Reducing the value of the charitable deduction is a threat to voluntary associations.

How a forced stand-off between two groups who have equal and opposing claims on the outcome could have been avoided entirely.

Rick Santorum won big victories in three small contests in the Republican presidential race last Tuesday. In doing so he reshaped the oft-reshaped nomination battle once again. But he has not installed himself as the favorite, and neither he nor Mitt Romney has established himself as the candidate who can do best in the general election.

As in Chicago, President Obama seems to live in a cocoon in which Republicans are largely absent, offscreen actors that no one pays any attention to.

President Obama on Friday announced what he termed an “accommodation” of religious employers: the mandate to provide abortifacient drugs, sterilization and contraception would remain in place — but insurers will be required to provide them for “free.” The decision has been called everything from a compromise to capitulation — but in truth the president didn’t retreat one inch.

Churches and charitable institutions provide services that some politicians feel belong to the federal government.