Articles by Ben Boychuk
Cure for America’s Socialist Mania: Prosperity
America, President Donald Trump vowed during his State of the Union in February, “will never be a socialist country.” Well, we have some good news and some bad news about that. First, the bad news. A new Gallup poll finds that four in ten Americans are favorably disposed to socialism in “some form.” Just over […]
Adding a Citizenship Question to the U.S. Census Could Affect Future Elections. So?
Citizenship matters. Or, at least it used to. The question of who is a citizen and who is not is at the foundation of what makes a nation. As a practical matter, however, knowing who is a citizen and who isn’t shapes the way policies get made and resources get allocated. Which is why the […]
Roger Kimball Wins the 2019 Bradley Prize
Our friend Roger Kimball—editor and publisher of The New Criterion and Encounter Books, and a regular contributor to these pages—is one of three recipients of the prestigious 16th annual Bradley Prize. The award “recognizes individuals whose outstanding achievements reflect The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation’s mission to restore, strengthen and protect the principles and institutions […]
Clarity About Clearances Revisited (Updated)
The scandal du jour is a claim by a “White House whistleblower” that the Trump Administration overruled the recommendations of various agencies and granted top-secret access to two-dozen or so staffers who had been denied security clearances. As Politico reported on Monday: A White House Personnel Security Office employee is alleging that senior Trump administration […]
Mueller Report: ‘No Collusion’; Media Self-Immolates
Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday afternoon released a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government. The long and the short of it: there wasn’t any. Here’s the full text of Barr’s letter (via Legal Insurrection). Bottom line: “The Special Counsel’s investigation did […]
Victor Davis Hanson Essentially Called It in February
Robert Mueller’s investigation is done. There will be no more indictments and the existing indictments have nothing to do with his warrant—namely, claims that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign “colluded” with Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election. You’re hearing and reading a lot of spin (and wishful thinking) right now. (Just read all of Ace from Friday […]
‘For the People’ Is a Censorship Bill, Plain and Simple
[fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_ rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” ] [fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_ rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” ] Campaign finance reform is all about “getting money out of politics.” Just ask any proponent and they’ll tell you. At eye-rolling, mind-numbing length. As memes go, however, “getting money out of politics” is effective. It resonates. It sticks. But […]
A Republic, Not a Giant H.R. Department
How dumb is the 2020 presidential election campaign going to be? Unfathomably dumb. Breathtakingly dumb. Seriously; pretty dumb. And that’s just among the mainstream candidates. Just wait and see what happens if an independent billionaire jumps in the race. Exhibit A this week: Howard Schultz, the former chief executive officer of Starbucks, is reportedly mulling […]
Some Best Possible Outcomes of the Shutdown
The longest-lasting partial federal government shutdown in U.S. history affords President Trump the opportunity to kill off an over-the-hill political spectacle, drain some of the swamp and maybe—just maybe—build the wall. Trump is a disruptor and a breaker of political norms that need to be broken. Among the more irritating contemporary norms is the State […]
Romney Is Wrong About the President and the Presidency
Oh, great. Mitt Romney is lecturing us about character and decency now. The new year is already shaping up to be a hectoring and annoying one. Romney, the new U.S. Senator from Utah (by way of Michigan, Massachusetts, and California), took to the opinion pages of the Washington Post on Wednesday to chide Donald Trump, […]
Missing Dad and Taking Stock This Christmas
This will be the second Christmas holiday without my father. Although I miss him every day—we used to talk on the phone, like clockwork, at 9:30 every morning—I think I miss the cantankerous old coot the most on the big holidays. Dad could be—how to put this?—difficult. I’m in the opinion-writing business. Most things are […]
Selling Political Canned Tuna to Voters Who Don’t Own Can Openers
This is not another opinion column picking on Millennials. I promise. This is, rather, an exhortation to Millennials—to all Americans, really—to think hard and think differently about the problems ailing our tarnished republic. But to think differently about where we’re going as a nation, we need to see clearly where we are right now. And […]
Understanding the Weird World of California Conservatives
To be conservative in California can be frustrating. Republicans haven’t won a statewide election here in a decade. Conservative policy prescriptions—such as they are—don’t have much of a constituency where most Californians live. And the place is thoroughly, maddeningly, insufferably, sometimes stiflingly “progressive.” Which, if you think about it, makes those of us on the […]
Requiem for John Cox
In the end, it wasn’t even close. John Cox, the venture capitalist and housing developer from San Diego by way of Chicago, was the third Republican candidate to lose—bigly—the California governor’s race to a Democrat in as many elections. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom sailed to victory Tuesday, defeating Cox by more than 1.3 million votes […]
For California Republicans, Political Revenge May Come in a Progressive Package
A case can be made for California Republicans and disaffected conservatives to vote for Kevin de León for U.S. Senate. Note my wording: I’m offering a case for Republicans and conservatives to vote for de León, the state senator from Los Angeles. But I am in no way making a conservative or a Republican case […]
Why Liberals Really Hate Trump
David Gelernter’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today hits on a theme we’ve emphasized here at American Greatness for the better part of two years now: Trump may be crass, he may be vulgar, he may be “unpresidential,” but he never pretended to be otherwise. He was elected to do a job, and, despite the […]
‘First Man’ Crashes and Burns
Get woke, go broke, as the sages say. Not even a rave review from Vox could save it. Breitbart’s John Nolte delivers the news: First Man tanked at the box office, coming in well below expectations, with just a $16.2 million opening weekend. At worst, the story of Neil Armstrong’s historic trip to the […]
Post-Kavanaugh, the Culture War Will Only Get Worse
Did you hear Hillary Clinton talking about America’s cold civil war the other day? She didn’t call it that, but that’s what she meant. Just days after the U.S. Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court by a razor-slim majority, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee joined the chorus of outrage from America’s political left. […]