Ready for the battle in November? You probably think I’m talking about the election. No, I’m talking about the battle around your Thanksgiving table. The dinner conversation will turn to politics and the economy, and it will be your job to stick up for capitalism and free markets.

The following is excerpted and adapted from Mr. Brooks' upcoming book "The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise," to be released on May, 8 2012.Liberals often accuse conservatives of being obsessed by morality. But the truth is, many conservatives are reluctant to talk...

Regardless of whether proposed health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act are ever implemented successfully, consumers and employers need better tools to compare the relative cost and quality of the health care they are likely to receive under different plan options.

In a just published piece, AEI economist and tax expert Alan Viard warns that the 2011 payroll tax holiday, which shaves 2 % points off workers’ Social Security tax rates, undermines historical practices and distorts federal budget priorities as it diverts $130 billion from the general treasury into the Social Security trust fund.

It is all too clear that the holiday's diversion of general revenue from the Social Security trust fund has undermined historical practices and distorted federal budgetary priorities.

Make the Treasury Department truly responsible for managing all the government's debt. Managing only Treasury securities deals with only about half, and sometimes less than half, of the effective government debt.

Larry Lindsey, with his profound knowledge of Washington ways, has absolutely nailed the principal guiding motto of all regulatory bureaucracies: "Cross us and we will make you pay."