Category: Column

LONDON — British politics has a familiar look to Americans, with a center-right Conservative Party and a center-left Labour Party resembling America’s Republicans and Democrats.   Britain’s parliamentary system, however, presents a contrast with the U.S. Constitution on the surface. A prime minister whose party has a majority in the House of Commons can pass […]

In 1831, a French aristocrat named Alexis de Tocqueville arrived in America and spent several years travelling and studying life in the communities of the new nation. He produced a book called Democracy in America which Harvard professor of government Harvey Mansfield calls “at once the best book ever written on democracy and the best […]

Conservatives have long sat by as radical progressive liberals curb-stomp anyone who disagrees with their ideology. On principle, we refuse to boycott anything. That’s a tactic of the left, and the right likes to stick to the high ground, even though it means losing ground every day to the forces of tyranny. Well, enough is […]

What do you mean Americans have gotten ruder?”: “Poll after poll has been showing it in recent years. More than 70 percent of the respondents questioned in an Associated Press poll believe people are ruder than they were 20 or 30 years ago.”:  “Why would that be?”: “Life is moving faster these days. Companies are employing technology […]

While the Democratic Party has sent out spokesweasel Debbie Wasserman “I see nothing, I know nothing” Schultz and willing sycophants to shame Republicans into refraining from fundraising over the Benghazi scandal, the Democrats themselves have been doing just that. Mugging for the press wearing well-rehearsed expressions of sincerity, Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), “Fundraising off the […]

There are certain elections that make you want to wash your hands before voting. And that usually has something to do with the candidates. In California’s 10th Senate District, two Democrats who have served in the California Assembly want to fill the state Senate seat of termed-out Ellen Corbett. Former Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi is best-known […]

Stop listening to so much conservative talk radio.: Take a break. Watch a cartoon. Go to a ballgame.: Do anything else for a while but think, talk or argue about politics.:  Do what I do and listen to country music instead. I guarantee you won’t be so angry all the time.: That’s what I told a bunch of […]

The National: September 11: Memorial and Museum, recently dedicated by President Obama, has been fraught with controversy from the beginning. As one cultural historian summed it up, the museum has too many stakeholders trying to achieve too many irreconcilable goals. Among the cross purposes are the victims’ families’ resistance to the memorial, the presence of the Ground […]

In recent times, British and American politics have often flowed in parallel currents. Margaret Thatcher’s election as prime minister in 1979 was followed by Ronald Reagan’s election as president in 1980. As Charles Moore notes in his biography of Thatcher, the two worked together, albeit with some friction, reversing the tide of statism at home […]

Angry liberals are set to descend on the Federal Communications Commission to disgrace themselves by shouting down the proceedings. The lead group involved, Free Press, has sent out an invitation asking people to bring “pots, pans or whatever else you can bang on so the FCC hears our message loud and clear.” Banging on pots […]

On Sunday, Marco Rubio informed Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week” that he is ready to be president. “I think a president has to have a clear vision of where the country needs to go and clear ideas about how to get it there,” he went on. “And I think we’re very blessed in our […]

Education has become a major issue in the Texas governor’s race, with six months to go.: The differing approaches unveiled by the two major candidates for governor tell us a lot.: An examination of Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis’ education reform proposal shows the plan clearly refuses to increase accountability and competition in the public education system, […]

At least 40 American veterans are dead thanks to bureaucratic delays at Veterans Affairs clinics. But you wouldn’t know it from VA Secretary Gen. Eric Shinseki’s bland and bloodless demeanor at a Senate hearing Thursday. He droned on like an apathetic office manager fielding complaints about the copier being jammed. Shinseki told the Senate panel […]

Here’s a question. If — and this is a big if — the United States could dispatch a swarm of heretofore secret super-drones to find and kill every member of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, would you be in favor of doing it? I’ll even modify it for those of you who are squeamish […]

Congratulations to pro-abortion advocates for understanding the power of language and employing the art of propaganda to dupe much of the American public into believing that their motivation is “choice” and that abortion is “reproductive care.” No mean feat. Pro-abortionists are fit to be tied over the Missouri Legislature’s approval of a bill that requires […]

When we go to the doctor, most of us expect to receive the best possible advice on whatever ails us. Unfortunately, some medical groups see that as a quaintly archaic notion. Associations are recommending that the doctors should consider more than the patient they are treating. According to The New York Times, these groups want […]

There’s a debate among economists about why a college degree is worth so much. That the credential is valuable is not in doubt. According to the Pew Research Center, college graduates earn about $17,500 more annually than high school grads. Why? The “human capital” school believes that students learn valuable skills in college that employers […]

As described in last week’s column, The New York Times and other sanctimonious news outlets censored details about the crime that put Clayton Lockett on death row, the better to generate revulsion at his deserved execution. You might say they buried the facts alive. For example, the Times neglected to mention anything about the raping […]

Nigeria’s homegrown, al-Qaeda-linked militant group, Boko Haram, brags openly that it recently kidnapped about 300 young Nigerian girls. It boasts that it will sell them into sexual slavery. Those terrorists have a long and unapologetic history of murdering kids who dare to enroll in school, and Christians in general. For years, Western aid groups have […]

First the censorious left went after Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born critic of Islam’s treatment of women, after Brandeis University had invited her to receive an honorary degree. Bowing to political correctness, Brandeis rescinded the invitation. Then the academic mob went after Rutgers’ choice for commencement speaker, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She withdrew. […]

The Beverly Hills Hotel, owned by the sultan of Brunei, is a ghost town. The sultan recently imposed Sharia on the citizens of this small country in Southeast Asia with a population of less than 500,000. The law includes the punishment of death for any who engages in the “crime” of homosexuality or adultery. Jay […]

A widely-held maxim tells us that money tends to flow from where it is treated badly to where it is treated well. This trend has taken center stage in the ongoing battle between U.S. states to attract and retain top employers. In that conflict, high tax states like California have been losing ground to relatively […]

Once, Social Security was the “third rail” of politics. Touch it and face political death. Now it is homosexuality. Criticize anything gay people do and you risk ostracism, fines, suspension or loss of your livelihood. Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted by a National Football League team — the St. Louis […]

Many of you know that I’m not Hillary Clinton’s biggest fan. But I would never question whether she was right in the head. Instead, what bothers me is that dark, crusty clump of carbon that some may confuse with a soul. Before crazed hordes of Benghazi Deniers (in and out of journalism) shout me down […]

When Obamacare operatives aren’t busy trashing the private health insurance market and squandering billions on useless technology, they’re busy … being idle. File the latest example of government health care profligacy under “Caution: Your tax dollars not at work.” According to at least one Obamacare paper-pusher, employees at an application-processing center in Wentzville, Mo., are […]

It’s wedding season! More Americans get married in June than in other months. Why June? The timing seems pretty arbitrary if you look up its history. Some claim it’s because June was named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. Others say it’s because in the 1500s, people took their annual bath in May, which […]