Free Republic

Last week's column discussed some of the controversy surrounding the University of Michigan's admissions practices, where blacks and Hispanics are given points based solely on race, and where whites are turned away to admit blacks and Hispanics with much lower academic qualifications. A few weeks before that, my column discussed the deplorable conditions in Washington, D.C.'s high schools. At 12 of its 19 high schools, more than 50 percent of the students test below basic in reading, and at some of those schools the percentages approached 80 percent. At 15 of these schools, over 50 percent tests below basic...

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to hear Grutter and Gratz vs. Bollinger, a case challenging the University of Michigan's racial preferences, and President Bush's submitting an amicus curiae brief supporting the challenge has refueled the affirmative-action debate. The focal point of the debate is whether affirmative action violates civil rights. It's difficult to debate the issue intelligently because we're talking past one another – as we haven't chosen to define affirmative action. Let's look at it. Affirmative action means different things to different people. So allow me to list some of those alternative interpretations. To some Americans, perhaps most, affirmative...

<p>A typical belief among the world's foreign aid agencies is there's a "vicious cycle of poverty" that makes economic development virtually impossible for the world's poor nations. This idea holds that poor countries are poor because income is so low savings cannot be generated to provide the kind of capital accumulation necessary for economic growth.</p>

A typical belief among the world's foreign aid agencies is there's a "vicious cycle of poverty" that makes economic development virtually impossible for the world's poor nations. This idea holds that poor countries are poor because income is so low that savings cannot be generated to provide the kind of capital accumulation necessary for economic growth. Thus, it is alleged, the only way out of the poverty quagmire is foreign aid. As popular as the vicious cycle of poverty theory is among economic development "experts," it has to be one of mankind's most foolish ideas. "Explain yourself, Williams!" you...

Democrat Mary Landrieu's successful Louisiana senatorial race against Republican challenger Suzanne Haik Terrell highlights some of the less appreciated and uglier aspects of American politics. America's sugar producers contributed heavily to both candidates. In fact, the sugar lobby gives millions of dollars to both parties of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Why? Might it be the sugar businesses' civic interest in free elections and good government? Believing that would make you a prime candidate for a brain transplant. Both Louisiana candidates criticized the rumored Bush administration trade agreement that would allow for greater imports of Mexican sugar. They...

The Walter Williams InterviewBy John HawkinsJohn Hawkins: You do a fantastic job filling in for Rush Limbaugh. Are we going to see a Walter Williams radio show coming up anytime soon? Walter Williams: No, I've been teaching for about thirty-five years and that would require a career change; I'm not quite ready for it. I've been offered jobs a couple of times... John Hawkins: Oh really? Would it have been a national show or starting in a big market? Walter Williams: It would have probably been syndicated. I was offered that some years ago and I turned it down. Every...

QUICK LINKS: HOME | NEWS | OPINION | RIGHTPAGES | CHAT | WHAT'S NEW townhall.comWalter Williams (back to story)January 8, 2003Washington's education establishment "Fiddling Whilst Rome Burns" was my column several weeks ago. It looked at the disastrous state of education in the nation's capitol, where at only one of the city's 19 high schools do as many as 50 percent of its students test as proficient in reading. At no school are 50 percent of the students proficient in math. At 12 of 19 high schools, more than 50 percent of the students test below basic in reading,...

What I celebrate as a source of pride and self-esteem is the fact that I have brown eyes. You say, "Williams, that goes to prove what we've been saying all along. You're a lunatic! Is having brown eyes some kind of accomplishment?" Such a response is proof positive that you've missed out on an important part of today's college education. Diversity worship and multiculturalism are currency and cause for celebration at just about any college. If one is black, brown, yellow or white, the prevailing thought is that he should take pride and celebrate that fact even though, just...

    Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon Granted to All Persons of European Descent Whereas, Europeans kept my forebears in bondage some three centuries toiling without pay, Whereas, Europeans ignored the human rights pledges of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution,Whereas, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments meant little more than empty words, Therefore, Americans of European ancestry are guilty of great crimes against my ancestors and their progeny.But, in the recognition Europeans themselves have been victims of various and sundry human rights violations to wit: the Norman Conquest, the Irish Potato Famine, Decline...

