American Government

In the summer of 1999, George W. Bush chose the first major policy speech of his presidential campaign to pick a fight with Grover Norquist. Bush flatly rejected the "destructive" view "that if government would only get out of our way, all our problems would be solved" — a vision the Texas governor dismissed as having "no higher goal, no nobler purpose, than leave us alone. " Norquist had proposed to define conservatism as the "leave us alone" coalition — a movement united by a desire to get government off our backs.

For all the talk about immigration, rarely does the conversation veer into why so many Latinos have come to the United States. " Harvest of Empire " attempts to fill in the gaps, and the reasons don't include some naive notion about streets being paved with gold. The documentary, based on the book by journalist Juan Gonzalez, makes a persuasive argument that immigration from Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba and other nations is the direct result of American maneuvering in Latin America.

For all the talk about immigration, rarely does the conversation veer into why so many Latinos have come to the United States. " Harvest of Empire " attempts to fill in the gaps, and the reasons don't include some naive notion about streets being paved with gold. The documentary, based on the book by journalist Juan Gonzalez, makes a persuasive argument that immigration from Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba and other nations is the direct result of American maneuvering in Latin America.

In the summer of 1999, George W. Bush chose the first major policy speech of his presidential campaign to pick a fight with Grover Norquist. Bush flatly rejected the "destructive" view "that if government would only get out of our way, all our problems would be solved" — a vision the Texas governor dismissed as having "no higher goal, no nobler purpose, than leave us alone. " Norquist had proposed to define conservatism as the "leave us alone" coalition — a movement united by a desire to get government off our backs.

Readers looking for books that reflect their political views—on the right, the left or any point in between — have no trouble finding them on the nonfiction bestseller lists. From Ann Coulter and Dinesh D'Souza to Al Franken and Michael Moore, there are screeds to suit all tastes. But there's another category of books that, in a less explicit but equally polarized way, also reflects the American political spectrum: thriller novels. While readers and critics typically treat thrillers as pure entertainment, large...

There are a couple of things you should know about Robert O'Hara. The newsworthy thing is that he's one of 14 people who each received a $185,000 playwright residency grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will fund a full-time position at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company , where O'Hara is a company member, through 2015. The other thing to know about O'Hara is that he has this thing about zombies and the American government. Specifically, he has a thing about zombies being ...

Let us count the ways in which the nomination of Ron Paul would be groundbreaking for the GOP. No other recent candidate hailing from the party of Lincoln has accused Abraham Lincoln of causing a "senseless" war and ruling with an "iron fist. " Or regarded Ronald Reagan's presidency a "dramatic failure. " Or proposed the legalization of prostitution and heroin use. Or called America the most "aggressive, extended and expansionist" empire in world history. Or promised to abolish the CIA, depart NATO...

KABUL, Jan. 5 -- The modest white Miladul Nabi mosque is almost hidden beneath a massive poster that depicts a red fist raised to the heavens surrounded by slogans expressing sympathy for the Palestinian people, support for what it calls their jihad against Israel and hatred of the "blood-sucking" American government. Last weekend, the mosque sponsored a protest rally against the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. On Monday, half a dozen young men with cellphones worked in its library, organizing a drive to...

American foreign policy is not making enough of an effort to contain Islamist extremism, and the consequences are likely to roil not only Afghanistan and Pakistan but, eventually, the wider region and beyond. In 1998, Osama bin Laden described U.S. soldiers as " paper tigers " and predicted that U.S. aversion to war would lead to the success of his ideology. "We have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier," bin Laden said in an interview.

TOKYO, April 3 -- Anger with the American military presence in Japan flared again Thursday with the arrest of a U.S. Navy seaman, charged with killing and robbing a taxi driver near Tokyo. Olatunbosun Ugbogu, 22, a Nigerian citizen serving in the U.S. Navy, used a kitchen knife to stab a 61-year-old cabdriver in the shoulder March 19 and then ran off without paying his $190 fare, according to police. The driver, Masaaki Takahashi, bled to death. Police said Ugbogu, whom they described as a permanent...

