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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 (Dec 29, 2011)
"Death tugs at my ear and says, 'Live, I am coming.'" Were Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. alive today, he might ascribe that line not to death but to nuclear... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 25, 2011)
The 1950s are often recalled as a golden age in American life -- stable families, rising incomes, wholesome TV shows and low crime rates. Doesn't sound like 2011, does it?... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 22, 2011)
In the time since the end of the Cold War, there have been many years in which advocates of freedom and democracy found endless reasons for gloom and few for hope. This was... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 18, 2011)
Back when Ronald Reagan was president, conservatives relished skewering liberals who, in approaching international affairs, "always blame America first." A generation later,... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 15, 2011)
Moscow is not a city of ghosts, but on Saturday, tens of thousands of figures were seen marching in the Russian capital chanting, "We exist! We exist!" That might seem like... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 11, 2011)
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a new TV spot accusing President Obama of waging "war on religion." It's a reckless, overstated spot that exploits prejudice against gays while... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 08, 2011)
Someday, when today's adults are old and gray, their grandchildren will sit down and ask, "What did you do in the class war?" You may not have noticed, but... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 04, 2011)
It's not hard to understand why so many conservatives spurn Mitt Romney. He's had to slink away from past liberal positions on one major issue after another: health care... more
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Steve Chapman (Dec 01, 2011)
"Put down the salt shaker and back away from the table. And don't even think about going for the chips." Those are lines you may hear on a TV police drama of the future, when... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 27, 2011)
Editor's Note: Steve Chapman is on vacation. The following column was originally published in September 2007.In most countries, the future is impossible to predict, but the... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 24, 2011)
When I graduated from college in 1976, I got a job in Washington with the National Taxpayers Union, which was working to get a constitutional amendment to require a balanced... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 20, 2011)
He's a responsible, well-spoken adult with a good record in office, a soothing style, bipartisan appeal and ample knowledge of the world beyond our shores. But Jon... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 17, 2011)
Republican voters' esteem for Newt Gingrich has been rising fast. At this rate it might someday equal, though not surpass, his regard for himself. Gingrich is not a person... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 13, 2011)
One December day in 1984, a man named Bernard Goetz boarded a subway train in Manhattan. Shortly after, he was approached by four young men, all black, who requested money... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 10, 2011)
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- As a crowd of more than 100 waits patiently for Mitt Romney's late arrival, the sound system blares country singer Alan Jackson: "You must be the dream... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 06, 2011)
If you want to know what motivates the people involved in Occupy Wall Street, you can get a good idea from Think Progress, a left-leaning website. It offers a map of the... more
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Steve Chapman (Nov 03, 2011)
For the next 12 months, Americans will be in suspense waiting to find out who will win the presidential election and thus determine the fate of the nation for years to come.... more
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Steve Chapman (Oct 30, 2011)
Republican candidates for president have been busy for weeks now, laboring strenuously to give the 2012 nomination to Mitt Romney. And he keeps trying to give it... more
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Steve Chapman (Oct 27, 2011)
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- No one in this year's race has spent more time running for president than Ron Paul, who before entering the Republican primaries in 2008 and 2012 was the... more
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Steve Chapman (Oct 23, 2011)
For a while during Tuesday's Republican debate, it wasn't clear if Herman Cain was running for president of the United States or the Fruit Vendors Association.... more
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Steve Chapman (Oct 20, 2011)
Candidates running for president can easily wreck their campaigns with one serious misstep. Back in 1976, one Democrat said he favored getting rid of criminal penalties for... more
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Steve Chapman (Oct 16, 2011)
In the Republican presidential campaign, candidates are sharply divided about Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke. Some want to heat up the tar. Some want to bring... more
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Steve Chapman (Oct 13, 2011)
Whenever I have a medical appointment, my wife inquires, "What did the doctor say?" I always give the same answer: "She said I'm going to die." Not because I have some fatal... more
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Steve Chapman (Oct 11, 2011)
Candidates for president generally blare recorded rock or country hits before their campaign rallies. At President Obama's appearances, expect a different form of... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 29, 2011)
Editor's Note: Steve Chapman is on vacation. The following column was originally published in February 2008.As a rule, it's a bad idea to let pedophiles baby-sit, to hire... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 25, 2011)
The abortion debate has raged since 1973, when the Supreme Court gave abortion constitutional protection, but the basic law of the land has proved immutable. Abortion is... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 22, 2011)
In his dogged quest to boost employment, President Barack Obama has searched far and wide for new solutions. One provision in his American Jobs Act may very well have a... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 18, 2011)
When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, his slogan was "Morning in America." For Barack Obama, it's more like midnight in a coal mine.
The... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 15, 2011)
Cancer treatment has made great progress in recent decades, but the tragedy is that so much of our effort to combat this scourge is just that: treatment. Once a disease... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 11, 2011)
In the summer of 1971, the nation was in the doldrums. Inflation was rising, and unemployment was uncomfortably high. The stock market was sinking. Polls indicated President... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 08, 2011)
If there was any certainty in the weeks and months after the 9/11 attacks, it was that these were just the first in a campaign of terror on American soil. "You can... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 04, 2011)
Outside the Washington headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission is a sculpture of a powerfully built, shirtless man forcibly restraining an unruly horse. It's... more
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Steve Chapman (Sep 01, 2011)
The 1980s and 1990s were prime time for environmental scares, many of which proved bogus. On one side were liberals, greens and professional alarmists who always assumed the... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 28, 2011)
In 1989, a Waukegan, Ill., woman was raped after three men invaded her apartment. She told police the rapist had a tattoo, wore an earring in a pierced ear and spoke English.... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 25, 2011)
For a president blanketed in gloom, the rebel victory in Libya comes as a welcome ray of sunshine. It took a lot longer than expected, but Barack Obama managed to help... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 21, 2011)
If the national fiscal crisis has accomplished nothing else, it has finally restored the good name of Ebenezer Scrooge. Frugal government, traditionally a contradiction in... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 18, 2011)
At age 14, J.L. impregnated his girlfriend in a consensual encounter. This was bad news on several grounds, the worst being that she was 15 months younger. Convicted of rape... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 14, 2011)
Barack Obama came into office aspiring to bridge the chasm between liberals and conservatives, red states and blue states, and behold, the gulf is gone. People in each camp... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 10, 2011)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- It's a steamy August day, and the candidate arrives shortly after high noon for an outdoor rally in full sun. But bounding off the campaign bus,... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 07, 2011)
As a resident of Illinois, I'd never had any particular desire to fly from McCook, Neb, to Denver. But lately, I've been looking for an opportunity. Turns out the federal... more
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Steve Chapman (Aug 04, 2011)
The 10th Amendment to the Constitution is like the skinny teenage girl who blossoms over the summer and suddenly finds herself besieged by suitors. Once ignored, it has found... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 31, 2011)
The debt ceiling fight has been long and exhausting, but it will have a big payoff. After it's finally resolved -- with the Boehner plan or the Reid plan or something else --... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 28, 2011)
In the 1980s, conservatives and feminists joined to fight a common nemesis: the spread of pornography. Unlike past campaigns to stamp out smut, this one was based not just on... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 24, 2011)
INDIANOLA, Iowa -- When you pick up a glossy, multi-page color brochure at a presidential campaign event, you expect to see a candidate's image on the front. The ones... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 21, 2011)
Gambling has proliferated in America in recent years, and it's not about to stop. The Illinois legislature has approved a bill authorizing more casinos as well as slot... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 17, 2011)
It was once suggested, as a general rule of staying alive, never to fly on an airline named after a state or the owner. As a general rule of sound government, it's also a... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 14, 2011)
When it comes to sexual relationships and cohabitation among consenting adults, Utah takes a permissive approach. If a guy wants to shack up with a lady, that's fine.... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 10, 2011)
Politicians often rail against government spending, except when it goes to the military. Conservatives believe there is no such thing as too much defense spending, and... more
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Steve Chapman (Jul 07, 2011)
Any candidate for president can fall victim to occasional stumbles, lapses, gaffes and clunkers. But Mitt Romney has a shot at raising ineptitude to an art form.The other... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 30, 2011)
Mired in excruciating negotiations over the budget and the debt ceiling, President Barack Obama might reflect that things didn't have to turn out this way. The impasse grows... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 26, 2011)
It's not unusual for the federal government to provoke widespread retching among its citizens, but it rarely does so intentionally. The new warning labels required on... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 23, 2011)
