With Governor Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, the vague contours of the presidential race have suddenly become sharper. Up until now, partly because Romney’s image has been so fuzzy, we were looking at a referendum on President Obama rather than a clear-cut contest between political philosophies. Now, given Ryan’s […]

It’s been a busy few days in India; the U.S. consulates I’ve been visiting have kept me busy visiting colleges, meeting with journalists and giving talks to business and civic groups. Add the jet lag thanks to the nine and a half hour time difference from the U.S. East Coast and the torpor that comes […]

The history of race in America has been one of a series of "great compromises", from the Founding up to the election of Barack Obama. There are signs that the latest compromise is breaking down.

America's poorest students need extra educational resources just to keep pace with their more privileged peers. Instead, they get less—and teachers, principals and unions get blamed for the outcome.

American society is neither post-racial nor stuck fast in a racist past, but fantasies of monolithic racial communities are distorting our national conversation on race and public policy.

Federal anti-poverty efforts have relied too heavily on solutions cooked up in academia and inside the Beltway. We already have plenty of proven programs—at the local level.

The Congressional Black Caucus is no longer the flamboyant organization it was at its birth in the late 1960s, but it's still worth listening to.

Cyber security is an ultra-modern challenge, but we could learn a lot about it by examining how pre-modern European city-states managed their defenses.

The former director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty assesses what's right and what's wrong with U.S. broadcasting policy.

American politics today is far more volatile than in the past. That makes predicting what will happen in November a temptation for fools. Expect a massive failure to resist temptation.