The New Republic | May 6, 1996 WHATEVER else marriage may or may not be, it is certainly falling apart. Half of today’s marriages end in divorce, and, far more costly, many never begin–leaving mothers poor, children fatherless and neighborhoods chaotic. With timing worthy of Neville Chamberlain, homosexuals have chosen this moment to press for…
The Economist, December 23, 1995[Like most Economist articles, this was published anonymously.] WHEN George Bush was America’s president and Daniel Ortega was Nicaragua’s, Mr Ortega threatened to cancel a local peace deal that the Americans had painstakingly brokered. Hearing the news, an enraged Mr Bush grasped for an insult worthy of the offence. “That little man,” he snarled…
The Economist | April 1, 1995[Like most Economist articles, this was published anonymously. Well, almost anonymously.] Although this newspaper has always been partial to numbers, it has not been as diligent as it could be in the reporting of mathematics. Today, to set this right, we inaugurate a new column on advances in the mathematical arts, named…
The New Republic, May 16, 1994 Nixon revisionism was probably inevitable, and no doubt will continue stronger than ever in the wake of its subject’s death on April 22. The old caricatures–Nixon as villainous schemer, mad bomber, domestic underachiever– were bound to collapse, because they were built more on Nixon’s personality than on his record.…
National Journal | September 5, 1992 ON APRIL 10, a group of kamikaze Senators marched to the chamber floor with an alternative budget. What they got back was a stark demonstration of the forces that are petrifying postwar democracy. “We do not seek to end entitlements, or even to reduce them,” Sen. Charles S. Robb,…
National Journal | May 18, 1991 [In 1993, partly as a result of publicity stemming from this article, Congress abolished the wool and mohair subsidies. They were reinstated, in a somewhat different form, in subsequent farm bills.] WE KNEW you were wondering, and the answer is no. Mohair is not the hair of a mo. It…
The Atlantic | February 1989 THIS time four years ago the country’s financial situation was a mess. The United States had embarked on an exercise in fiscal adventurism unlike any it had ever tried, outside wartime or depression, and the numbers looked shocking: from 1981 to 1984 the federal budget deficit had more than doubled,…