The Washington Times

The worst news for organized labor this Labor Day week is that the postwar agenda of trade liberalization now seems to be getting back on track. Congress solidly approved new bilateral agreements this summer with Singapore and Chile. Later this month, the World Trade Organization [WTO] convenes a meeting of trade ministers in Mexico, at which point it should become clearer whether momentum is gathering for a broad multilateral reduction in tariffs worldwide. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has to consider whether or not to undo its worst economic decision to date – the 2002 imposition of steep tariffs on imported steel, which the WTO ruled out of bounds this summer.

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The Washington Times

It’s time to get back to basics on the Iraq occupation. Maybe with the summer heat breaking in Washington, if not yet in Baghdad, people will be taking the occasion to cool their more fevered pronouncements on the subject. A few points to review:

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The Washington Times

California’s recall election scheduled for October [provided the courts don’t derail it] presents two interesting political tests. The first pushes at the limit of democratic republican governance [small r, small d]. The second tests the current political strength of partisans of traditional social conservatism within the GOP.

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The Washington Times

It’s the middle of August, and if ever there is a right time for a little frivolity in a political column, such as this one, it’s the middle of August. So, here goes.

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The Washington Times

The big news from a recent major survey of Americans’ views on religion and politics conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press is the growing “liberalization” of public opinion on social issues.

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The Washington Times

As the Democratic presidential field, following Howard Dean’s lead, increasingly speaks in language designed to fire up the Democratic base, the party has developed a sharper edge on the attack against Republicans than it has displayed in years. One thing I have been wondering is whether the centrist wing of the party, as represented by the Democratic Leadership Council, would be modifying its pitch to accommodate, or perhaps, appease what everyone now agrees is the party’s leftward lurch in presidential politics.

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The Washington Times

The Howard Dean phenomenon in the Democratic Party is now much bigger than the person of the candidate himself. Mr. Dean’s success in coming from nowhere and generating a wildly enthusiastic following among the Democratic base is now having the effect of driving the entire field of Democratic presidential aspirants to the left. By now, there is very little political space in which centrist Democrats of the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute can operate. And so the question now is whether we aren’t getting close to something like a national consensus that Democrats should run a “progressive” campaign in 2004, sharpening differences between themselves and Republicans and running boldly and unapologetically to the left.

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The Washington Times

I apologize for stating the obvious, but: It’s summer, folks. And summer has political consequences. The fact is that apart from the tiny minority of hard-core partisans and professional politics-watchers, Americans really don’t pay much attention to politics between the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

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The Washington Times

Perfect weather for an all-American Fourth of July fireworks crowd: In the shank of the afternoon, a bright clear sky under a hot sun with the softest of breezes as people unfolded their blankets and chairs in front of the stage, tucked into the bounty of festival food and listened to pop and soul until darkness fell, the air cooled and the sky lit up.

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The Washington Times

Historians will mark the administration of George W. Bush as the point at which the so-called social issues, long a galvanizing feature of American partisan politics, finally lost their sting. The Supreme Court’s rulings upholding diversity as a compelling government interest and striking down the remaining state anti-sodomy laws join the early Bush administration decision allowing stem-cell research to go forward. The trinity [as it were] of decisions leave those whose top priority has been the preservation of a certain traditional public morality now essentially voiceless in electoral politics. The Republican Party has moved on.

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