Bruce Chapman | Page 4 | Discovery Institute

^{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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The South Rises, Joining the GOP

_{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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FOR the century and a quarter of the Republican Party's existence, the largest stumbling block to control of Congress has been the Democratic "Solid South." Along the populated states on either side of the Mason-Dixon line, as GOP analyst John Morgan notes, Americans long voted the way their ancestors fought in the Civil War. In the 11 old Confederacy states the only traditional Republican districts were in the Appalachian hills of North Carolina and Tennessee that once supported the Union cause. Last week's remarkable congressional elections suggest that the South may be uniting again, but this time behind the Republican party. It is enough to make Jefferson Davis spin in his grave - and William Jefferson Clinton chew his nails. In 1960, the U.S. Senate seat vacated by newly elected Vice President Lyndon Johnson was won by Republican John Tower and the present congressional realignment really began. Civil rights controversies and the weight of Great Society programs pushed many Dixiecrats into the GOP column after Barry Goldwater's defense of states' rights in 1964. Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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The Adoption Option Needs Sound Nourishment From Bush

_{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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EVEN if the Supreme Court does not change Roe vs. Wade in some way that greatly decreases the number of abortions performed, America faces a rising number of out-of-wedlock births. They are now nearing 900,000 a year - one out of four births in our country. Meanwhile, more than 300,000 children are cycled through foster-care homes, some for their whole childhood. But adoption, the policy, is an orphan, relatively unfunded and poorly advertised. In the Reagan administration, the president sincerely supported adoption, calling it ``the forgotten option.'' Among those forgetting it, however, were key White House aides and most officials at the Department of Health and Human Services. They believed, cynically, that adoption and the abortion issue were synonymous in people's minds, and that such issues should not be raised, except when unavoidable. Adoption and abortion, indeed, are connected subjects, but they also are separable. Adoption has its own history, identity and claims. Those who are ``pro-choice'' certainly should encourage the choice of adoption, especially in light of the huge number of out-of-wedlock births that have developed, even after the Roe vs. Wade decision. ``Pro-life'' people should take responsibility for the children who result when abortion is averted. Adoption alone cannot solve the whole problem, of course, but it can help. Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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Is the U.S. Ready For European Political Integration?

_{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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If economic integration in Europe is still a novel topic for most Americans, however, political integration in Europe is truly terra incognita. Political union is the aim of the European Community, and one that many EC leaders are eager to hurry along after 1992. But the implications of a full political union have not been studied in detail by the United States, they are certain to impinge upon our NATO defense alliance, the West's role in encouraging liberalization in Eastern Europe, and chances for a military understanding with the Soviets. Political union, Western leaders would agree, must not proceed in a way that damages present defense unity. Should the Soviets think that the North Americans could be decoupled from their European partners, the domestic Soviet rationale for accommodation with the West (``If you can't beat 'em, join 'em'') would be undermined. -- One source of trouble will be neutralism. The European Community includes neutral Ireland, although the Irish are a long way from the Iron Curtain and no one minds their neutrality much, including the Irish. Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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It’s Ba-ack! National Service 1989 — Put Brakes on the Omnibus

_{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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Wall Street Journal; New York; Oct 16, 1989; By ; Edition: Eastern edition Start Page: 1 ISSN: 00999660 Abstract: Why does the national-service virus keep coming back? Perhaps it is because utopian nostalgia evokes both military experience and the social gospel. If only we could get America’s wastrel youth into at least a psychic uniform we might be able to Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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Partisan Politics Needed in New County Government

_{Bruce Chapman
June 1, 1998
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THE King County Council is about to recommend to the voters that they merge the county government with Metro and make the expanded government "nonpartisan." Bowing to nonpartisan municipal officials, an apparent council majority thinks that ending the role of parties in the county will improve the political process. Nonpartisan politics makes sense in a small constituency where the voters may be able to keep track of a few candidates, or in narrow-purpose entities such as the port. Even the City of Seattle, at about 500,000 population and growing very slowly, is still more or less comprehensible for voters and elected officials alike. In King County we are so far from a party-machine system that our two dedicated, but avocational, party chairs have to plead with folks to become precinct committeepeople. They have few inducements to offer in a system with almost no patronage and little recognition. Now the parties stand to lose even their present role in recruiting and sponsoring regional candidates. Read More ›

Vintage clock hanging on a chain on the background of old books. Old watch as a symbol of passing time. Concept on the theme of history, nostalgia, old age. Retro style.

