Citizen Leadership

Once more a good idea is taking on a life of its own. The idea is “Cascadia,” the concept that the Pacific Northwest of the United States and the two Western provinces of Canada are in reality one international region with a common destiny. In an era that has seen large centripetal forces pulling Western Europe together into the European Read More ›

The hostility to the proposed purchase of the Seattle Mariners by a syndicate that includes the family that owns Nintendo is the most embarrassing moment in baseball history since the protests against the Brooklyn Dodgers’ decision to take Jackie Robinson into the major leagues. Xenophobes are muttering that the new owners will turn the team into the “Seattle Marios” and Read More ›

To speak of the political philosophy of the Constitution is to invite immediate controversy. Many allege that the Constitution has no coherent political philosophy; and those who maintain otherwise often regard its political philosophy as far from commendable. Those who contend that the Constitution is theoretically incoherent point to its various inconsistencies and the many provisions that were the products Read More ›

For over two years we have been warned of impending chaos once the Soviet Communist regime finally collapsed. Yet only now has the Bush administration committed itself to a major aid program. Why? Much of the answer is found in domestic politics. George Bush has been a success in foreign policy, but the slumping economy has most Americans demanding more Read More ›

It’s time to sit back, put our feet up and watch the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith. Thanks to television we now can observe real crimes covered on videotape, real arrests in progress, and real trials, live. The formats also can be combined, as when the Los Angeles Police Department was caught on amateur videotape clubbing a motorist over Read More ›

One might expect that the United States, which led a $50-billion Gulf War and then assigned the job of nuclear weapons searches in Iraq to the United Nations, would supply its share of funds to do the job. But, while inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are still in Iraq, the IAEA director general, Hans Blix, reports that Read More ›

Back in 1956, when I spent a summer there as a high school student, Mexico really was “the land of eternal spring,” beautiful, though poor, and full of hope. The population, then at 34 million, was already growing fast and shifting from the countryside to the cities. Mexico City held 4.5 million. Today, the population of Mexico is nearing an Read More ›

Everybody knows these days that one of Seattle’s advantages in the recession is the relative health of the Northwest economy as a whole. Boeing and Microsoft pull in dollars from both coasts and from overseas, but it is also nice to have a regional market that is still strong enough to want our products close to home. But what “everybody Read More ›

In a candid, hard-hitting book that will provoke both anger and thoughtful consideration, two young Republicans have written the first thorough study of the real problems that face the party. A lively, inside account of the GOP’s warring factions and contesting personalities, The Party That Lost Its Head also advances a comprehensive program for its revival. George F. Gilder and Read More ›