Under current law, the U.S. Department of Defense automatically faces significant spending cuts over the next 10 years—cuts that america's civilian and military leaders have cadidly described as "devastating" and "very high risk."

When he was director of central intelligence, Leon Panetta earned a reputation as an energetic advocate for his agency. When he replaced Robert Gates at the Pentagon, it was reasonable to hope that Panetta would continue to play the role of a senior statesman.

It's comfortable living in a cocoon -- associating only with those who share your views, reading journalism and watching news that only reinforce them, avoiding those on the other side of the cultural divide.

Liberals have been doing this for a long time. In 1972 the movie critic Pauline Kael said...

Export-related jobs are a huge and important driver of the U.S. economy, and the record of the Ex-Im Bank is clear: Using private funds and with minimal exposure to taxpayers, it has been a major driver of U.S. exports and a driver of jobs and corporate profits in the United States.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

As I listened to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan describe his latest budget plan in a speech at American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, I couldn't help thinking how different things will be in Britain today when Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne steps out of Number 11 Downing Street with a battered red briefcase holding his budget for the forthcoming year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has triggered the so-called nuclear option--unilaterally changing Senate rules by a simple majority vote to stop the minority from forcing votes on uncomfortable amendments.

Unless Congress acts, this summer the Pentagon will begin making across-the-board cuts in defense programs — cuts that will eventually be so deep that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said they will end the United States’s status as a global superpower. Yet there seems to be...