Entries

El Nino Just An Elaborate Plot Device

Cold, howling wind plays havoc with global warming theory DATELINE: Orange County, CA 'It never rains in California,' goes an old song, but even old songs get it wrong sometimes. For the past two weeks it has not only been raining in California, but the winds have been howling and the …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday December 16, 1997

Confessions Of An Indulgent Father

I grew up in the late 1960s, heyday of anticonsumerist sentiment. My parents held strong prejudices against any toy made of plastic, and had a rule (not quite a rule, more a mental reflex) against buying any plaything advertised on television. While I chafed against these attitudes at the time, …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday December 9, 1997

Veterans Are Aliens In Their Own Land

Soldiers' symbols have been systematically obliterated It's not every day it is insinuated that one's father-in-law is soft on Nazism. But as the controversy over the proposed Holocaust gallery in the national war museum in Ottawa has heated up, those responsible for the project are hurling ever …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday December 2, 1997

A Tax Code Full Of Favors: A Review Of "the Hidden Welfare State" By Christopher Howard

President Clinton is said to fret about his legacy. Will anyone remember him after he is gone? He's being too hard on himself. There is one large group of Americans who will always look back with fondness on the Clinton years: the country's accountants and tax lawyers. With five tax brackets and a …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday November 19, 1997

Unions Steer Democrats Off Course

Party chooses protectionist path Every president loses a few votes in Congress and no one loss usually matters very much. Usually. But U.S. President Bill Clinton's latest defeat is no ordinary loss. He had asked Congress to renew the authority granted to every other president to negotiate trade …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday November 11, 1997

Those Who Want To Avoid Confronting China Are Right

Trade with the Chinese will enrich the business class and be a force for liberalization. Chinese President Jiang Zemin is in Washington this week, and Americans are bitterly debating how he should be treated. On one side is the Establishment: foreign policy experts, corporate chieftains, the …

Written by David Frum on Saturday November 1, 1997

The Politics Of Sexual Harassment

Why is Anita Hill deemed more credible than Paula Jones? Anita Hill is back this fall, with a memoir of her epic battle to block the confirmation of Clarence Thomas as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Alas for her, she took too long to publish. Six years ago, Anita Hill was a …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday October 7, 1997

The Death Of Duty

The British and the American publics, by electing Tony Blair and by electing and reelecting Bill Clinton, have made it clear that they expect their political leaders to be able to summon on demand an easy tear and a quaver in the voice. Why would any less be required from the royal family? "Tell …

Written by David Frum on Monday September 22, 1997

Parties Of The Right Must Point Conservatism In New Direction

They can begin by championing democratic accountability This hasn't been a good year for conservatives around the world. For the first time since 1978, left-of-centre parties are in power in Canada, the U.S. and Britain all at the same time. In fact, every major Western industrial country except …

Written by David Frum on Saturday September 20, 1997

China Inches Toward Market Economy

Communist leader gambles he won't lose reins of power Chinese Communist Leader Jiang Zemin took a big gamble this weekend. At the 15th congress of the Chinese Communist party, he said China's giant state-owned socialist monopolies will now go bankrupt if they can't pay their way. With that, the …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 16, 1997

Diana Accepted The Benefits Of Royalty, But Not Its Duties

Grief for the Princess of Wales should not lead us to do an injustice to the family she left behind The death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, has detonated a blockbuster bomb of anger and resentment against the British royal family. Millions of people around the planet have made up their …

Written by David Frum on Saturday September 6, 1997

Islam And Democracy Don't Mix Well

New book has interesting insights into Muslim world In the past 20 years, democracy has spread farther and faster than ever before in human history. Now, in all the world, there remains only one large area of human culture to which democracy remains a stranger: the Muslim world, stretching from …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 19, 1997

Middle Class Dismissed

Liberals used to jeer at the working-class social conservatives who voted for Ronald Reagan; Mr. Reagan, they said, was exploiting working-class resentment of abortion and racial quotas, while delivering the economic goods to the rich. How could anyone be such a fool as to trade money for …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday July 30, 1997

Who's Afraid Of Big Bad ITT?

'Super concentration' menace unfounded in the end There was a time, not so long ago, when intelligent people trembled in terror of the giant corporations that seemed to be taking over the planet. These monsters had, writers such as John Kenneth Galbraith warned, grown so big that nothing except an …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday July 29, 1997

Did The U.S. President Auction Off U.S. Foreign Policy?

The complicated Clinton campaign finance story boils down to one simple question You probably haven't heard much about the Clinton financial scandals recently. The U.S. media aren't interested -- the story is complicated, it's vacation season, and besides, the only scandals they care about involve …

Written by David Frum on Saturday July 19, 1997

Splendor In The Grass -- Revisited

In college, my friends and I used to debate the year that one was irretrievably, unqualifiedly, with no more excuses middle-aged. The age we finally settled on was 37. And here I am. If my college self could somehow be introduced to my now middle-aged self, what would he think? More than anything, …

Written by David Frum on Monday July 14, 1997

France Must Let Go Of Its Economic Delusions If It Is To Prosper

The Communists still champion what might be called the anti-Galileo point of view It will be a gloomy Bastille Day in France Monday. The French economy remains mired in its worst economic slump since the Depression. For eight consecutive years, almost 13% of the population of France has been …

Written by David Frum on Saturday July 12, 1997

Crack-up, Part Deux

It's been another bad week for conservatives. In France, the second round of legislative elections on June 1 proved every bit as devastating to conservatives as the first round a week before: The socialists won 268 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, with another 39 going to the Communists. …

Written by David Frum on Monday June 16, 1997

Confused Conservatives: The Worldwide Crack-up

In Leo Tolstoy's telling of the story, Napoleon began the battle of Borodino -- the battle that doomed his hopes of conquering Russia -- exactly as he began every battle. He reviewed his men, gave them an inspiring speech, and sent them out to attack the enemy. In the past, the result had never …

Written by David Frum on Monday June 9, 1997

Back To Harvard

It's been a long, long time since I was last in Cambridge, Massachusetts. How long? Well, let's put it this way: As I drove along Mt. Auburn Street, I passed the battered old sign of the University Typewriter Repair Shop and realized that the first time I had seen it, I was actually taking a …

Written by David Frum on Monday May 19, 1997