Cap and trade may be flopping around like a dying fish in Congress, but the Obama Administration isn't about to let the annoyance of democratic consent interfere with its climate ambitions. Almost as bad is the new evidence that it understands how damaging its carbon regulations and taxes will be and is pressing ahead anyway.

State government finances are a wreck. The drop in tax receipts is the worst in a half century. Fewer than 10 states ended the last fiscal year with significant reserves, and three-fourths have deficits exceeding 10% of their budgets. What we are being hit by isn't a tropical storm that will come and go, with sunshine soon to follow. It's much more likely that we're facing a near permanent reduction in state tax revenues that will require us to reduce the size and scope of our state governments.

Recent town-hall uproars weren't just about health care. They were also eruptions of concern that the government is taking on too much at once. That suggests trouble for the president and his party, and fears of losses in next year's midterm election are likely to shape the Democrats' fall agenda.

Tom Coburn spoke with thousands of voters at town-hall meetings this summer. What he gathered from them is that it's not just the proposed overhaul of health care that has them upset. Many also expressed a sense of betrayal. In spite of their hope for change, it still appears that the government in Washington is run for its own benefit and the benefit of special interests-not for the benefit of the American people. The folks I met with also don't trust politicians in Washington to address mounting long-term challenges to our economy.

Connecticut grabs $7,007 in state and local taxes per man, woman and child resident, according to the Tax Foundation, more per capita than every state but New York and New Jersey. That's hardly the company any state would want to keep these days, but the politicians in Hartford seem intent on following Trenton and Albany off the tax-and-spend cliff.

On Monday, Governor Donald Carcieri announced he would furlough without pay some 81% of the state's 13,550 state employees for 12 days between now and June in an effort to close a $590 million budget gap. Except for such critical services as police and prison guards, all state offices would shut down for those 12 days.

"A solid majority of Americans do not want health reform that involves an even more expansive role for government. That's why the so-called ‘public option' of a government health insurance entity competing with private insurance is rapidly losing favor in Washington. That's good because a public option won't restore sanity to the health insurance market. What will, is getting get rid of the rules, mandates and tax exemptions that treat health insurance different from other coverages."

"Many of the issues of our times are hard to understand without understanding the vision of the world that they are part of. Whether the particular issue is education, economics, or medical care, the preferred explanation tends to be an external explanation - that is, something outside the control of the individuals directly involved."

In an interview with Emily Esfahani Smith, of the Wall Street Journal, Governor Rick Perry discusses his take on California and its governor, Obamacare, Sarah Palin and the future of the Republican party. 

In a Wall Street Journal opinion-editorial, Daniel Henninger explains the reason for the lack of public support for Obama's health-care proposal. Henninger believes that despite the current big three government entitlements being underfunded and going broke, the ultimate reason for the lack of support lies in the public's lack of trust in the government.