MRC Watchdogs churn out breaking news on a daily basis. Don't miss Today's Highlights, where you can keep up with the top MRC content, whether it's the latest study on media bias, a glaring omission from the elitist media, or how the Big Tech companies are serving up the same leftist spin as the media.  Top Stories: Apple Shows Its True Colors FCC Chair: ‘I Was Highly Entertained’ by the ‘Hoax’ Colbert, Talarico Played on the Media Poo Omission Over? NBC Breaks Dam on Potomac Sewage, ABC, CBS Still on the John Fact-Check the News You’re Getting, Question Major Media Reports, Americans Agree   Apple Shows Its True Colors Apple News Leadership Ties to Legacy Media Bias: Apple News Editor-in-Chief Lauren Kern is a former deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine and executive editor of New York Magazine—highlighting how former liberal-leaning outlet leaders curate stories for millions of iPhone users daily, influencing what gets elevated and potentially skewing selection toward legacy perspectives. Dramatic Divide in Trump Approval by News Platform: A late-January poll shows President Trump's net approval at +9 among X users but plummets to -33 among consumers of websites and newspapers—a stark, non-coincidental gap driven by sustained promotion of the same legacy outlets on platforms like Apple News, Google News, Yahoo News, and MSN. Platform Promotions Drive Traffic and One-Sided Narratives: MRC's Digital News Tracker shows Apple News promoted the left-leaning Minnesota Star Tribune 11 times in January (Google News 5 times), boosting it to 48th among top U.S. news sites with 16M+ visits—enabling dominant, one-sided framing (e.g., on immigration enforcement as excessive and blaming Trump/ICE), proving consistent elevation of one side shapes public opinion over time.   FCC Chair: ‘I Was Highly Entertained’ by the ‘Hoax’ Colbert, Talarico Played on the Media Media Gullibility Exposed by Hoax: FCC Chair Brendan Carr described how Stephen Colbert and Democrat candidate James Talarico orchestrated a hoax claiming CBS and the FCC banned an interview due to the equal-time rule, tricking legacy media into blindly promoting the false narrative for clicks and fundraising, revealing their predictable bias and lack of fact-checking. Entertainment in Watching Media Fall for It: Carr admitted he was "highly entertained" watching the story unfold, noting that anyone without "Trump Derangement Syndrome" could see it was a setup, and mocked the media's eagerness to "eat it up like slop" without verification. Equal-Time Rule Promotes Fairness, Not Censorship: The FCC's equal-time provision is designed to prevent media elites from influencing elections by requiring broadcasters to offer airtime to all candidates, emphasizing "more speech, not less" to empower voters rather than suppress content. Eroding Public Trust in Media: Carr compared trust in national news to "gas station sushi," criticizing outlets for refusing to correct their misreporting even after the hoax was revealed, encapsulating why Americans have lost faith in the press.   Poo Omission Over? NBC Breaks Dam on Potomac Sewage, ABC, CBS Still on the John Massive Sewage Spill Ignored by ABC & CBS Over 240 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Potomac from a collapsed pipe—E. coli levels 10,000× above safe limits, making the river unsafe for weeks. ABC and CBS flagship newscasts completely ignored the historic disaster for nearly a month. NBC Finally Breaks the Silence After weeks of blackout, NBC led with a ~2-minute Nightly News segment calling it “one of the largest environmental disasters ever,” plus a Today show mention—finally cracking the “Poo-tomac” omission dam. Legacy Media Bias Still Lingers Even post-NBC coverage, ABC gave only one brief digital mention and CBS stayed silent on its main broadcasts. Fox pressed the White House on the stench; the rest still “on the John,” fueling distrust in selective environmental reporting.   Fact-Check the News You’re Getting, Question Major Media Reports, Americans Agree  Bipartisan Consensus on Fact-Checking 94% of Democrats and Republicans agree it's important for people to do their own research to verify news accuracy, with 66% calling it extremely or very important to fact-check media reports—showing universal skepticism toward unverified news. Most Americans Actively Verify News 82% of U.S. adults at least sometimes do their own research (37% very often), using methods like comparing multiple sources (84%), questioning major news outlets (70%), and reviewing diverse political views (88% say it's important). Many Stay Informed Without Chasing News 47% believe they can stay informed without actively following the news (vs. those who say they must seek it out), thanks to passive exposure—half (49%) now mostly encounter news incidentally, up from 39% in 2019, reducing reliance on traditional media.  

