Commentaries

Enjoy a selection of my commentaries below. To see the full listing of commentaries, please click here.

States hoping to restore order

The concept of federalism is one of the major and original contributions of Americans — both to political theory and to the practice of government. But federalism is not working in America. State and local governments are increasingly viewed as administrative agents of an overreaching federal government. As Nebraska Gov. Ben Nelson said this week,…

Immigrants help Golden State go

California’s “comeback economy” has been getting a lot of ink. But terms like “comeback” and “recovery” are grossly misleading. Examples: California’s construction industry has not recovered. Its aerospace industry has not recovered either — and isn’t likely to. Instead, the California “recovery” is more like a transformation — a molting or mutation. Reason: The California…

NAFTA foes play with the numbers

As President Clinton fights to win approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the most vocal and effective opposition comes from the president’s own party — led by House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri and House Whip David Bonior of Michigan — and organized labor, which is pouring millions of dollars of union…