Overview for David Frum in Print

America's New Financial Capital is ... Washington

New York City is bleeding jobs, unemployment is over 10 percent. Washington is booming as government agencies like TARP and the General Services Administration expand. New York's crisis and Washington's growth is more than a business page story though. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday January 12, 2010

It's Time to Start Profiling

We can have sensible airport security without making "flying while Muslim" a federal offense. It’s inspiring really. As you stood in the long, long pre-Christmas lines at airport security, you might have thought that the transportation safety authorities had already achieved the very summit of …

Written by David Frum on Thursday January 7, 2010

Scary Lessons from Argentina

The Argentine experience is one of tragic falling away from a once glorious promise and offers lessons for both the political left and the right. I spent the Christmas holidays in two very similar nations, with two radically different histories. Country 1 is my native Canada: a resource-rich …

Written by David Frum on Monday January 4, 2010

Unhealthy Habits are What's Killing Us

For all the money Americans spend on health care (60 percent more per person than any other advanced country), Americans are not an especially healthy people. Originally published at CNN.com . Health care reform is proceeding toward the president's desk, likely to become law in the new …

Written by David Frum on Monday December 28, 2009

The Case for Inaction on Immigration

Democrats are preparing yet another comprehensive immigration reform. Just say No. On Tuesday, 80 House members unveiled a new immigration amnesty proposal. The bill, written by Illinois congressman Luis Gutierrez, would put illegals on the road to citizenship. The Gutierrez bill is too …

Written by David Frum on Thursday December 17, 2009

Climate Policy is Like Buying Insurance

There is a lot we know and don't know for sure about climate change. Those unknowns should influence the decisions being made in Copenhagen and Washington, D.C. We know how carbon dioxide interacts with heat radiation. We know how much carbon dioxide is being added to the atmosphere every year. …

Written by David Frum on Thursday December 10, 2009

America Still Needs the Neocons

Not only will neoconservatism return, it remains the best hope for balanced two-party democracy in the United States. Neoconservatism: can there be a label more reviled? Condemned abroad, blamed for Iraq and Katrina, neoconservatism would seem dead and buried. But not only will neoconservatis…

Written by David Frum on Monday December 7, 2009

Saving the U.S. Economy — the Canadian Way

America’s situation today resembles Canada’s in 1992-93: a horrific recession, terrifying indebtedness, and gathering doubts about the country’s future. Barack Obama this week convened a jobs summit to discuss the awful U.S. unemployment numbers. Should the federal government hire unemployed …

Written by David Frum on Saturday December 5, 2009

We Don't Need Another Churchill to Win in Afghanistan

Pundits have dismissed Obama's West Point speech as pedestrian and uninspiring. Is there something wrong with that? If there’s one thing that everybody seems agreed on, it is that Barack Obama’s speech at West Point did not sound like Winston Churchill. "It's not exactly the kind of speech that …

Written by David Frum on Thursday December 3, 2009

A False Lesson on Climate Change

The conduct of climate scientists at the U.K.'s Climate Research Institute was scandalous. But what does that tell us about the validity of climate change? On their way to discovering the double helix structure of DNA, James Watson and Francis Crick drew important inspiration from an unauthorize…

Written by David Frum on Wednesday November 25, 2009

Herbal Remedies Need Real Scrutiny

Federal regulators restrict advertising about drugs to the most bland and basic statements. Yet snake oil flim-flam can be huckstered in the most truth-defying way, thanks to a 1994 law coaxed through Congress by the people who make these drugs. Did you know that there exists an all-natural remedy …

Written by David Frum on Monday November 23, 2009

Tehran's Last Chance

With their rejection of the latest offer from the IAEA, the Iranians could not make their message clearer if they had sent a crayoned letter: “We’re building a bomb — and you don’t dare stop us. Boom boom, suckers.” If Iran were a normal country, the offer would have been handsome. Iran …

Written by David Frum on Saturday November 21, 2009

Republicans Heading for a Spectacular Bloodbath in Florida

The Republican fratricide in the November 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010. The Republican fratricide in the November 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even …

Written by David Frum on Monday November 16, 2009

Will Campaign Cash Influence Financial Reform?

The connection between campaign contributions and public policy is more subtle than most cynics acknowledge. But as the Senate considers reform of the financial system, the opportunities -- and motives -- for abuse are mounting. As the Senate opens a debate on financial reform, let’s consider …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday November 11, 2009

America Ends Love Affair with the SUV

Do America's highways look different to you? They should. Under the Cash for Clunkers program that ran through the spring and summer, almost 700,000 old vehicles were destroyed. Do America's highways look different to you? They should. Under the Cash for Clunkers program that ran through the …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday November 11, 2009

Trial Lawyers Could Win Bonanza in Health Care Reform

Small but sophisticated interest groups use big political battles to gain special advantages. Health care reform is, of course, the biggest battle of them all, with trillions of dollars at stake. On Saturday night with the House vote in favor of the health reform bill, the trial lawyers sliced …

Written by David Frum on Monday November 9, 2009

A Dose of Defeat is Just the Medicine for Obama

To the outside world the President still represents transformation, but at home his record is disappointingly thin. The spokesman for the Department of Defence now has his own Twitter feed!” That thrilling news was imparted by a French journalist in a TV panel discussion this week. The continent…

Written by David Frum on Friday November 6, 2009

Immigration: A Hot-Button Issue on Ice

Less than two years ago, illegal immigration was roiling the Republican base and fueling a divisive national debate. What happened? Whatever happened to immigration? Republican House leader John Boehner says we are living through a political “rebellion” on the right. Yet the issue that most …

Written by David Frum on Thursday November 5, 2009

Demonizing Food Corporations Won't Make America Thin Again

The fabulous productivity of modern agriculture and industry have made food more available than ever before in the history of the world. Human beings, who evolved in conditions of food scarcity, are understandably finding it difficult to adapt to these new conditions of abundance. If you were born …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 31, 2009

When Politics and Baseball Collide

At age six, my son Nathaniel discovered baseball and the New York Yankees came into our lives. In our household, there was one special complicating factor: Since the Eisenhower administration, the Yankees have never won a World Series with a Republican in the White House. If you had told me 12 …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 24, 2009