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National Columnists

Trump is 2024’s ‘Beetlejuice’ candidate

It’s not often that Donald Trump engages in understatement, but he did in his oft-repeated statement back in January 2016: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, OK, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” he marveled just before that year’s Iowa caucuses. ...

We can protect people who need Social Security

The United States is at a crossroads. You may have heard that Social Security is politically impossible to reform. But that belief will be hard to sustain. In a few years, the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted. When that happens, Social Security benefits will be cut across the board ...

Who cares what government thinks?

In 1791, when Congressman James Madison was drafting the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — which would become known as the Bill of Rights — he insisted that the most prominent amendment among them restrain the government from interfering with the freedom of speech. After various ...

Regime change in Iran is only option for peace

Three years ago, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said this: “I don’t think we’re going to have real peace and security in the Middle East until the regime of the ayatollahs is replaced, not just because of their threat on nuclear weapons, but because of their ...

Candidates keep making new promises

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris keep making new promises. Trump fans applauded when he said he’ll eliminate taxes on tips. Then Harris proposed that, too. Her audience applauded. Trump then proposed not taxing overtime. More applause. But narrow tax exemptions are bad policy. In my new ...

Does this country lack education freedom?

What issue could be more important to a nation’s future than education? A country is about people. How Americans act, work, think, choose — live — reflects their values. K-12 education, of course, is about learning to read and do math. This is what we measure in test scores. But ...