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Steve Chapman is a columnist and editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune. His twice-a-week column on national and international affairs, distributed by Creators Syndicate, appears in some 60 papers across the country.
Steve Chapman came to the Tribune in 1981 from the New Republic magazine, where he was an associate editor. Steve Chapman has contributed articles to several national magazines, including Slate, The American Spectator, National Review and The Weekly Standard.
Born in Brady, Texas, in 1954, Steve Chapman grew up in Midland and Austin. Steve Chapman attended Harvard University, where he was on the staff of the Harvard Crimson. He graduated with honors in 1976 and later did graduate work at the University of Chicago.
Steve Chapman has three children and lives in suburban Chicago.
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Steve Chapman (May 20, 2012)
BEIJING -- A rising Asian power with an unstoppable export machine, rapidly growing wealth and a sense that our time is past and its time has come: China in 2012? Yes -- but... more
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Steve Chapman (May 17, 2012)
Editor's Note: Steve Chapman is on vacation. The following column was originally published in February 2008."Death tugs at my ear and says, 'Live, I am coming.'" Were Supreme... more
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Steve Chapman (May 13, 2012)
President Barack Obama's critics have a point in criticizing his handling of the gay marriage issue as evasive, politically devious and lacking in principle. I hate to say... more
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Steve Chapman (May 10, 2012)
Moderates, we all hear, are an endangered species. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., is the latest to be eliminated. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, announced her retirement in... more
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Steve Chapman (May 06, 2012)
Ninety-six years ago, when President Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election, two notable things happened: 1) His campaign used the slogan "He kept us out of war,"... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 29, 2012)
Until 1977, there was no country that criminalized the practice of bribery abroad. But that year, President Jimmy Carter signed a law making the United States the very first.... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 26, 2012)
As he begins his search for a running mate, Mitt Romney needs to keep one question foremost in his mind, because the decision could affect us all for years to come. He needs... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 22, 2012)
They sound like a group custom-built and poll-tested to appeal to Republicans: hardworking youngsters with a powerful attachment to America, upright habits and a thirst to... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 19, 2012)
This is an election year, which means all of us will spend the next few months carefully following the campaigns, finding out all we can about the candidates' proposals and... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 15, 2012)
Last year, as violent strife engulfed Libya and a dictator made war on his opponents, the Obama administration balked at military intervention to topple the regime. This... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 12, 2012)
Unemployment remains high; job growth is sluggish; and millions of Americans have given up hope of ever finding work. So how do creative legislators propose to generate new... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 08, 2012)
Back in the 1960s, conservatives angry at the Supreme Court's rulings under its liberal chief justice put up billboards with the message: "Impeach Earl Warren." Today, you... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 05, 2012)
One day, in a sardonic jibe at some conservative who was piously claiming the mantle of heaven, I told my wife, "Don't forget, God's a Republican." Without missing a beat,... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 01, 2012)
Whenever you hear about a psychic being arrested, the natural question is: Why didn't she see that coming? Conservatives who raise dire alarms about what will happen... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 29, 2012)
Progress can often be defined as the stuff that happens while humanity is preoccupied with everything that is going wrong. On the surface, the first decade of the 21st... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 25, 2012)
With the Republican presidential nomination almost in his grasp, Mitt Romney rolled out a notable endorsement last week, from a former governor of Florida. It was notable... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 15, 2012)
Metaphors can be useful, unless they are allowed to override reality. In recent weeks, advocates for "reproductive freedom" have said that part of the Republican "war on... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 11, 2012)
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. It's a good rule for dealing with those who have proved themselves to be untrustworthy. And it's increasingly applied... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 08, 2012)
What is it called when football players are given significant sums of money to hurt their opponents on the field? You may think the term is "National Football League." But... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 04, 2012)
The legendary Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said the most important element of the Constitution "is the principle of free thought -- not free thought for... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 01, 2012)
Afghans are rioting, American soldiers are regularly murdered by their allies, the Taliban are hanging in, and civilian casualties in Afghanistan set a record last year. But... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 26, 2012)
In the field of petroleum, location is everything. If you want to find oil, you don't drill in Rhode Island. And if you want to find wisdom about gasoline markets, you... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 23, 2012)
Catholic bishops, evangelical pastors and Republican presidential candidates have been decrying the Obama administration's war on religious liberty. Amid all the uproar, it's... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 19, 2012)
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping came to the United States last week, and that set alarm bells clanging. Among those who sorely miss the Cold War, China serves as an endless... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 16, 2012)
Factory farming and its abuses were once the province of an eccentric minority that invited ridicule and scorn. Agribusiness corporations could afford to ignore them. In the... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 12, 2012)
"The stupidest thing I have ever heard." -- Meir Dagan, former head of Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, on attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.Stupid it may be, but... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 09, 2012)
On April 1, 2001, a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter collided over the South China Sea, forcing the Americans to make an emergency landing on Chinese soil. But the... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 06, 2012)
Newt Gingrich has an exquisitely sensitive moral antenna, and Mitt Romney's remark suggesting indifference to the poor sent it quivering. "I am fed up with politicians in... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 02, 2012)
A few weeks ago, Rick Santorum got some criticism for saying the Supreme Court erred in saying states may not outlaw contraception. The idea that Americans could legally be... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 29, 2012)
Many teenage kids regard school as the functional equivalent of prison -- where they are forced to endure oppressive rules, bad food and unpleasant company. For them, Barack... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 26, 2012)
Barack Obama, the law professor who railed against the Bush administration's disdain for privacy, has been to civil liberties what the Hindenburg was to air travel: an... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 22, 2012)
The Republican presidential candidates love the Constitution, but if they have their way, you'll barely recognize it. Like a plastic surgeon meeting with a prospective... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 15, 2012)
Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman have brought Mormons into the spotlight, and other Americans may be a bit intimidated at what they see. Judging from these guys and their... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 12, 2012)
The Republican presidential race now moves from New Hampshire to South Carolina, but it's really taking place in an upside-down Lake Wobegon -- where all the men are homely,... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 08, 2012)
Why is Rick Santorum running for president? Because America is in trouble and he knows why.
Faith and family are under attack. "Moral relativism," he warns,... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 05, 2012)
Back in 2007, when Barack Obama was running for president, a mildly surprising bit of news emerged: He and Dick Cheney were eighth cousins. Today, though, it appears that... more