Edward Halper

The stories we tell ourselves about politics are making America lousy.

Donald Trump’s characteristically blunt remarks on immigration have, predictably, provoked widespread outrage from foreign governments and the media, but they raise an important issue that needs serious discussion.

For many years, starting in elementary school, my mother took me to an ophthamologist for an annual examination. Dr. Itzkovitz was a master in distracting a child just long enough to get a good look at his retina. By the time we arrived, after school, his part-time secretary had left for the day,…

One frequent criticism of the war in Iraq has been that it is impossible to impose democracy from above. The revolution in Egypt represents an attempt to achieve democracy from below, as it were. The jury is out on both nations--and on both paths. However, as many have noted, revolutions that…