Category: Column

The late Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times, Paul Conrad, frequently used religious symbols to illustrate his point of view. Conrad drew the ire of some readers whenever he used the Star of David or a cross in his drawings. Letters to the editor denounced him, but to my knowledge no one […]

“Whether one is a conservative or a radical, a protectionist or a free trader, a cosmopolitan or a nationalist, a churchman or a heathen, it is useful to know the causes and consequences of economic phenomena.” That quotation, from Nobel laureate George J. Stigler, is how Dr. Thomas Sowell begins the fifth edition of “Basic […]

Now that the U.S. economy is showing signs of life, President Obama is not wasting a moment to take credit for this recovery. “The steps we took nearly six years ago to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation helped make 2014 the strongest year for job growth since the 1990’s,” he […]

Pope Francis recently praised the benefits of big families – that a big family teaches children selflessness and sharing, which benefits the whole of society – and I couldn’t agree more. I was raised as an only boy with five sisters, which was at once a blessing and a curse. When I was 12, the […]

A funny thing happened on the way to a news story: ABC and NBC were again distracted by friendly noise from fellow leftwing travelers. Sarah Palin, whose name is to liberals as flame is to moths, made public comments agreeing with Tea Partiers across America that Steve Scalise, the Republican House Majority Whip, is unfit […]

I’m not a huge fan of John Boehner. But now that he has both houses of Congress to work with, let’s give him a chance to move the Republican offense down the field to the end zone. After fighting off a challenge to his speakership this week, Boehner has held on to his job as […]

Lou Cannon has a nice remembrance in RealClearPolitics of Martin Anderson, the economist and adviser to Ronald Reagan who died last week at 78. He touches on all of Anderson’s accomplishments, from his successful advocacy in the Nixon White House to abolish the military draft to his unearthing, with his wife Annelise Anderson and Kiron […]

The House is set to vote on the Keystone XL pipeline as their first order of business in the new Congress – and this time the newly-elected Senate is expected to have enough votes to break the anti-energy filibuster led by liberals Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, who is urging President Obama to stop the […]

Late last year, with the U.S. economy experiencing falling unemployment and seemingly low inflation, observers were extremely confident that the Federal Reserve would move judiciously in 2015 to restore ‘normal’ interest rates sooner rather than later. However, in light of the recent fall in both stocks and oil, that conviction has softened considerably. Many, such […]

James Richard Perry has been governor of Texas longer than Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the United States.When he leaves office on Jan. 20, Perry will leave as the longest serving governor in the history of this state. So assessing his legacy is both important and time-consuming. I have not always been a Perry […]

I have never laughed so bitterly as I did while reading Thursday’s lead editorial by the great pretender-defenders of free speech at The New York Times. Paying obligatory lip service to the 10 cartoonists and staffers of the Paris satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo who were slaughtered for offending Islam, the Times intoned: “It is absurd […]

Nine months from now, Republican candidates for president will meet on the stage of the Reagan Presidential Library (with the old Air Force One providing great visuals) for the first debate of the 2016 race. It seems likely that among those in attendance will be at least four — Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee […]

The vigils in Paris are moving. The hashtag plumes of #JeSuisCharlie (“I am Charlie”) are endearing. The expressions of condemnation from Muslim leaders are commendable, as are the assurances of solidarity and support from Western governments. But, as a practical matter, they don’t change a thing: The jihadists won this week. Even if the atrocity […]

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a fascinating op-ed by William A. Galston, “The Christian Heart of American Exceptionalism,” much of which I agree with but some of which I don’t. Galston argues that the idea of American exceptionalism should not be discounted and that its primary source is the “durability of American religious belief” […]

It is from an Aesop fable we get the phrase, “A man is known by the company he keeps.” The British and American media are carrying salacious stories about Prince Andrew keeping company with registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, now accused of keeping underage girls as “sex slaves” for prominent men. The investigation is ongoing. […]

If the Supreme Court dismantles a core provision in Obamacare, America will be plunged into a pre-2010 level of dystopia — or worse. If Democrats were to be forced by the court to follow the law they wrote, then 36 states that aren’t interested in hosting federal “exchanges” would no longer be forced to do […]

As we enter 2015, the politics of the president’s health care law are little changed from last year or the year before, or any year since it was passed. The details change with the calendar, but year after year, the law remains a major drag on President Obama’s popularity and legacy. Defenders of the law […]

Move over, radical Islam. Step aside, poverty and political oppression. Pope Francis is expected to soon issue a rare papal encyclical, an official statement about what the pontiff believes is the world’s most pressing issue — “climate change.” A month ago, during the U.N. climate change conference in Lima, Peru, the Pope warned of the […]

It is from an Aesop fable we get the phrase, “A man is known by the company he keeps.” The British and American media are carrying salacious stories about Prince Andrew keeping company with registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, now accused of keeping underage girls as “sex slaves” for prominent men. The investigation is ongoing. […]

Here’s what I love about the French: They’ve long understood the dangers presented by radical Islam. French President Francois Hollande swiftly called the deadly Wednesday shooting at Paris’ Charlie Hebdo magazine “an act of exceptional barbarity,” without doubt a terrorist attack. There was no hedging. The Socialist leader didn’t engage in the sort of blather […]

The way America is going on the child discipline front — cops in Florida are being asked to supervise corporal punishment of children — soon no one will be able to understand a fundamental story of my childhood: The one about the bloody ear and the young thief and the weeping mother. So I better […]

America’s social justice movement has reached a critical turning point. The left’s bravest young warriors for change have turned … back to 1989 and borrowed costumes from Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” music video. Clad in black-ops black from head to toe with fists held high, stylin’ members of the so-called “Black Brunch” brigade look like […]

Trust — society depends on it. For most of history, our ancestors lived in clans with other family members, or in small villages. Everyone pretty much knew who was trustworthy. People behaved better because they wanted good relationships with family members and neighbors. It’s one reason that today we trust friends and family more than […]

Jeb Bush may be the most electable Republican against a generic Democratic candidate, but against Hillary Clinton, he would be the weakest nominee we could field. Just as Elizabeth Warren poses a unique threat to Hillary by appropriating for herself the best reasons to elect Hillary (i.e. first woman president), so Bush is the least […]

Next time you’re a patient, ask whether your “health care provider” is a doctor. On January 1, New York State changed the standard for who can practice medicine, putting patients at risk. New York is the latest state — now 19 in all — to capitulate to aggressive lobbying by nursing organizations to allow some […]

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio lambasted the hundreds of police officers who turned their backs on him outside the funeral of assassinated officer Wenjian Liu in the same defiant spirit displayed outside the funeral of Liu’s partner, Rafael Ramos. On Monday, Hizzoner called this act of silent protest “disrespectful to the people in this […]

On Dec. 31, as 2014 began to fade into the past, New York Times columnist Charles Blow tweeted out some deep thoughts from his new book, “Fire In My Bones.” “Daring to step into oneself is the bravest, strangest, most natural, most terrifying thing a person can do,” Blow wrote regarding his acknowledgement of his […]