Those trying to turn CBS’s Stephen Colbert into a free speech martyr for the James Talarico-equal time controversy suffered a setback on Wednesday as Colbert welcomed Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff to The Late Show. Unfortunately, those who would like the late night hosts at least pretend to put in an effort to have some sort of balance on their shows also suffered a setback as the duo warned of impending doom if Democrats don’t win in November. Colbert opened up the floor to Ossoff to discuss his path to politics, “There are people in the United States who believe that rules are to constrain other people. Laws are to constrain other people but never applied to them, and deep down I think on both sides of the aisle people have felt that for so many years, and you crystallized it with that phrase, and that leads me to the last job that you did before you were a senator. You investigated international corruption?”   In more "Wait, I thought Stephen Colbert was being censored" news, Colbert asks Sen. Jon Ossoff, "What was that about witnessing corruption on a global scale that said to you, "I should get involved in American politics?" Ossoff recalls "with people who smuggled the truth out of… pic.twitter.com/0fNaxKM2MM — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 19, 2026   After Ossoff affirmed he did, Colbert continued, “Is that true? What was it about witnessing corruption on a global scale that said to you, "I should get involved in American politics?"” Ossoff, who is up for re-election in November but who does not yet meet the legal definition of a candidate for equal time purposes, replied by warning, “So, first of all, I led a team, ran a business that exposed official corruption, war crimes, abuses of power all over the world, and we worked with people who smuggled the truth out of repressive societies with authoritarian governments, places where opposition figures were rounded up and arrested. Places where journalists critical of the government faced official persecution, places where television hosts had to deal with official censorship.” After pausing for the audience to hoot and holler and Colbert to pretend to take notes, Ossoff continued, “And I'll just say that more and more Donald Trump's America reminds me of those places and those societies, and that should chill us all to the bone.” Ossoff also alleged, “Donald Trump himself is a symptom of a deeper disease in our society. I mean, how is it that a demagogue who promised to tear it all down was twice elected to the presidency on false promises? And it's because the system really is rigged. He's not unrigging it, he's re-rigging it for himself, but especially since the Citizens United decision, which was such a deeply destructive court decision.” Later, in the second segment, Colbert sought more biographical information, “One of your mentors is a man I greatly admire, and that was John Lewis…I’m just curious, how old were you when you met?”   In even more "Colbert isn't actually be censored" moments, Colbert asks "What do you think he [John Lewis] would say to us?" Ossoff (who is up for re-election in November) campaigns, "They dealt with an awful lot. We can deal with this but I'm telling you these midterm… pic.twitter.com/ovIgkiYKkG — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 19, 2026   After recalling meeting Lewis when he was 16, Ossoff added, “But I'll tell you what. He would have very high expectations of all of us at this moment in our country's history.” Colbert then wondered, “What do you think he would say to us?” Ossoff then did his most explicit campaigning yet, “I know, to fear that maybe we could lose our republic. And I think that what Congressman Lewis would tell us is that it's up to us. We have the power to right the ship. No one’s going to do it for us. Theirs was the most successful nonviolent mass mobilization in American history, arguably in world history. The Civil Rights Movement. They dealt with an awful lot. We can deal with this, but I'm telling you these midterm elections are the whole ball game. There is a lot riding on what happens in November.” It’s ironic that Ossoff lamented that television hosts face official censorship while conducting an interview on television with that host. If Colbert and Ossoff want to know why all their warnings of impending authoritarianism fall flat, that would be a good place to start looking. Here is a transcript for the February 18-taped show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 2/19/2026 12:08 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: Because what we're finding out from the Epstein files is that that type of corruption, while Trump might be a peak avatar of that, it crosses political boundaries. There are people in the United States who believe that rules are to constrain other people. Laws are to constrain other people but never applied to them, and deep down I think on both sides of the aisle people have felt that for so many years, and you crystallized it with that phrase, and that leads me to the last job that you did before you were a senator. You investigated international corruption? JON OSSOFF: That's right. COLBERT: Is that true? What was it about witnessing corruption on a global scale that said to you, "I should get involved