Archived Columns From 2000

by Walter Williams

2000 July

Declining standardsJuly 26, 2000

Listening to how English is spoken nowadays is one more indicator of our decline in values and standards. It’s not just the foul language and loose talk; it’...

2000 August

Three cheers for smugglersAugust 01, 2000

During the days of the Soviet Union, Swiss watches were illegal. In the era of the American Prohibition, the sale, manufacture and importation of intoxicatin...

Attacks on the rule of lawAugust 09, 2000

Politicians, lawyers, assorted rascals and do-gooders are rapidly undermining our common-law rules of torts, while the rest of us either applaud their effort...

Could they be elected today?August 17, 2000

Now that we’re about to decide the White House’s next occupant, let’s speculate about how previous presidents might fare were they standing for election in t...

Groveling 101August 23, 2000

When Vice President Al Gore announced that Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., was his running mate, many people applauded. Lieberman, an honorable man, was seen...

Pick us off one at a timeAugust 30, 2000

Richard Mann, a North Carolina farmer, shot a wolf that was threatening his cattle. When he went to bury the animal the next day, he was confronted by U.S. F...

2000 September

Death, wealth, and taxesSeptember 06, 2000

Last week, President Clinton carried through with his threat to veto bipartisan legislation that would have repealed the federal death tax over the next deca...

It's time to part companySeptember 13, 2000

One political question we have to answer is whether George W. Bush or Albert Gore shall be president, and just which party will control the House of Represen...

What's going on?September 20, 2000

The Federal Trade Commission has just released its year-long study showing how Hollywood’s film industry, the music industry and the video-game industry have...

Helping the OPEC cartelSeptember 27, 2000

We Americans are going to pay through our noses to stay warm this winter, and we can thank our elected and unelected officials in Washington.

2000 October

Men must stand upOctober 04, 2000

Quite frankly the behavior of some women has gotten out of hand, and it’s because we men have become cowards and wimps. The more men take of double-standards...

Black loyaltyOctober 11, 2000

It’s indisputably beyond question that black Americans have a level of loyalty to the Democratic Party and its big-government policies second to none. They c...

Government and the little guyOctober 18, 2000

Government is on the side of the little guy, protecting him from the rich and powerful. That’s what many people believe – after all, that’s the sermon preach...

Political greed and exploitationOctober 24, 2000

Suppose you and I go to a fancy restaurant. Under which scheme would it would be more likely for me to order a $150 bottle of Chateau LaFite Rothschild Borde...

2000 November

An unseen cancer on the body politicNovember 01, 2000

The social chaos seen in other countries such as sabotage, guerilla bands and political assassinations has yet to emerge in our country. Because of that, we ...

My new entitlementNovember 08, 2000

By appearance alone, no one would ever guess that next year I’ll celebrate my 65th birthday. Going by this year’s presidential campaign promises, simply by s...

Losing the raceNovember 15, 2000

Here are just a few of the facts: One study asked middle-class black, white and Asian high school students what was the lowest grade their parents would tole...

Majority rule equals tyrannyNovember 22, 2000

The controversy surrounding this year’s presidential election has led to calls to abandon the Constitution’s Article II provisions for the Electoral College ...

2000 December

A nation polarizedDecember 06, 2000

We’ve had close presidential elections before, but this one is emblematic of dangerous, unbridgeable and growing gaps among the American people. Some of this...

Law and economicsDecember 13, 2000

Rather than my usual fall schedule of teaching in the Economics Department at George Mason University, I taught “The Economic Foundations of Legal Studies” a...

Racial rope-a-dopeDecember 20, 2000

Democrats have no constituency more loyal than black Americans. Much of that loyalty is delivered by black elected officials, civil-rights organizations and ...

International thuggeryDecember 27, 2000

The Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) is comprised of 29 industrial nations, mostly in Western Europe, the Pacific Rim and North...