Steve Chapman from Creators Syndicate

The (Successful) Pursuit of Happiness for 07/03/2008

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

One of the pleasures of living in America is getting to argue about rights — what they are, who has them and how to define them. In the last week, we've all had a rousing time debating the right to keep and bear arms. Americans can hardly talk about political issues without invoking these fundamental prerogatives.

Other countries may have a similar inclination to quarrel over wheth ...

Updated: Thu Jul 03, 2008

]]>

Truth and the Gitmo Detainees for 07/06/2008

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"Islamic terrorists have constitutional rights," lamented one conservative blog when the Supreme Court said Guantanamo inmates can challenge their detention in court. "These are enemy combatants," railed John McCain. The court, charged former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy of National Review, sided with foreigners "whose only connection with our body politic is thei ...

Updated: Sun Jul 06, 2008

]]>

Obama, McCain and Fiscal Disaster for 07/10/2008

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Federal budget policy is a dry subject with far too many numbers and charts, which makes it uninviting to most Americans. But the theme of the current budget story is one that could have come from a blockbuster summer movie: We are doomed. There is a fiscal asteroid on course to pulverize us, and no one is coming to the rescue.

The problem is simple and depressingly familiar. This year, ...

Updated: Thu Jul 10, 2008

]]>

Is Buying a Gun a Suicidal Act? for 07/13/2008

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Americans often buy guns for self-defense, a purpose that now has Supreme Court validation. But according to advocates of gun control, those purchasers overlook the people who pose the greatest threat: themselves. Anyone who acquires a firearm, we are told, is inviting a bloody death by suicide.

So says Matthew Miller, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If you boug ...

Updated: Sun Jul 13, 2008

]]>

Obama's Surprising Course On Iraq for 07/17/2008

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It's hard to keep up with Barack Obama's positions on the Iraq war. When he entered the presidential race, he offered a plan that would take more than a year to withdraw from Iraq. In September, he said he would withdraw all our combat brigades over 15 months or so. This week, he vowed to pull those forces out within 16 months of taking office.

Wow. He's really been all over the lot, has ...

Updated: Thu Jul 17, 2008

]]>

Change He Can't Believe In for 07/20/2008

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I know, because admirers of Barack Obama tell me, that this year's election poses a choice between a candidate who represents a fresh approach to problems and one who offers a dreary continuation of the status quo. That much I understand. What I sometimes have trouble keeping straight is which candidate is which.

On the subject of elementary and secondary education, the two seem to have ...

Updated: Sun Jul 20, 2008

]]>

McCain's Confusion On Iraq for 07/24/2008

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If there is any fixed position in John McCain's policy agenda, it's that we must never, ever, set a timetable for leaving Iraq. He regularly flogs Barack Obama for proposing to withdraw by the summer of 2010. So it was a surprise to hear him say Monday, when asked if our troops might depart in the next two years, "Oh, I think they could be largely withdrawn, as I've said."

I gu ...

Updated: Thu Jul 24, 2008

]]>

A Media Crush On Obama? for 07/27/2008

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I came into the office the other day, wearing an "Obama 2008" cap, a "Yes We Can" button, a "Team Obama" T-shirt, carrying an "Obama for Change" tote bag filled with Obama bumper stickers, made a stop at the Obama altar in the newsroom, strewed some rose petals, chanted a few hosannas, lit a votive candle and had a sudden thought: Is the news media's love ...

Updated: Sun Jul 27, 2008

]]>

Consenting To Be Abused for 07/31/2008

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If I approach as you pull into a parking space and ask if you'd mind my rummaging through your car, the chances are at least 90 percent that you'd decline. But if a police officer stops you with the same request, the chances are higher than 90 percent that you'd agree. Something about that badge makes citizens eager to be helpful.

Or maybe not. In civics class and Fourth of July speeches ...

Updated: Thu Jul 31, 2008

]]>

Rx For Economic Pain: Deal With Reality for 08/03/2008

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm got in trouble when he said Americans are mired not in an economic contraction, but a "mental recession." He soon had to step down as co-chairman of John McCain's campaign for committing the ultimate political sin: telling the truth about a misperception that happens to be very popular. In politics, after all, it doesn't matter who's right — it only ...