in American politics?" OSSOFF: So, first of all, I led a team, ran a business that exposed official corruption, war crimes, abuses of power all over the world, and we worked with people who smuggled the truth out of repressive societies with authoritarian governments, places where opposition figures were rounded up and arrested. Places where journalists critical of the government faced official persecution, places where television hosts had to deal with official censorship. And I'll just say that more and more Donald Trump's America reminds me of those places and those societies, and that should chill us all to the bone. But as for why, I think Donald Trump's rise, Donald Trump himself is a symptom of a deeper disease in our society. I mean, how is it that a demagogue who promised to tear it all down was twice elected to the presidency on false promises? And it's because the system really is rigged. He's not unrigging it, he's re-rigging it for himself, but especially since the Citizens United decision, which was such a deeply destructive court decision. … COLBERT: One of your mentors is a man I greatly admire, and that was John Lewis, and matter of fact the last time I talked to John Lewis he was here. He actually surfed the crowd. Yeah. It was fun. It was fun. And here you are with John Lewis. I’m just curious, how old were you when you met? OSSOFF: I was 16 when I met Congressman Lewis and I had read his memoir Walking with the Wind. You know, growing up in Georgia, you're steeped in civil rights history and, of course, he was a legend. He was my congressman. I read his autobiography. I wrote him a letter asking if I could meet him. That meeting led to a job, that job led to a lifelong friendship, and I never would've pursued office without his encouragement and support. But I'll tell you what. He would have very high expectations of all of us at this moment in our country's history. COLBERT: What do you think he would say to us? OSSOFF: I think you know and we all know there are some folks who are, sort of, doomscrolling in the fetal position, every day there's a new outrage. And it's easy, I know, to fear that maybe we could lose our republic. And I think that what Congressman Lewis would tell us is that it's up to us. We have the power to right the ship. No one’s going to do it for us. Theirs was the most successful nonviolent mass mobilization in American history, arguably in world history. The Civil Rights Movement. They dealt with an awful lot. We can deal with this, but I'm telling you these midterm elections are the whole ball game. There is a lot riding on what happens in November.

On CNN’s “Abby Phillip Gaslighting and Interruption Power Hour”, more commonly known as NewsNight, there was serious firefighting and journalisming underway. The show’s eponymous host covered Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ disastrous gaffe-laden trip to Munich by pretending her most brutal gaffes didn’t happen and deflecting to basic whatabout(Trump)ism. Watch as Phillip lays the foundation by establishing AOC’s first gaffe, and subsequent pouncing:  TONIGHT on the Abby Phillip Gaslighting and Interruption Power Hour: the host cherry-picks AOC's Taiwan stutter for the obligatory "MAGA Pounces on AOC BUT WHAT ABOUT TRUMP'S GAFFES" segment, while completely omitting the more egregious gaffes on Venezuela's location viz the… pic.twitter.com/qjaYqZ1G9s — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) February 18, 2026 ABBY PHILLIP: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing a wave of criticism for this foreign policy flub at the Munich Security Conference. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FRANCINE LACQUA: Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move? ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Um. You know, I think that, uh, this is such a- ah-you know, I think that- you know, I think that this is a um-- this is, of course, a very longstanding, um,  policy of the United States. Ah, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point. And we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic, research, and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise. PHILLIP: It should come as no surprise MAGA is having a field day with this one. Phillip then proceeded to isolate AOC’s Taiwan gaffe against a series of Trump misstatements and make the segment into a comparison of one versus the other. This was, in fact, a cleanup operation, because the segment willfully omitted AOC’s other, more egregious gaffes from over the weekend. Consider AOC’s attempted refutation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s acknowledgement of our Western European heritage, specifically as pertains to cowboys and horses: AOC mocks Rubio: "My favorite part is he said cowboys are rooted in Spain. Uhhh, speak to Mexicans & African slaves!" Spain introduced horses to Mexico pic.twitter.com/xHt1jZCoSi — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 15, 2026 How does AOC think the Mexicans got a hold of horses in the first place? A guy by the name of Hernán Cortez brought them over. In other words, Spain.  