There are a couple of things you should know about Robert O'Hara. The newsworthy thing is that he's one of 14 people who each received a $185,000 playwright residency grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will fund a full-time position at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company , where O'Hara is a company member, through 2015. The other thing to know about O'Hara is that he has this thing about zombies and the American government. Specifically, he has a thing about zombies being in the...

Rany Jazayerli is a dermatologist in private practice in St. Charles, Ill. He is also the co-founder of Baseball Prospectus and an accomplished sportswriter who currently writes at Grantland as well as his personal blog Rany on the Royals . Almost before I knew that I was an American, and almost before I knew that I was a Muslim, I knew that I was a Republican . I knew this because my father told me so. My father finished...

American foreign policy is not making enough of an effort to contain Islamist extremism, and the consequences are likely to roil not only Afghanistan and Pakistan but, eventually, the wider region and beyond. In 1998, Osama bin Laden described U.S. soldiers as " paper tigers " and predicted that U.S. aversion to war would lead to the success of his ideology. "We have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier," bin Laden said in an interview.

Nearly nine in 10 Muslim American voters pulled the lever for the Democratic candidate in the last two presidential elections, partly because of Republican policies and rhetoric that many considered anti-Muslim. In 2008, they also thought President Obama would usher in an era in which Muslims would be more accepted at home, and relations between America and the Islamic world would see improvement. But this year, Muslim American support for President Obama shows signs of waning, which could be enough to...

Readers looking for books that reflect their political views—on the right, the left or any point in between — have no trouble finding them on the nonfiction bestseller lists. From Ann Coulter and Dinesh D'Souza to Al Franken and Michael Moore, there are screeds to suit all tastes. But there's another category of books that, in a less explicit but equally polarized way, also reflects the American political spectrum: thriller novels. While readers and critics typically treat...

We have two days until the Supreme Court rules on health care — two days until we find out whether Akhil Amar's life has been a fraud. Amar is the Yale constitutional law professor (my former teacher), who recently told The Post's Ezra Klein that a 5 to 4 ruling striking down Obamacare would destroy his faith in the court. "If they decide this by 5-4," Amar said, "then yes, it's disheartening to me, because my life was a fraud. Here I was, in my silly little office, thinking law mattered, and it really...

In urging passage of health-care legislation, E.J. Dionne Jr. asserted that delays on Capitol Hill reveal that the Senate is "an absurd institution" and is "perhaps the least democratic legislative body in any country calling itself a democracy" ["The best holiday gift," op-ed , Dec. 7]. Mr. Dionne certainly knows that this nation was founded not as a democracy but as a republic. Even as aspects of the Constitution have become more plebiscitary over time, the Constitution retains its basic design intended to avoid the foolish haste...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- International relief organizations backed by American soldiers delivered hundreds of tons of rice to homeless residents of the Haitian capital Sunday, laboring to ease a food shortage that has left countless thousands struggling to find enough to eat. But even as food-aid workers enjoyed their most successful day since the Jan. 12 earthquake, the increasingly prominent role of U.S. troops and civilians in the capital is...

The central working theory of American government today is that the system is dysfunctional, ineffectual and increasingly irrelevant to the lives of ordinary Americans. "Broken" has become both a favored description and a general-purpose diagnosis of all the ills that afflict our government and politics. The theory of brokenness is so universal that it shapes and frames every debate about how we choose our leaders, govern ourselves and resolve our differences. The consensus is that we no...

What do Rick Santorum and Clint Eastwood have in common? Sorry, Rick, you haven't made it yet as an Eastwood-style make-my-day cultural icon. But in different ways, Santorum and Eastwood have demonstrated the limits of both an entirely negative slant on politics and a pessimistic take on America's future. Santorum's Tuesday sweep of Republican presidential contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado was a sharp rebuke to Mitt Romney, the on-again, off-again "inevitable" GOP nominee, who has built his campaign...