QUICK LINKS: HOME | NEWS | OPINION | RIGHTPAGES | CHAT | WHAT'S NEW townhall.comWalter Williams (back to story)December 26, 2002Fiddling whilst Rome burns Casey Lartigue, policy analyst for the Washington, D.C., based Cato Institute, has written a report in the Dec. 10 issue of Policy Analysis that constitutes a devastating indictment of public education. The title is, "The Need for Education Freedom in the Nation's Capital." The title suggests the solution -- namely, education reform must be more than simply spending more money to prop up schools that are little more than holding pens. Washington politicians must create...

Selective 'racists': Dems double standards http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | During World War II, ex-Ku Klux Klansman, now U.S. senator, Robert Byrd vowed never to fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." Just a couple of years ago, Byrd lectured us on the floor of the Senate that "there are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time."...

<p>We need government, and that means taxes. But when we think about government spending, and the taxes needed to finance its spending, we should also think of the effects of taxation.</p> <p>Suppose I hire you to repair my computer. The job is worth $200 to me, and doing the job is worth $200 to you. The transaction will occur because we have a meeting of the mind. Now suppose there's the imposition of a 30 percent income tax on you. That means you won't receive $200 but instead $140. You might say the heck with working for me ? spending the day with your family is worth more than $140.</p>

During World War II, ex-Ku Klux Klansman, now U.S. senator, Robert Byrd vowed never to fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." Just a couple of years ago, Byrd lectured us on the floor of the Senate that "there are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time." I wonder whether he was talking...

During World War II, ex-Ku Klux Klansman, now U.S. senator, Robert Byrd vowed never to fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." Just a couple of years ago, Byrd lectured us on the floor of the Senate that "there are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time." I wonder whether he was talking about...

Your congressman might say, "Madison was all wrong; after all, there's the 'general welfare' clause." Here's what Madison had to say about that: "With respect to the two words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators." Thomas Jefferson echoed similar sentiments saying, "Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."

Posted: December 11, 2002 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc. Frederic Bastiat, 19th-century French economist, predicted, "If goods don't cross borders, troops will." That's precisely the theme of a July 1 Weekly Standard article written by my Israeli colleague Daniel Doron, president of the Jerusalem-based Israel Center for Social and Economic Development, titled, "The Way Forward for the Palestinians: It's Economic Development, Not Peace-processing." Daniel Doron argues that during the quarter century from the Six Day War to the Oslo Accords, from 1967 to 1993, the political stalemate enabled a quiet peace. Israel maintained a modicum of law...

The Enron case made headlines because fraud and deception of such magnitude is fairly unusual in the corporate world. Washington fraud and deception of a much greater magnitude doesn't make the headlines because fraud and deception in government is standard practice. That's what's so disgusting when politicians posture and demand that something be done to ensure honest corporate accounting practices. You say, "Williams, what are you talking about - Washington fraud?" Suppose a company had run up debt that it wanted to conceal from its stockholders, lenders and the Security Exchange Commission (SEC). The CEO comes up with the accounting...

We need government, and that means taxes. But when we think about government spending, and the taxes needed to finance its spending, we should also think of the effects of taxation. Suppose I hire you to repair my computer. The job is worth $200 to me and doing the job is worth $200 to you. The transaction will occur because we have a meeting of the mind. Now suppose there's the imposition of a 30 percent income tax on you. That means you won't receive $200 but instead $140. You might say the heck with working for me – spending...

There're lots of terms used in ways that have great emotional worth but little analytical value. Take the term discrimination. When selecting a wife, some 43 years ago, not every woman was given an equal opportunity. I discriminated against white, Chinese and Japanese women, not to mention criminal women. You say, "Williams, that kind of discrimination is OK because it's harmless!" That's untrue. When I married, other women were harmed. The only way that I couldn't have harmed other women was to be a man that only one woman would want. Sometimes, I'm tempted by the ideals of equal opportunity...

Airing the "family's" dirty laundry in public can qualify one for less-than-flattering descriptions. That's particularly applicable to a black person, and even more so when he questions the civil rights gospel that the problems black people encounter are rooted in racial discrimination and a legacy of slavery. To argue that most of the problems black people confront today have little or nothing to do with racial discrimination risks being labeled everything but a child of God, not to mention accusations of having "sold out" and "letting white people off the hook." One need not deny the existence of racial discrimination...