Recently Published

Repealing Birthright Citizenship Wasn't a Good Idea Back in the Forties Either

by Greg Robinson

The recent wave of public anger over illegal immigration has given rise to a movement to amend the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees birthright citizenship for all native-born children, in order to strip children of illegal immigrants of

Channelling George Washington: How Not to Fight a War

by Thomas Fleming

“I’ve hemmed and hawed over talking to you about this for a good—or bad—week.  I’ve always been reluctant to criticize a sitting president.  That’s especially true in the case of President Obama because of his symbolic imp

Channelling George Washington: Hating Things Military

by Thomas Fleming

“Have you read a single newspaper or magazine story anywhere describing one of our soldiers in Afghanistan doing anything courageous or admirable?”“Now that you mention it, General—no.”“This hostili

Channelling George Washington: Book Return

by Thomas Fleming

“Instead of worrying about the happiness of the whole country, what do you say to devoting tonight’s visit to the sort of thing that keeps an ex-president happy?”“I’m all for t

Channelling George Washington: The Glorious Fourth (Again)

by Thomas Fleming

“Here we are again, about to celebrate our most important holiday. What did we talk about last year?”  The deep voice was surprisingly mellow, considering the thorn

Channelling George Washington: The General and Patrick Henry

by Thomas Fleming

“Well, I did it.  I did what Martha insisted I HAD to do.  I invited Tom Jefferson and Jemmy Madison over for a glass of ambrosia and hoped there were no hard feelings about our little dustup.”

Channelling Martha Washington

by Thomas Fleming

“Is this Thomas Fleming? I hate to wake you up but it’s VERY important that we talk.”It was a woman’s voice, with the gentlest, most piquant Southern accent I’d ever hear

Channelling George Washington (and Thomas Jefferson)

by Thomas Fleming

“This is Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and founder of the University of Virginia. Notice I don’t even mention the fact that I was governor of Virginia, sec

Channelling George Washington: Foreign Policy ala Thomas Jefferson

by Thomas Fleming

“To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it."  “President Washington?  You don’t sound

Channelling George Washington: The Learning Curve

by Thomas Fleming

“To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this  side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it." “You’re sounding very cheerful tonight, Mr

Channelling George Washington: Illusions of Victory

by Thomas Fleming

"To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it.""What's on your mind tonight, Mr. President?"&

Channelling George Washington: Presidents Criticizing Presidents

by Thomas Fleming

"To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it." "What's on your mind tonight, Mr. President?"

Channelling George Washington: The Imperial Congress

by Thomas Fleming

"To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it.""President Washington?  Are we going to discuss the imperi

Channelling George Washington: The Role of the Presidency

by Thomas Fleming

"To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it."  “President Washington? Is there a new problem on the po

Channelling George Washington: Campaign Finance

by Thomas Fleming

"To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it." “President Washington! I haven’t heard from you for a while.” “I

Channelling George Washington: The Glorious Fourth!

by Thomas Fleming

     “I thought this might be a good time to talk about revolutions.”      This time I had  no difficulty recognizing the deep voice. I had been hoping Mr. Washin

Channelling George Washington

by Thomas Fleming

“To see this country happy is so much the wish of my soul, nothing on this side of Elysium can be placed in competition with it." The deep voice made the hair on the back of my neck tingle. “Huh?&rdquo

What Obama Should See on His State Visit to England

by Lee P. Ruddin

“The special relationship is back on,” says The Sun’s political editor. “A fine day’s work” was how Tom Newton Dunn summed up David Cameron’s visit to the Obama White House.Yet us Brits should not get too carried away.  Yes, the prime minister did a fine job walking a tightrope between protecting BP and appeasing his vengeful American hosts.  But the fact that President Obama swapped anecdotes and was on first-name terms with “David” at their fi

How Much Is Enough? America's Runaway Military Spending

by Lawrence S. Wittner

The August 9 announcement by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates of cost-containment measures at the Defense Department should not obscure two underly

Social Security at Seventy-Five

by Edward D. Berkowitz

Many people concede Social Security’s glorious past but worry about its future.  They see the Social Security program, which is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary, as a potential problem rather than prime example of what the government has done right.  They say it is a simple matter of numbers—too many benefits promised to too many people by too few workers.Such a view willfully ignores the program’s history of overcoming challenges and overlooks the fact that, even under