Last week I got into a discussion with my older son and a neighbor (who is an economics professor) concerning the social positions of John McCain. My son, who tried to convince us that McCain would be a less dangerous president than his Democratic opponent, went through the supposedly conservative stances McCain had taken while in the Senate. He was judged … [Read More]

Without my winter beard I’ve got a baby face, and am often mistaken for a 30-year-old. But teaching college students gives me frequent reminders that I really am fortysomething. These kids don’t remember Communism. It collapsed in Eastern Europe while they were in tiny diapers, and most of what they know of the Soviet bloc comes from the character Borat. So … [Read More]

With 68 percent of Americans believing George Bush has done a poor job, and 82 percent saying the country is on the wrong track, the election of 2008 will turn on one issue: Barack Obama. If Sen. Obama can convince the people he is “one of us,” and not some snooty radical liberal from Chicago’s Hyde Park, who looks down upon … [Read More]

Once in a lifetime there comes a legislator so great that he transcends ideologies, political parties and personalities. Such a man was Jesse A. Helms, Jr. (R-NC). His greatness is beyond words. His opponents called him mean. He was one of the kindest Senators ever to grace the United States Capitol. His opponents claimed that young people hated the Senator. Among … [Read More]

In what is surely an “only in America” phenomenon, the most patriotic holiday of the year celebrates the overthrow of the government. That says a lot about this country, or, rather, about the way it used to be. This time around, the Fourth merely underscores how far we have wandered, and raises the question of when we reached that fork … [Read More]

Not until a year after Lexington did the Continental Congress muster the resolve to declare the 13 colonies free and independent states, no longer subject to Parliament or Crown. Not for five years after July 4, 1776, did George Washington’s army truly attain America’s independence at Yorktown. Even then, Washington and his aide Alexander Hamilton knew that the 13 states, while … [Read More]

“Don’t like the weather?” they say here in New Hampshire. “Wait five minutes.” As summer comes, our polar clime becomes instead bi-polar. Four times this week, the day has turned almost instantly from brightness and balm to lightning and sheets of rain—then back again—several times. The sky is alternately black and blue, as if the weather had been punching it in … [Read More]

Whether due to the dramatic failure of last year’s attempt at comprehensive reform or to the essential similarity of the two candidates’ positions, the issue of illegal immigration has so far kept a fairly low profile in the presidential campaign.  Given McCain’s heterodoxy, this may be a blessing.  In the absence of a federal solution, state and local governments have begun … [Read More]

In case Barack Obama (or anyone else) cares to listen, I have a winning slogan for him. So far, his campaign themes--"Hope" and “Change you can believe in"--have alluded to his inspiring biography and personal wonderfulness. Obama, these slogans suggest, will uplift Americans to a higher, happier and more harmonious plane of existence. As “model-heiress” and Obama supporter Lydia Shaw writes … [Read More]