AOC’s mastery of history would turn out to be as bad as her mastery of geography, as she claimed that Venezuela was below the equator: an ill-conceived applause line to insinuate that Maduro was snatched because he was part of the “Global South:” WATCH: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared to be auditioning for the Oval Office when she jetted off to the Munich Security Conference to address European leaders. She criticized the Trump administration’s arrest of Nicolás Maduro, arguing that while the Venezuelan dictator may… pic.twitter.com/LS5veGUexi — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) February 17, 2026 Both gaffes, viewed in the aggregate, are far worse than what she said on Taiwan. One presumes that this is why Abby Phillip left them off the segment which ended up a redirect on to Donald Trump.  That’s some peak journalisming right there. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026: ABBY PHILLIP: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing a wave of criticism for this foreign policy flub at the Munich Security Conference. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FRANCINE LACQUA: Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move? ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Um. You know, I think that, uh, this is such a- ah-you know, I think that- you know, I think that this is a um-- this is, of course, a very longstanding, um,  policy of the United States. Ah, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point. And we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic, research, and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise. PHILLIP: It should come as no surprise MAGA is having a field day with this one. TYRUS: Move over, Kamala. AOC just cooked up her own signature word salad on the global stage. BEN SHAPIRO, HOST: She was taking her 2028 bike out for a spin. She hit the embankment. She flipped head over heels and went all the way down the mountain. It's her fault. JESSE WATTERS: After the word salad, AOC froze like a deer in headlights. BENNY JOHNSON: To quote Billy Madison, everyone in this room is now dumber because of that answer. Thank you, AOC. PHILLIP: A flub for AOC, but the question is also: what happens when the president, the actual president of the United States, does very similar things on the world stage? Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP: I watch our police and our firemen down on 7/11 down the World Trade Center. When I told them about Iceland, they loved me. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. Shifting production to Thailand and to Vietnam. I solve wars that was unsolvable, Azerbaijan and Albania. Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa. Nambia's health system is increasingly self-sufficient. We all know the great prime minister of the U.K. and we just signed a document. This is -- sorry about that. We just signed it and it's done. And so we have our trade agreement with the European Union. PHILLIP: So, look, I'll give you that AOC probably should have been more ready for that question, but are we going to really pretend that the actual president of the United States has not made similar or perhaps worse flubs on the global stage? JOHN TABACCO: Yes. I don't think we have to pretend. Everyone makes some flubs. We're all T.V. personalities. We have mistakes here and there, but it's interesting that you would play ten consecutive clips of Trump actually saying things. Maybe they may not have been pertinent or taken out of context. PHILLIP: Yes, saying incorrect things. TABACCO: You played one of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which the whole world is still trying to figure out exactly what she was saying. So, you know, the big buzz now is maybe Kamala-AOC 2028. I say bring that on based on that performance right there. LEIGH MCGOWAN: Yes. Listen, stumbling over your words for 15 seconds is not the same as being incoherent or uneducated on foreign policy TABACCO: That was incoherent. MCGOWAN: She had a ton of amazing answers in that same interview, which we are not playing. We are playing in its entirety, ah, um, oh, ah, which we do not do for the president. Personally, I was more interested in the thing she said, where she said, we're entering an age of authoritarianism, where a group is working in tandem to carve up the world into pieces to have served themselves, and the president is interested in taking on the Western Hemisphere. First of all, that seems kind of true to me, but going to the Munich Security Conference and saying that out loud in the world is kind of ballsy, and I liked it. So, a couple of ums before answering a question on Taiwan -- CARI CHAMPION: Not a big deal. MCGOWAN: -- less interesting. TABACCO: She should go to Queens once in a while before she goes to Munich. That would probably help. ANA NAVARRO: She has gone to Queensland a few times and she's -- listen, she doesn't -- she's not a foreign policy expert. TABACCO: Clearly. NAVARRO: And so -- no, she's not. TABACCO: Clearly. KEVIN O'LEARY: You don't say. Come on, give her a break. PHILLIP: Guys, this is -- NAVARRO: You don't even know who's running in Texas. CHAMPION: For five seconds, let somebody finish that thought before you have to be -- NAVARRO: I want to know how you would be able to answer that. Look, I think that it takes a lot of courage and I think for her to expanding her message, for her to be expanding her