washingtonpost.com - Charles Krauthammer -- Washington Post Opinion Columnist (washingtonpost.com)Charles Krauthammer writes about politics and policy for The Washington Post's op-ed page.The Tax-Free Lunch- June 29, 2007 The senator was vexed. The U.S. auto companies were resisting attempts by her and other Senate well-meaners to impose a radical rise in fuel efficiency by 2017. Why can't they be more like the Chinese, she complained. Or, to quote Sen. Dianne Feinstein precisely: "What the China situation, or the other countries' situation, shows is that these automakers, in all of these countries, build the automobile that the requirements for mileage state. And they don't fight it, they just do it."http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401690_xml/~3/24... Last Chance for Abbas- June 22, 2007 Gaza is now run not by a conventional political party but by a movement that is revolutionary, Islamist and terrorist. Worse, Hamas is a client of Iran. Gaza now constitutes the farthest reach of the archipelago of Iranian proxies: Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Mahdi Army (among others) in Iraq and the Alawite regime of Syria.http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401690_xml/~3/24... Good Fences- June 15, 2007 The reason comprehensive immigration reform remains in jeopardy, despite yesterday's partial resuscitation, is that it is a complex compromise with too many moving parts and too many competing interests. Employers want a guest worker program; unions want to kill it. Reformers want to introduce a point system that preferentially admits skilled and educated immigrants; immigrant groups naturally want to keep the existing family preference system. Liberals want legalization now; conservatives...http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401690_xml/~3/24... Two Years of Humble Pie- June 8, 2007 In Britain, Canada and other civilized places, national elections are often called, run and concluded within six weeks. In America, election campaigns go on forever. It used to be one year, now it's two. No one planned this, but like other evolutionary artifacts (the Founders applied intelligent design to the general makeup of the U.S. government but never foresaw formal political parties, let alone the endless campaign), this crazy improvisation embodies a certain wisdom.http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401690_xml/~3/24... Get in Line, Einstein- June 1, 2007 Beware legislative behemoths. Beware "comprehensive immigration reform." Any bill that is 380 pages long is bound to have nooks and crannies reflecting private deals, quiet paybacks and ad hoc arrangements that you often don't learn about until it's too late.http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401690_xml/~3/24... |