Updated: Sun Aug 03, 2008

]]>

Old-Fashioned Paternalism Is Back for 08/07/2008

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

One of the hot new ideas in the academy is "libertarian paternalism." Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, authors of the book "Nudge," say the goal is "enlisting the science of choice to make life easier for people" and "gently nudging them in directions that will make their lives better." An example: letting companies enroll workers in 401(k) plans unless ...

Updated: Thu Aug 07, 2008

]]>

Seeing China Whole for 08/10/2008

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If you look closely at a spot in a meadow, you will see some things you may not enjoy looking at — weeds, bugs, funguses, bare spots of dirt, bits of trash, animal bones and so on. If you view it from a distance, however, you may see a vista that is far more appealing.

With the opening of the Beijing Olympics, outsiders are putting modern China under a microscope and finding much t ...

Updated: Sun Aug 10, 2008

]]>

Why Don't We Protect The Privacy Of Jurors? for 08/14/2008

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor's Note: Steve Chapman is on vacation. The following column was originally published in April 2004.

Under the best of circumstances, jury duty is about as enjoyable as being trapped in an elevator with a Ronco salesman. You're yanked away from your job or domestic responsibilities, stuck in an airless bunker with lawyers who flunked out of charm school, forced to work ...

Updated: Thu Aug 14, 2008

]]>

Surprises from the Divorce Revolution for 08/17/2008

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor's Note: Steve Chapman is on vacation. The following column was originally published in April 2004.

Divorce is one of those creations, like fast food and lite rock, that has more people willing to indulge in it than people willing to defend it. Back in the 1960s, easier divorce was hailed as a needed remedy for toxic relationships. But familiarity has bred contempt. In recent years ...

Updated: Sun Aug 17, 2008

]]>

The Perils of a Lower Drinking Age for 08/21/2008

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Life is full of surprises, and some 100 college presidents think they have stumbled on one. They think there is too much problem drinking on campus — no surprise there — and suggest we might solve the problem by changing the drinking age. They don't propose to raise it to 25. They want to lower it to 18.

The group behind the petition they signed, Choose Responsibility, says t ...

Updated: Thu Aug 21, 2008

]]>

Gun 'Rights' Vs. Freedom for 08/24/2008

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Supporters of the right to keep and bear arms have long recognized the value of firearms for the defense of life, liberty and property. But in Florida, a perverse conception of the 2nd Amendment has produced the opposite effect: The cause of gun rights is being used to attack property rights.

In 1987, Florida wisely affirmed personal freedom by letting law-abiding citizens get permits to ...

Updated: Sun Aug 24, 2008

]]>

Obama and Big Government for 08/28/2008

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

There are no disciples of small government in the Democratic Party, and Barack Obama fits right in. His economic program is based on the assumption that the economy is to the president what a marionette is to a puppeteer, requiring his direction and responding to his every wish.

Anyone partial to free markets, restrained government, fiscal discipline and light taxation approaches a Democ ...

Updated: Thu Aug 28, 2008

]]>

Joe Biden's Mythical Blue-Collar Roots for 08/31/2008

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Joe Biden once got in trouble for plagiarizing a speech and inflating his academic record. So it will not surprise you to find that his famous working-class background turns out to be mythical. But it may surprise you to learn that Biden isn't the one who has trouble with the facts.

In his Wednesday night speech at the Democratic convention, Biden referred to "those of us who grew u ...

Updated: Sun Aug 31, 2008

]]>

How Palin Subverts McCain for 09/04/2008

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The last few days have offered some startling revelations about a running mate — Sarah Palin's running mate. For months, Republicans have been asking the ominous question: How well do we know Barack Obama? The GOP nominee's vice presidential choice raises another one: How well do we know John McCain?

McCain's central message all along has been twofold. The first is that he would ke ...

Updated: Thu Sep 04, 2008

]]>

When Did Freedom Become an Orphan? for 09/07/2008

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"We must, and we shall, set the tide running again in the cause of freedom. And this party, with its every action, every word, every breath, and every heartbeat, has but a single resolve, and that is freedom." — Barry Goldwater, accepting the 1964 Republican presidential nomination

This year's Republican National Convention had a different theme for each day. Monday was & ...

Updated: Sun Sep 07, 2008

]]>