areas of policy interests are a good thing. She is 1 of 435 members of Congress. There's a lot of them there that don't come with a breadth of foreign policy knowledge. O'LEARY: You're right, she was fabulous. CHAMPION: It's not about her being fabulous. It wasn't -- (CROSSTALK) O'LEARY: Let's say you're hired to give a speech, let's say you're hired because you're expected to deliver information to an audience. Let's say you're even paid for it. When you go and do that, what happens is the agency that hired you, whether it's the government, your own party says that was not your best moment. In fact, they tied you back to Kamala Harris. You were so bad, you sounded like her. And, by the way, I'm sorry, it's not a partisan issue. She was terrible. Get over it. Maybe she would get better. (CROSSTALK) CHAMPION: No. But the reality is if you take just a minute and not be condescending, I really believe what she was -- O'LEARY: I'm trying to help her, lift her up -- CHAMPION: One moment. You had your moment. You had your moment. PHILLIP: Kevin, just let her respond. CHAMPION: The reality is -- O'LEARY: They always more moments. That's what's great about it. CHAMPION: The reality is, Kevin, is that she was taking a beat and, yes, she wasn't great for less than 20 seconds, if you ask me. But I thought she was doing something that the president of the United States rarely does, and that's think before she speaks. She was trying to get her words together so she knew how to handle it appropriately. O'LEARY: It's not partisan. CHAMPION: And if people did that, we wouldn't be in this situation that we're in right now. PHILLIP: Let me ask you -- PHILLIP: Everyone stop talking please for just a moment. Stop talking. Thank you. John and Kevin, you all are strongly criticizing AOC for making flubs. O'LEARY: She was terrible. That's why. PHILLIP: All right. We just played several bites here. Okay. Let me -- hold on. He stood next to someone from the E.U. and called them the Prime Minister of the U.K., okay? He called South Africa -- South America -- he called South America, South Africa. He called Greenland, Iceland. NAVARRO: He called you Namibia, Nambia. PHILLIP: So, my question to you is, okay, bad answers, bad answers. What do you think should happen to Donald Trump as a result of his bad answer? O'LEARY: AOC wants to become the president, the United States, he already is. PHILLIP: Okay. So -- O'LEARY: So, he's not worried about running again. PHILLIP: So, what are you saying? O'LEARY: She's trying to become president. PHILLIP: So, what are you saying? That it's okay, no consequences because he's already president? O'LEARY: No, I'm just saying that moment was not her best and I, above all of the rest of you, I am encouraging her to say, listen, watch the tape, don't do that again, or you'll be prepared to what word salad girl in the last election. PHILLIP: What about Donald Trump in 2024 said, I think Taiwan should pay us for defense? O'LEARY: Yes, but I'm sorry, it's not working, Abby. PHILLIP: I don't we are any different from any insurance policy. O'LEARY: She was terrible. Let's focus on her. PHILLIP: Hey, he was running for president at that time. O'LEARY: Let's lift her up. Let's help her. PHILLIP: He says, I don't think we are any different from an insurance policy, why are we doing this, when he was asked if the United States would defend Taiwan. O'LEARY: Well, what does that have to do with her performance? PHILLIP: So, even on the sub -- TABACCO: (INAUDIBLE) Trump, that MAGA is having a field day and now we make some comments, which you were all thinking in your head and now you're getting mad at us for having a field day. We deserve it. PHILLIP: John, hey, I'm just asking for you all to apply the same standard -- TABACCO: I think he makes mistakes all the time and I crack and laugh, just like I cracked up at Joe Biden when he made mistakes. It happens. MCGOWAN: When you're not cracking up when the woman's laughing, you're mocking her. You're saying she's on - TABACOO: I'm cracking up when I see her because she's not even forming sentences. MCGOWAN: And then you're comparing her to the other strong women who ran. TABACCO: She's not giving like a wrong fact or wrong name. She's not -- MCGOWAN: But when women make a gaffe, they're monsters and should never be invited back. NAVARRO: You know what one of the differences is though when Trump makes these mistakes as president, he's actually reading from things that people supposedly experts on these issues have written. AOC was beyond her skis, I think, in a place that is a new horizon for her. O'LEARY: Don't say that. NAVARRO: Enough, Kevin, you're so damn repetitive. PHILLIP: Kevin, please stop. Let her finish her thought. NAVARRO: And, you know, she can't -- I mean, Donald Trump can't read a script. She was answering an impromptu question of something that she's not an expert in, and she's there making -- you know, making mistakes and learning from them. Listen, I'm old enough to remember when George W. Bush was running for president, and they asked him about the guy running Pakistan, what was his name? And he kept saying General, General, General, because he couldn't remember the guy's name. PHILLIP: An iconic moment in American history. NAVARRO: Yes, and he went on to become president.  