^{Bruce Chapman
March 1, 1998
Citizen Leadership

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Contrary to calendar, 20th century is history

_{Bruce Chapman
March 1, 1998
Citizen Leadership

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It turns out that Jesus was really born between four and six B.C., not in the year 0, as you might expect. A sixth century monk named Dionysius Exiguus, who was given responsibility for settling a dispute over the date of Easter, miscalculated the chronology of Jesus's life and placed his birth several years late. This scholarly error, which was perpetuated in later calendars, means - if we take the middle range of the error - that we already are entering the 21st century, and, for that matter, the Third Millenium. Of course, there was some good to the 20th century, and some necessary change. For example, we probably did need a civil service to replace the political spoils system, though we later got carried away and let bureaucracies regulate away many of our freedoms. We did need civil rights protection through central government action in order, finally, to right the great wrong of slavery and to fulfill the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. But the best intellectual innovations of the 20th century were in the fields of science and technology - medicine and communications, notably. Most of the others were of lesser significance or were baneful. The 20th century brought us the scourges of fascism and communism, and it also brought us what Alexis de Tocqueville correctly foresaw as the "democratic tyrannies" of socialism and the welfare state. Specialization and expertise flourished, bringing benefits in some areas, but also contributing to the depreciation of the liberal arts. Over-emphasis on expertise also tempted leaders in one field to claim authority in others, which is always a moral usurpation. Some generalists claimed the label of science for arts and crafts that did not deserve it. This holds true for several of the "social sciences," but especially for something that grandly calls itself "political science." Even economics claimed more scientific stature than it deserved, guided by the conceit that the qualitative can always be quantified. What the experts and pseudo-experts did was separate ordinary people from their government and culture, robbing them of their authority and undermining their morale. Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
December 12, 1997
Citizen Leadership

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A new generation dancing to beat of oldie-but-goodie values?

_{Bruce Chapman
December 12, 1997
Citizen Leadership

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The best news in the paper these days is in the Lifestyle section, where, among other revelations, we learn that “swing” is back. Of course, it’s not 1940 all over again, nor is the trend pervasive. College kids around Seattle and around the country are not proposing to outfit a museum called 50 Years On, let alone inhabit it. But Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
December 5, 1997
Citizen Leadership

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Philippines “Tiger Cub” Merits New Respect

_{Bruce Chapman
December 5, 1997
Citizen Leadership

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The currency shocks across the Pacific have had the perverse result of reminding us that Southeast Asia is still the most promising economic region of the developing world. According to the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, American exports to the region could surpass trade with Japan in the next 20 years. Already, ASEAN’s 450 million people constitute the world’s fourth largest trading Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
November 16, 1997
Academic Freedom, Citizen Leadership

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Darwin evolves in Melvindale

_{Bruce Chapman
November 16, 1997
Academic Freedom, Citizen Leadership

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The school board in Melvindale had what it thought was a reasonable idea: Let students know there are increasing scientific arguments against the Darwinian dogma of evolution by chance and natural selection (“materialism”). But then they ran up against “the script.” The script is Inherit the Wind, a popular film from 1960 that presented a fictional version of the famous Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
July 18, 1997
Citizen Leadership

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Arts world in Seattle area teeming with action

_{Bruce Chapman
July 18, 1997
Citizen Leadership

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Here is a curious–yet somehow typical–story of Seattle’s civic spirit. Seven years ago, the area’s volunteer and professional arts enthusiasts staged a global, attention-grabbing cultural festival alongside the Goodwill Games of 1990. For several months before, during and after the athletic events, a series of highest quality arts performances and museum shows from many nations dazzled and enchanted audiences. If Read More ›