permanent resident, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a newly minted U.S. citizen, who lived in America and, reportedly, became radicalized jihadists, from killing and maiming innocent people at the Boston Marathon last week. Read More»