Archived Columns From 2015

by Walter Williams

2015 January

Liberals' Use of Black People, Part IIJanuary 07, 2015

Last week’s column focused on the ways liberals use blacks in pursuit of their leftist agenda, plus their demeaning attitudes toward black people. Most demea...

Basic EconomicsJanuary 14, 2015

“Whether one is a conservative or a radical, a protectionist or a free trader, a cosmopolitan or a nationalist, a churchman or a heathen, it is useful to kno...

Will the West Defend Itself?January 21, 2015

Leftists and progressives believe that the U.S. should become more like Europe. They praise Europe’s massive welfare state, socialized medicine and stifling ...

Defense Against DemagoguesJanuary 28, 2015

When gasoline sold at record prices, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said, “I think it’s time to say to these people, ‘Stop ripping off the American people.’” Wh...

2015 February

Tragic School StoriesFebruary 04, 2015

New York’s schools are the most segregated in the nation, and the state needs remedies right away. That was Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch’s message to New York’...

Fairness and JusticeFebruary 11, 2015

Oxfam reports that the richest 1 percent of people in the world own 48 percent of the world’s wealth. Many claim that we should be alarmed by income inequali...

ShameFebruary 18, 2015

Today’s liberals are not racists, but they often behave that way. They would benefit immensely from considering some of the arguments in award-winning schola...

The Cancer of MulticulturalismFebruary 25, 2015

President Barack Obama surprised many at the National Prayer Breakfast when he lectured us, “Lest we get on our high horse and think this (barbarity) is uniq...

2015 March

College Campus UpdateMarch 04, 2015

President Barack Obama wants Americans to dig deeper into our pockets to expand college education. Let’s update college indoctrination done in the name of ed...

Global WarmingMarch 11, 2015

“But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact,” said President Barack Obama in his 2014 State of the Union address. Saying the debate is settled is no...

Selma and Voting Rights TriumphMarch 18, 2015

March 7th was the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” the first attempt by black protesters to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery to demand voting rig...

What's Gone Wrong With Democracy?March 25, 2015

The Economist magazine recently published “What’s gone wrong with Democracy … and what can be done to revive it?” The suggestion is that democracy is some ki...

2015 April

Self-Enforcing DiscriminationApril 01, 2015

Black politicians, civil rights organizations and others who say they are concerned with the welfare of poor black people often support harmful measures. One...

The Ticket to ProsperityApril 08, 2015

Gaza is home to Palestinian people, who have suffered injustices and have a history of legitimate grievances against both Israel and Arab governments. If the...

Reality May Be OptionalApril 15, 2015

One of the wonders of modern times is that reality is often seen as a social construct and therefore optional. Thus, if one finds a particular reality offens...

Some Thoughts and QuestionsApril 22, 2015

What’s the true test of one’s commitment to free speech? It does not come when he permits people to be free to say or publish ideas with which he agrees. Not...

California's Water ProblemApril 29, 2015

Californians are experiencing their third year of drought. Headlines read: “Current California Drought Is Driest In State’s History; Scientists Fear ‘Megadro...

2015 May

Black Lives MatterMay 06, 2015

Before we examine the issue of police shootings of blacks, I would like to start the conversation with another question. Here it is: If a person chooses to s...

Some Odds and EndsMay 13, 2015

Occasionally, I wonder whether I’m alone in some of my wonderings. Look at the claim that conservatives or Republicans have launched a war on women as a part...

The True Black TragedyMay 20, 2015

Hustlers and people with little understanding want us to believe that today’s black problems are the continuing result of a legacy of slavery, poverty and ra...

Liberals Respect MeMay 27, 2015

During the early years of the Reagan administration, a Washington news conference was held for me for my first book, “The State Against Blacks.” Before makin...

2015 June

Intellectual DishonestyJune 03, 2015

President Barack Obama’s stance, expressed in his 2014 State of the Union address, is that the debate is settled and climate change is a fact. Obama is by no...

Improving Black EducationJune 10, 2015

Last summer’s Ferguson, Missouri, disturbances revealed that while blacks were 67 percent of its population, only three members of its 53-officer police forc...

Culture and Social PathologyJune 17, 2015

A civilized society’s first line of defense is not the law, police and courts but customs, traditions, rules of etiquette and moral values. These behavioral ...

You're What You Say You AreJune 24, 2015

Rachel A. Dolezal, the recently resigned president of the Spokane, Washington, office of the NAACP, has come under a bit of controversy. Both of her parents ...

2015 July

Constitutional Ignorance and DerelictionJuly 01, 2015

The nation’s demagogues and constitutionally ignorant are using the Charleston, South Carolina, AME church shooting to attack the Second Amendment’s “right o...