The Republican presidential field looks less like an assemblage of candidates than a collection of fatal mistakes and irreparable flaws, with occasional embodiments of one or... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 19, 2011)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates went to Europe recently to announce that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may have a "dismal future" and that before long, American... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 16, 2011)
Kicking off her recent bus tour, Sarah Palin attended a motorcycle rally and took a deep breath. "I love that smell of the emissions," she exulted. Her comment reflected a... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 12, 2011)
When historians sit down decades from now to address the events of the early 21st century, they will have no trouble explaining why Americans elected Barack Obama president.... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 09, 2011)
John Edwards is a vain, lying scum who cheated on his wife while she was dying of cancer. But one thing far worse than his contemptible conduct is the government's effort to... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 05, 2011)
Illinois is on the verge of a major gambling expansion, and citizens are being pelted with competing claims. The advocates envision a gusher of jobs and tax revenues. The... more
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Steve Chapman (Jun 02, 2011)
Remember back in your high school civics class, when you were taught about the constitutional division of authority in matters of war? When you learned that the president has... more
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Steve Chapman (May 29, 2011)
In his magisterial book "The Gulag Archipelago," Alexander Solzhenitsyn recited in gruesome detail the mistreatment of inmates in prison camps in the Soviet Union. "As many... more
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Steve Chapman (May 26, 2011)
America now has a gay-rights majority. Gallup reports that for the first time ever, most people -- 53 percent -- favor legalizing same-sex marriage. That's up from 27 percent... more
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Steve Chapman (May 22, 2011)
Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, we can turn our attention to another remorseless enemy who for years has sown death and destruction among blameless innocents. I refer,... more
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Steve Chapman (May 19, 2011)
It's a mess, ain't it Sheriff?
If it ain't it'll do till a mess gets here.
Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men
For... more
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Steve Chapman (May 15, 2011)
In 1977, Boeing was the target of a strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents its workers in Puget Sound, Wash. and... more
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Steve Chapman (May 12, 2011)
Gas is going for more than $4 a gallon, gold is riding a boom, and the Federal Reserve is seemingly complacent about these developments. Among critics of Barack Obama and Ben... more
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Steve Chapman (May 08, 2011)
An old joke: "Why do elephants paint their toenails red?" I don't know. "So they can hide in the tomato patch." There are no elephants in the... more
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Steve Chapman (May 05, 2011)
Here's what the world learned in the decade between the 9/11 attacks and the killing of their mastermind: Americans are good at war and not very good at remaking other... more
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Steve Chapman (May 01, 2011)
On Oct. 22, 1844, thousands of followers of American evangelist William Miller woke up expecting Jesus Christ to make his triumphant return that day, as they had been told.... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 28, 2011)
It's often been said of Barack Obama that his policies are "data driven" -- meaning that whatever his ideological inclinations, he pays attention to dispassionate analysis of... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 24, 2011)
Is it too early to declare our intervention in Libya a failure? More than a month after we started bombing, the insurgency has suffered a string of defeats. The government in... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 21, 2011)
We all know that pornography is offensive and destructive, so we can guess that wherever X-rated fare gains popularity, social decay will follow. It may come as a surprise,... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 17, 2011)
Opponents of President Barack Obama's health care program lost the legislative battle, but they have high hopes of stopping it yet. That could be accomplished by defeating... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 14, 2011)
If you don't mind sweat, dirt or the smell of manure, this is a great time to be a farmer. Incomes are up, land values are high, and global demand is growing. Oh, and if... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 10, 2011)
After the 2008 election, Barack Obama was pondering the growth of presidential power. So, ABC News reported, he met with former Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 07, 2011)
After House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled a plan to overhaul Medicare, Democrats announced that despite some imperfections, it was a brave and thoughtful... more
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Steve Chapman (Apr 03, 2011)
Remember when a crusading president, acting on dubious intelligence, insufficient information and exaggerated fears, took the nation into a Middle Eastern war of choice? That... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 31, 2011)
