President Obama has proposed a freeze on discretionary, non-entitlement, non-military, non-emergency federal spending. Yuval Levin says this is “a welcome tiny first step.” Dan Mitchell is more skeptical.

Newsweek says neoconservatism is alive and kicking.

CAP responds to Citizens United:  “Indeed, with hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate profits at stake every time Congress begins a session, wealthy corporations would be foolish not to spend tens of billions of dollars every election cycle to make sure that their interests are protected.” Of course, it’s the fact that billions are at stake whenever Congress meets that’s the real problem. Ilya Somin, meanwhile, defends free speech rights.

And finally, Conan O’Brien stays classy in his final Tonight Show.

Good news: The Supreme Court has struck down government restrictions on free speech. Here’s a quick history of such restrictions and why they haven’t worked.

Bad news: America’s economy is less free now than it was a year ago.

The Agitator makes the case that donations in response to disaster don’t constitute fundraising as such.

Daniel Larison asks a good question: are illiberal governments necessarily a threat to free governments?

James Ceasar explains how the passion for Obama can be traced to radical thinking about replacing traditional religion with a “Religion of Humanity.”

What happens when science becomes politicized? The truth is sacrificed to the “greater good.”

• Campaign Finance Reform’s Unending Quest to Limit Our Rights. Bradley Smith explains how campaign finance “reform” has continued to erode basic constitutional protections: “every time we close off one avenue of political participation, politically active Americans will turn to the next most effective legal means of carrying on their activity. That next most effective means will then become the loophole that must be closed.”
• Gmail Users Are More Active on Social Media.
• The GOP Shouldn’t Count It’s Chickens Just Yet. Ramesh Ponnuru: “Republicans shouldn’t get carried away. There are 10 months to go before the midterm elections, and the political climate can change a lot in that time.”

• Did Deregulation Really Cause the Crash? Russ Roberts: “If you lift the speed limit from 65 miles per hour to 200 miles per hour and someone crashes going 195, it would be strange to blame the crash on the change in the speed limit. The question remains as to why someone would be so reckless.”
• Teaching Business School Students to Think Creatively.
• The Right Way and the Wrong Way to Simplify Taxes. “For the Obama Administration, the new regulation is a way to try to increase tax revenues without Congress having to pass a law…Here’s a better idea: If Washington doesn’t like taxpayers working the system of legal deductions to reduce their tax burden, it can always simplify the code and flatten the rates.”