In 1913, Antonino Alati left southern Italy to find a better life in a land where many people regarded him as little better than scum.

He joined millions of his fellow countrymen in the United States, where the press vilified Italians as poor, dirty, violent Catholics who had too many babies, refused to assimilate and could never possibly be ...Read more

The Supreme Court wrapped its term on Tuesday. The progressive notion that the justices would be a rubber-stamp for the Trump administration was a notable casualty.

In a blow to the White House, for instance, the justices overturned President Donald Trump’s executive order ending automatic citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. Writing for...Read more

"America 250” is no “Spirit of ‘76.”

For those of us who remember the bicentennial, the semiquincentennial is a complete and utter dud. Many fine festivities will take place on and around July 4, but compared with the years-long nationwide celebration that marked this country’s 200th anniversary, 250 feels like a nonevent.

Perhaps it...Read more

When people ask why I love America, my answer is simple.

I love America because it is a place where ordinary people can live extraordinary lives. That has certainly been true in my life.

I grew up believing that if you worked hard, treated people with respect and stayed true to your principles, there were no limits to what you could accomplish...Read more

The American spirit is the heartbeat of our greatness. You’ll see it in the tenacity of farmworkers and the unique drive of dedicated craftsmen and trade workers. You’ll witness its nobility in the brave teams of first responders nationwide and the empathy and support of small-town communities that fuel the flame of American industry.

And ...Read more

The Supreme Court was correct on Tuesday to strike down President Donald Trump’s order excluding from the 14th Amendment’s guaranty of birthright citizenship those who are born when their parents are “unlawfully or temporarily present” within the nation’s borders. The result matters for many reasons. One is that the majority correctly ...Read more

As constitutional amendments go, the 14th is straightforward. Ratified in 1868 after Republicans in Congress had fiercely repudiated the notorious Dred Scott decision, it declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

The issue before the ...Read more

America has much to celebrate this July 4, but also much to do. Even after 250 years, the task of conserving the Republic given to us by our Founding Fathers is a never-ending struggle.

Fortunately, we have a wellspring of wisdom from those Founders we can tap. Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence, outlined the ...Read more

Major disasters have a way of bringing people together. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks ushered in months of unity and bonhomie among New Yorkers. The 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, which killed approximately 5,000 people, did much the same, with Mexican civilians teaming up to launch their own rescue operations as the federal and city ...Read more

It shouldn’t be too much to ask that taxpayer-funded social service programs benefit people who actually exist.

Apparently it is, as more than 1 million people enrolled in Obamacare plans lack Social Security numbers, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ...Read more

The American Revolution unleashed what one prominent historian has called a “contagion of liberty.” Ideas for change went viral, as revolutionaries saw independence as an opportunity to establish a truly different sort of nation. Some even saw the possibility of creating a more equitable society.

While many reformist proposals involved ...Read more

The flow of money into U.S. politics is already harming democracy, and now, it’s about to get worse.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down limits on campaign expenditures by political parties in coordination with candidates in a 6-3 decision that only continues the problematic trend started by Citizen’s United v. FEC. Without these ...Read more

Here’s the truism that powers the free market. Economic growth hinges on what the government doesn’t do far more than what the government does do.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released an update on state-level employment. Over the past year, only two states have had a substantial increase in nonfarm payroll employment. They are ...Read more

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2021 created a pilot program called Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement to weave mental health experts into public safety responses.

The idea was both compassionate and practical. Many 911 calls involve people suffering psychiatric crises, severe depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or ...Read more

There’s a saying: “You are what you eat.” If that’s true, then everyone around here is Italian. It’s the meal of choice at home and dining out, and no one turns it down — not even, I suspect, members of the Chicago news media. I’ve seen plenty of them in Italian restaurants. But a few of these journalists still serve up twisted ...Read more

It’s settled now. States can count mail-in ballots after Election Day if postmarked by that day.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s opinion for the majority in Monday’s 5-4 ruling on vote-by-mail was straightforward. In interpreting federal law, the opinion read, “The electorate’s choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots are ...Read more

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The driverless white Jaguars crisscrossing Los Angeles were such a novelty at first, like something out of a science fiction novel. Every time a Waymo passed, delighted pedestrians pointed and grabbed their smartphones for photos.

And yet, there was also something kind of creepy about the robot cars zipping around town, whirring ...Read more

The good news about the landmark birthright citizenship decision the Supreme Court issued Tuesday is that it correctly holds that children born in the U.S. automatically become citizens. That’s the right interpretation of the 14th Amendment and reaffirms the 1898 precedent that the president tried to upend with his executive order purporting ...Read more

Happy 250th birthday to America and to all my fellow citizens. Let’s celebrate!

But first, let’s reflect for a moment on the state of our republic.

(If you read my columns regularly, you might assume that I’ll begin by unleashing my Trump Derangement Syndrome on our president. You’re mistaken; I’ll save that until the end.)

The ...Read more