Michael Gerson's Townhall.com Column

Food Fight

2013-04-15T08:01:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
Since the Eisenhower administration, the United States generally has done food aid in a certain way: grow and pack it in America, ship it across the world on American-flagged ships, then deliver it through American charities, which sell a portion of the food to fund their other programs.

A Victory For School Choice

2013-04-01T21:01:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
The school choice movement -- which germinated 50 years ago in free-market economist Milton Friedman's fertile mind -- recently counted its largest victory. The Indiana Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the state's school voucher program. Under it, more than half a million low- and middle-income Hoosier students -- and about 62 percent of all families -- are eligible for state aid to help pay for a private or religious school.

The Risks of Retreat

2013-03-18T20:01:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
Declining national influence is a choice, and America seems to be making it.

God With Us

2012-12-24T20:00:00-05:00

Michael Gerson Column
This is a Christmas season shadowed by sorrow. We know, of course, that human beings, even small ones, sometimes die in horrible, unfair ways.

Obama's Overreach

2012-12-03T00:01:00-05:00

Michael Gerson Column
The endorsement of a continental nation being a powerful stimulant, all victorious presidents face the temptation of overreach.

Politics With a Purpose

2012-11-26T21:01:00-05:00

Michael Gerson Column
It is Steven Spielberg's singular achievement to have made a heroic movie about compromise and petty corruption. In "Lincoln," he pans away from a field of corpses 130 miles down the road in Petersburg and puts a tight frame on the Cabinet meetings, legislative debates and backroom confrontations where the final, decisive battles of the Civil War were fought. Combat determined the outcome of the War Between the States. Politics determined its meaning, culminating in passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Emptiness at the End

2012-11-06T00:01:00-05:00

Michael Gerson Column
On the eve of the election, Nate Silver -- baseball forecaster, online poker wiz, political handicapper -- placed President Obama's chances of returning to office at 86.3 percent. Not 86.1 percent. Not 87.8 percent. At 86.3 percent.

Romney's Risky Ties to Trump

2012-08-20T20:03:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
It is now being reported that Donald Trump is likely to play a "surprise" part on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Tampa -- perhaps, some speculate, in a comedy bit involving the firing of a Barack Obama impersonator.

Romney and His Faith

2012-08-06T20:00:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
Concerning Mormons and Republicans, history offers a large helping of irony.

The Found Generation of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

2012-07-23T19:59:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
A memory from the AIDS crisis. It was 2005, the year that global AIDS deaths peaked at 2.3 million. At the end of a dirt road in Kericho, Kenya, I visited Sister Placida, an energetic nun caring for a few dozen equally energetic AIDS orphans.

Our Politics of Polarization

2012-07-16T08:00:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
The problem is real enough. Extreme political polarization is the product of democracy that undermines democracy.

Obama In Denial

2012-07-09T20:01:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
One would think, given so much practice, that the Obama White House would have been better prepared for last week's wretched jobs report.

John Roberts' Arrogance

2012-07-02T20:00:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
Dwight Eisenhower came to regret the liberal activism of his choice for the Supreme Court, calling it the "biggest damned-fool mistake I ever made."

Eric Holder's Contribution

2012-06-25T20:00:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
Fights between Congress and the executive branch over access to information are a staple of American politics. Every president will prefer less disclosure about the messy internal processes of his administration. Congressional investigators suspecting scandal prefer more.

The Endless Culture War

2012-06-18T20:28:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
President Obama's decision to lead with social issues in his re-election campaign -- immigration, gay marriage and contraception -- makes some political sense.

Joe Biden and the Use of Empathy

2012-06-01T00:01:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
What to make of Vice President Joe Biden? Sometimes he is gaffe-prone comic relief. Sometimes he is the possessor of the worst geopolitical judgment in Washington -- as when he opposed the Osama bin Laden raid or advocated the partition of Iraq. And sometimes he seems to be the last genuine human being in American politics.

Catholics Won't Go Quietly

2012-05-21T20:00:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
In a blowout presidential election, a few large issues dominate. In a tight election, a range of smaller concerns -- important to strategic constituencies in battleground states -- can end up being crucial.

A Generational Shift in Cultural Attitudes

2012-05-11T00:01:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
Principled or calculating or a bit of both, President Obama's choice on gay marriage is a bet on the political future -- a wager on the views and values of the millennial generation making its long march through American institutions.

The Conservative Showdown Yields a Winner

2012-04-26T20:00:00-04:00

Michael Gerson Column
The last few years have been the most decisive and divisive ideological period since the early 1980s, perhaps since the late 1960s.

The Killing Fields of Childhood

2012-04-05T20:00:00-04:00

MONGU, Zambia -- In a global anti-malaria movement I saw begin in Oval Office meetings and international summits, Mongu is at the end of...