America has gone back to isolationism, many commentators are saying. Not just the dovish Democrats, but also Republicans who were so hawkish a decade ago are turning away from the world.

Republicans have been getting a lot of advice on how they should change their party ever since Mitt Romney's defeat in November 2012. They need it.

Hovering over the congressional debate on whether to authorize the use of military force in Syria is the specter of Iraq.

It hung even more menacingly over the debate in the British House of Commons Aug. 29 when a 285-272 majority voted against granting the government such authority.

Americans change their minds on some issues. One of them is crime and punishment.

New York City seems on the verge of making the same mistake that Detroit made 40 years ago. The mistake is to abolish the NYPD practice referred to as stop and frisk.

What is the most intellectually dishonest profession around? My nomination: the admissions officers at highly selective colleges and universities.

Nothing is free in politics, but there is some question when you pay the price. That's been a saying of mine for many years, though I may have unconsciously plagiarized it from someone else. I think it applies to Obamacare.

Why are so many people so desperate to hold onto the idea that America is as racist as it has ever been?The phenomenon is apparent in much of the commentary on the George Zimmerman case.

We have a president who loves to give campaign speeches to adoring crowds, but who doesn't seem to have much interest in governing.

The first volume of Charles Moore's authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher, covering her life up to Britain's victory in the Falklands, is out, just weeks after her death. It takes its place among the finest political biographies of all time.