Monday’s PBS News Hour virtually skipped over Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s performance at the annual Munich Security Conference to wail over his subsequent trip to endorse “far-right prime minister” Viktor Orban of Hungary. The online heading to the segment after Rubio’s speech impressed even European leaders: “Rubio bolsters Hungary's far-right leader days after push to mend U.S. ties in Europe.” CO-ANCHOR AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the News Hour. America`s top diplomat traveled to Hungary today and endorsed that country`s far-right prime minister, who`s seeking his fifth straight term in office this April. Viktor Orban has cracked down on the media, civil society and weakened judicial independence in Hungary. At a news conference in Budapest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the extraordinarily close relationship between President Trump and Orban had tangible benefits. MARCO RUBIO, U.S. Secretary of State: President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success. AMNA NAWAZ: Orban has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. And while Europe has ended or significantly reduced its reliance on Russian oil, Hungary refuses to cut back on the oil it buys from Russia. President Trump has exempted Hungary from U.S. sanctions for those purchases. Rubio`s meeting with Orban came after the secretary of state addressed world leaders at the Munich Security Conference this weekend. Coming on the heels of Trump's threats to Greenland, Rubio tried to convey a reassuring message. Nothing at all about Rubio’s speech made the PBS’s new regular Sunday show on foreign policy, Compass Points, hosted by Nick Schifrin, which aired this week from the Munich Security Conference and whose half hour was devoted to old-style Trump-bashing with three foreign leaders, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, and Canada's Foreign Minister, Anita Anand. The episode, presumably taped before Rubio’s speech, mentioned the Secretary of State just once (Rubio also appeared unidentified in a separate file photo). Then again, weekend PBS has never been a fount of breaking news. The flavor of the report was encapsulated in Schifrin’s very first phrase: “President Trump, Demolition Man.” Schifrin went on: “President Trump, demolition man. From here in Munich, an influential report accuses America's Commander in Chief of damaging the global order and establishing an era of wrecking-ball politics where sweeping destruction is the order of the day.” This is PBS, the network that claims to represent the entire "public." But clearly it speaks for the European socialists who Trump the most. 

Within the last six months, two friends, both pioneers and giants in the world of ideas in Washington, D.C., passed from this world. One, Ed Feulner, was the co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, which became the nation’s defining policy institute for conservative ideas. Now, last week, Ed Crane, the co-founder of the Cato Institute, passed away. Ed Crane built Cato to become the major presence in the nation’s capital for libertarian ideas and policy. My personal involvement with Cato began in 1996 when I was invited to join the national advisory board for Cato’s project to transform Social Security from a government tax and spend program to a program of individually owned personal retirement accounts. When I began working in the business of policy reform, a friend pointed out to me the words of futurist John Naisbitt, who observed, “Don’t get so far ahead of the parade that no one knows you’re in it.” Crane’s great skill was bringing much needed revolutionary ideas for change to the marketplace, but being keenly sensitive regarding when and how to do it, so as to always remain relevant to the policy discussions of the day. Social Security was already broken then, as it still is today. What Cato brought to the discussion was perspective that the problem was not one of fixing technical glitches in the program, but that it was conceptually flawed, and so without changing the principles behind the program it couldn’t be fixed. Social Security violated the most fundamental of American principles -- the freedom of every individual to take responsibility for their own life and retain control of their own property and the fruits of their own labor. It was the beginning of Americans buying into the premise that government can do a better job taking care of you than you can take care of yourself.      Social Security, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, opened the door to the modern welfare state in America. It was a foreign import from Europe -- an idea not of American pedigree. And, indeed, it was constitutionally challenged and Roosevelt’s Supreme Court signed off on the constitutionality of Social Security and the idea that taxes could be levied on one set of citizens and those funds transferred to others. This was a first, and America was changed forever. When Social Security was signed into law, the federal government consumed 10% of the national economy. Today it is approaches 25%. This massive growth in government was, in large part, enabled by the changed understanding of the U.S. Constitution that found Social Security constitutional. With the birth of the American welfare state, the core principles of the nation’s founding -- that the role of government is to secure our personal freedom -- were marginalized, For the many deeply confused Americans that still believe they are better off under government control, consider that at the beginning of 1996 when Cato was beginning its project to transform Social Security to ownership, the Dow Jones average stood a little over 5,000. Today it is flirting with 50,000. That wealth delivered by the marketplace was forgone by those forced to pay Social Security taxes rather than invest long-term in America’s great capital markets. Ed Crane worked to restore America’s founding principles that have been lost. He would always nudge me, telling me that I’m not a libertarian. And I agreed with him. I always told him I believe in freedom every much as he did. But I am a Christian. So, as I believe in the sacredness of private property and ownership, I also believe in the sanctity of life and marriage between a man and woman. The recent loss of two Eds -- Ed Feulner and Ed Crane -- is a loss to the nation. Badly needed today is restoration of the fight for America’s founding principles, that defined both of them, my friends. Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now.