Con Chapman

They are both heavyweights in their respective fields. Their supporters and detractors are equally vocal and vehement. They are both arrogant and hyper-sensitive to criticism. So it is no surprise that Harvard University and Donald Trump are fighting. But as…

In 1801 President Thomas Jefferson responded to a group of Connecticut merchants who objected to his appointment of a new collector of customs duties — the equivalent of tariffs.  The prior holder of that office — Elizur Goodrich — had…

They are the best-known lines of poetry on a public monument in America: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Most people who recognize them can also…

Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly elect Democrats, but the party had a rude awakening when one of it pet projects — turning the suburbs into mere extensions of cities — was recently rejected.  Twice. In the western suburb of Newton, a city…

“For every complex problem,” wrote H.L. Mencken, “there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” The issues of “health care, infrastructure, education,” and “climate change” could all be solved — according to Stephanie Kelton, author of The Deficit…

Horace Mann’s legacy is literally carved in stone. Across America his name appears in lapidary form above schoolhouse doors, a signal accomplishment for someone who turned 20 without spending more than six weeks a year in classrooms. Mann rose from…