Fiddling Away the FutureJuly 08, 2015

Let’s list major problems affecting black Americans. Topping the list is the breakdown in the black family, where only a third of black children are raised i...

Historical IgnoranceJuly 15, 2015

The victors of war write its history in order to cast themselves in the most favorable light. That explains the considerable historical ignorance about our w...

Historical Ignorance IIJuly 22, 2015

We call the war of 1861 the Civil War. But is that right? A civil war is a struggle between two or more entities trying to take over the central government. ...

Cure for Racial DishonestyJuly 29, 2015

There have been several notable cases of racial fakery. Years ago, then-law professor Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren falsely claimed that her great-grandfat...

2015 August

Legal and Academic Equality NonsenseAugust 05, 2015

A particular act or policy might not have a discriminatory intent, but that doesn’t let you off the hook. If it has a disproportionately negative impact on s...

Academic FascismAugust 12, 2015

George Orwell said, “There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.” If one wants to discover the truth of Orwell’s statement, ...

Academic Fascism IIAugust 19, 2015

Last week’s column highlighted college campus absurdities and the ongoing attack on free speech and plain common sense. As parents gear up to fork over $20,0...

The Struggle for Economic LibertyAugust 26, 2015

Here’s my taxi question. If a person is law-abiding, has a driver’s license, has a car or van that has passed safety inspection, and has adequate liability i...

2015 September

Why Home Schooling?September 02, 2015

Many public primary and secondary schools are dangerous places. The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Department of Education’s Natio...

Wasn’t Always This WaySeptember 09, 2015

Academics and public intellectuals, who should know better, attempt to explain the highly visible and publicized pathology witnessed in cities such as Baltim...

Attack on TeachersSeptember 16, 2015

As the new school year begins, you might like to be updated on some school happenings that will no doubt be repeated this academic year. After this update, I...

Liberal Reasoning: Idiotic or Dishonest?September 23, 2015

Many people argue that liberals, socialists and progressives do not understand basic economics. I am not totally convinced about that.

Unnecessary Loss of LifeSeptember 30, 2015

War is nasty, brutal and costly. In our latest wars, many of the casualties suffered by American troops are a direct result of their having to obey rules of ...

2015 October

Suppressing Free SpeechOctober 07, 2015

I receive loads of mail in response to my weekly nationally syndicated column. Some recent mail has been quite disturbing. Here’s a sample: “Given your suppo...

Wealth, Poverty and PoliticsOctober 14, 2015

Dr. Thomas Sowell, my colleague and friend, told me several years ago that he wasn’t going to write any more books, but that was two books ago, and now he ha...

Liberal and Progressive VisionOctober 21, 2015

Here’s my question to you: If an evil person is guaranteed that he can inflict physical pain upon others and guaranteed to never suffer pain himself, what ha...

Who’s Responsible?October 28, 2015

Hillary Clinton told a mixed audience, “I mean, if we’re honest, for a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young black man in a hoo...

2015 November

Destroying Your VoteNovember 04, 2015

Voter ID laws have been challenged because liberal Democrats deem them racist. I guess that’s because they see blacks as being incapable of acquiring some ki...

Attacking Our FoundersNovember 11, 2015

Many of my columns speak highly of the wisdom of our nation’s founders. Every once in a while, I receive an ugly letter sarcastically asking what do I think ...

Education DisasterNovember 18, 2015

The 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress report, also known as The Nation’s Report Card, shows that U.S. educational achievement, to put it nicel...

Free SpeechNovember 25, 2015

Recent events at the University of Missouri, Yale University and some other colleges demonstrate an ongoing ignorance and/or contempt for the principles of f...

2015 December

Can We Learn From Europe?December 02, 2015

Earlier this year, my column asked, “Will the West Defend Itself?” I pointed out that America’s leftists and progressives believe that the U.S. should become...

Squandered Resources on College EducationDecember 09, 2015

Most college students do not belong in college. I am not by myself in this assessment. Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson said, “It’s time to drop th...

Our Timid Military LeadersDecember 16, 2015

This month, President Barack Obama’s defense secretary, Ashton Carter, decreed that there will be 220,000 combat military jobs offered to women — including i...

Immorality and Contempt for LibertyDecember 23, 2015

American immorality and contempt for liberty lie at the root of most of the political economic problems our nation faces. They explain the fiscal problems we...

Misleading and Using BlacksDecember 30, 2015

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ran headlong into the leftist meat grinder by questioning whether college admission of blacks with academic achievement ...