Commentary/Opinion

By John Hood RALEIGH — The likely Democratic nominee for North Carolina’s Senate race next year, former Gov. Roy Cooper, led likely Republican nominee Michael Whatley by six points in…

By John Hood RALEIGH — As Americans continue to celebrate our country’s semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the war for American independence — I…

By Mike Walden A renewed debate about the three -isms of socialism, communism and capitalism has been sparked by a proclaimed socialist candidate, who some claim is actually a communist,…

By John Hood RALEIGH — I don’t know for certain who will win North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race next year — and neither do you. The likely Democratic nominee, Roy…

By John Hood RALEIGH — North Carolina is in a mess. It was an entirely predictable mess. Indeed, I and others have been predicting it for more than two years.…

By Mike Walden As the major league baseball season reaches the midseason point and the trading deadline looms, teams must decide if they will be buyers or sellers. A buyer…

By John Hood RALEIGH — Are today’s elected leaders incapable of addressing public problems in a serious, respectful, bipartisan manner? If your answer is yes, I’ll concede that you have…

By John Hood RALEIGH — It was 250 years ago this week that Patriot militiamen carried out the first military operation of the Revolutionary War in what became the Tar…

By John Hood RALEIGH — If I didn’t believe public-policy research mattered, I wouldn’t have spent so much of my career commissioning and funding it. At the national level, studies…

By Mike Walden When I recently reviewed my columns of past years, I was surprised I hadn’t written about “the debt” — meaning the national debt — in six years.…

By John Hood RALEIGH — North Carolina’s economy continues to outpace that of most competitors. The latest employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, showed a…