It is not accidental that the great majority of nations are republics. It has been the result of humanity’s long groping in the dark, tribulations and sacrifices. The first and greatest benefit for Canada being a republic without the monarchy is that it will deliver a forceful disincentive to the separatist movement in Quebec because, […]
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Can Trump adopt a new persona?
WASHINGTON — If authenticity is your calling card, how do you become authentically inauthentic? Welcome to the New Donald Trump, a marvel of the Twitter-Cable-Facebook Non-Industrial Complex and the age of minuscule attention spans. It took Richard Nixon prodigious feats of hard work between 1962 and 1968 to create the New Nixon who got himself […]
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GOP would unify around Trump at its peril
NEW YORK — The other day I spied a high Republican official walking on the street and called out his name. He stopped, hit his smile app and exclaimed how glad he was to see me. “What are you going to do about Trump?” I asked. He paused and then uttered the dreaded word: unity. […]
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Is U.S. facing a competition deficit?
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has a new economic worry: competition or, allegedly, the lack of it. America’s businesses, the indictment goes, merge too often, innovate too little and bilk consumers too much. The open question is whether this argument is shrewd politics, shrewd economics — or both. No doubt, the politics are enticing. In […]
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Iraqi factions must unite to take back Mosul
The battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul pits Iraq’s disparate and often divided collection of combat forces (backed by a U.S.-led coalition) against the genocidal fanatics of ISIS. Mosul matters. For Iraqis, Mosul is their second most-populous city — or was — prior to June 2014, when ISIS seized it. The fanatics claim Mosul […]
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Higher education needs major changes
There’s been much talk on the campaign trail about helping students pay for college and not enough about exactly what they’re buying. It is ludicrous that student debt has passed $1 trillion and that nearly 20 percent of the undergraduates who borrowed for college are in default on their student loans. Where is the money […]
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Warped view of history quite common
This one’s for John. He’s a reader who took issue with a recent column of mine arguing that conservatism has become an angry and incoherent mess. John was particularly upset that I described conservatives as resistant to social change. Wrote John: “(sic) Tell that to the right side of the aisle who signed in the […]
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Pass bill despite threats of Saudi retaliation
The Mafia, in its heyday, ran lucrative protection rackets. Pay them and your business would be kept safe from “unforeseen” threats. Don’t pay them and your business might go up in smoke with you inside. Today, things are more sophisticated. The New York Times reports that Saudi Arabia, playing the role of Mafia extortionist, has […]
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Obama deserves to win on immigration
The following editorial appears on Bloomberg View: The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in a momentous case about the high cost of driver’s licenses. It also implicates the historic place of immigration in the U.S. economy and society, not to mention the proper separation of powers between the executive and the legislature in […]
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Federal income tax could be simplified
WASHINGTON — Almost everyone agrees that America’s income tax is too complex. Considering this, you might expect that simplifying the income tax would be a slam dunk. Sure enough, the various presidential candidates have proposed sweeping overhauls. But any agreement is mostly rhetorical. The odds that the next president — whoever it be — will […]