Articles filed under Commentary

• The governor, the soul mate and ... The End Apr 23, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: Mark Sanford's lack of empathy for his family, not to mention his impeachable judgment, should disqualify him from further public service, an opinion apparently shared by the Republican National Committee, which recently withdrew support for his candidacy. Where the wife goes, so go the people.
  

   
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  New data on border crossings could change immigration debate Apr 22, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Byron York: There’s a confrontation coming between the Obama administration and Republicans in Congress over the most basic question of immigration reform: How secure is the U.S. border with Mexico?
  

   

• How the gop learned to stop worrying and love taxes Apr 21, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Donna Brazile: The current $40 billion budget gap among 30 states is an improvement over their red-ink shortfall of $71 billion just two years ago. They can thank Obama's economic policies for that improvement.
  

   

• Filling the silence after the sirens Apr 21, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: A tragedy makes communal what most of us face in isolation — a loss that can't be reconciled with justice. The news breaks, and we stare into the abyss together.
  

   

• Tired of budget shenanigans? Here’s an answer Apr 18, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Lee Hamilton: Too often in the past, members of Congress have sought some automatic budget mechanism — a balanced-budget amendment, say, or budget caps — to solve their problems. Mostly, these have been a way to avoid the hard choices required by the regular order. In the end, there's no substitute for experience, knowledge, hard work, compromise and a resolve to seek solutions.
  

   

• What do we do? What do we feel? Apr 18, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: From this point forward, everything that follows is now familiar: The soundtrack, the speculation, the newsy reminders that we don't know anything yet but we'll keep talking anyway, and what would we have newscasters do, really? Don't we want to know as soon as there is something to know?
  

   

• Forum provides a chance for all views on pensions to growApr 18, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: Our only objective for the Pension Forum scheduled for next Wednesday night is to add depth and detail to the discussion over what to do about the state's pension crisis.
  

   

• Food aid programs need more flexibility Apr 17, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: For the last decade, aid reformers have asked: Why couldn't a portion of food aid be purchased regionally — in Africa, say, rather than the American Midwest — or given directly to individuals in vouchers so they can buy in (and strengthen) local agriculture markets? This has not, understandably, been popular with American agribusinesses, shipping companies and maritime unions. But Congress granted the George W. Bush administration limited flexibility to experiment with more direct forms of assistance.
  

   

• Congress’ gun solutions are missing the point Apr 16, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Richard Cohen: Washington is one big magic show. In black tie and tails, the Senate points to the bereaved parents of Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults were shot to death. Then, while the audience is focused on the Newtown horror, senators vote to take up a bill that would do absolutely nothing to avoid such a tragedy.
  

   

• Beauty and the beast Apr 16, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: The recent kerfuffle over a secret recording of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign strategy meeting, which focused on opposition research about a likely opponent, actress Ashley Judd, has divided observers into two groups. One consists of those disturbed by the bugging of a private conversation. The other consists of people who were mostly offended by the content of the conversation, which concerned Judd's emotional problems, and laughter about certain odd comments she has made over time.
  

   

• Compromise for the common good Apr 15, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Donna Brazile: Compromises are no longer the work of moderates, who are becoming harder and harder to find in Congress, but of individuals coming together for common interests and the common good.
  

   
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  Will immigration reform kill Rubio’s chances?Apr 15, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Byron York: Passing major legislation is not a path to the presidency. So why is Sen. Marco Rubio, who is almost surely running for the 2016 Republican nomination, working so hard on comprehensive immigration reform?
  

   

• Pass gun laws, but will they really help? Apr 14, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: The biggest obstacle to the Obama administration’s push for tighter gun control may be its own best argument: Newtown. This is because nothing proposed in the gun control debates would have prevented the mass killing of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and everybody knows it. At best, tighter gun laws will make us feel better.
  

   
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  Pension reform and the constitution Apr 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest columnist Lauri Reynolds: The Illinois and U.S. Constitution require our legislature to adopt pension reform that will spread the pain of cuts fairly among all beneficiaries of the pension system, ensure its long-term financial sustainability and allow it to meet its many other duties to all Illinois citizens. Either of the two leading proposals could reasonably be found to be constitutional.
  

   

• Margaret Thatcher: moralist Apr 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist George Gerson: It is the great paradox of modern life that free markets depend on responsible, self-reliant, moral citizens, while modern, consumer capitalism — of the kind Margaret Thatcher unleashed in Britain — is a solvent of traditional bonds and norms. Freedom requires virtues it does not produce, and may even help undermine. Which is why Thatcher the free marketeer needed to be Thatcher the moralist.
  

   

• A small step to uphold our contract of trust Apr 11, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: It’s hard to discount what media blogger Craig Silverman dubbed the “Summer of Sin.” That would be the summer of 2012, during which he accumulated a litany of at least 17 acts of plagiarism or fabrication from across the country.
  

   

• The vigorous virtues of Margaret Thatcher Apr 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist George Will: She left the British this ongoing challenge: “We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them reimposed at a European level.” As long as her brave heart beat, she knew there are no final victories.
  

   

• Rethinking the death penalty in America Apr 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Richard Cohen: When it comes to the death penalty, the only thing the United States can do is plead the insanity defense. The rest of the advanced world has moved on, but America resolutely remains among the top five executioners — behind China, Iran and Iraq, and just ahead of Pakistan. In Colorado, prosecutors are seeking the death of James Holmes, the clearly insane young man who dyed his hair a vivid orange, allegedly killed 12 people at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” and made no effort to escape. “Justice is death,” declared the prosecutor. The Taliban, I tell you, are among us.
  

   

• Burly guards or bipartisanship? Apr 8, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Donna Brazile: The National Rifle Association has finally issued its recommendations in the wake of the Newtown massacre, where 20 children and seven adults were murdered. The 225-page report misses the target by a mile.
  

   

• An incitement to genocide Apr 7, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: Is such Iranian rhetoric a crime under the Genocide Convention of 1948 — to which Iran is a signatory — which forbids the "direct and public incitement to commit genocide"? The language of Iranian leaders is certainly direct and public. When forced to defend themselves, they often claim (unpersuasively) that their target is Zionists rather than Jews. But in the determination of genocidal intent, this doesn't matter. Genocide can be directed against any group — racial, ethnic, religious or national.