"Experience is a dear teacher," said Benjamin Franklin, "but fools will learn at no other." Give some credit to fools: At least they eventually learn from experience. What... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 27, 2011)
In 2008, Democratic voters had their pick of many candidates for president -- from Hillary Clinton to John Edwards to Joe Biden. Why did they choose Barack Obama?After all,... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 24, 2011)
It's a good thing we didn't elect John McCain in 2008. A McCain victory would have meant an escalation in Afghanistan, a third war in the Middle East and a president sending... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 20, 2011)
Just as congressional Republicans and the Obama administration had been pushing nuclear power, the disaster in Japan arrived to complicate matters. Proponents of atomic... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 17, 2011)
March Madness is here, so for the next couple of weeks, you will not be able to turn on your TV without hearing about teams seizing momentum and players getting in the zone.... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 13, 2011)
Newt Gingrich has a lot going for him if he decides to run for president -- a famous name, a record of accomplishment, a knack for raising money and a rhetorical flair that... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 10, 2011)
The civil war in Libya was barely underway before some American politicians were insisting the United States crash the party. We have been fighting in Afghanistan for nine... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 06, 2011)
Editor's Note: Steve Chapman is on vacation. The following column was originally published in October 2007.Here's how the American free enterprise system works. You have an... more
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Steve Chapman (Mar 03, 2011)
I am an American and a male, so you can easily guess the first thing I do when I arrive in a hotel room: pick up the TV remote and turn on ESPN. The second thing may not be... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 27, 2011)
President Barack Obama has been denounced by Republicans for asserting federal power at the expense of state sovereignty. But last week, he was denounced by Republicans for... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 24, 2011)
Public employees have been cramming the Wisconsin state Capitol to protest the governor's plan to cut their take-home pay and gut their collective bargaining rights. You... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 20, 2011)
If you want to be on TV, don't go to Los Angeles or New York. Come to Chicago, where your wish is certain to be fulfilled. In fact, you couldn't avoid it if you wanted to,... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 13, 2011)
Chicago has not had a Republican mayor since 1931, but it came close in 1983, when a state legislator named Bernard Epton attracted hordes of lifelong Democrats, only to fall... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 10, 2011)
America doesn't feel much like the champion of the world these days. Everywhere we look, we see other countries outdoing us -- in economic growth, educational performance and... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 06, 2011)
If you want proof that America is a conservative country, Ronald Reagan provides it. Once seen as a reactionary nincompoop, he's probably the most respected president of the... more
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Steve Chapman (Feb 03, 2011)
The individual mandate in President Barack Obama's health care reform was a lightning rod for criticism long before it became law. As far back as the 2008 campaign, the idea... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 30, 2011)
You've had the experience of walking along and negotiating around someone who is walking slowly, weaving or bumping into other pedestrians for an obvious reason: He or she is... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 27, 2011)
Spring is months away, but bipartisanship is blooming in Washington. Amid a terrible fiscal crisis, President Barack Obama and Republicans have come to a historic accord on... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 23, 2011)
Several years ago, when my younger son was playing high school football, the players' dads would organize a team breakfast before Saturday home games. I remember one father... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 20, 2011)
Critics have noted many flaws in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul: It's too expensive, too intrusive, too coercive and too complex. But one central defect that... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 16, 2011)
If two foreigners come here illegally and bear a child, the child automatically gains American citizenship. That fact drives some people around the bend. Last year, Rep.... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 13, 2011)
It has been a dismal decade for gun control advocates. They lost the federal so-called assault weapons ban when it expired in 2004. The Supreme Court made history by... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 09, 2011)
Shortly after he was elected in 2008, Barack Obama expressed dissatisfaction at the way major college football determines a national champion -- in an antiquated, jerry-built... more
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Steve Chapman (Jan 06, 2011)
It's boxy, bland and relentlessly practical, but in an age of diminished wealth and high unemployment, maybe that combination doesn't sound so bad. Despite those qualities,... more