Armstrong Williams

WILLIAMS: The Left’s deft intolerance

The cases before the Supreme Court last week once again brought a focus on the idea of tolerance in our country. Tolerance is a funny thing in the political sphere and is increasingly used by people on the left to denigrate anyone who opposes them.

April 7, 2013

WILLIAMS: President Obama stands and delivers during recent Israel trip

It was no accident that Israel was President Obama's first foreign visit in his second term. He had something to prove to the people of the Jewish state, and he appears to have succeeded.

March 31, 2013

WILLIAMS: Imagine if only criminals had guns

Imagine a city where the people have come to feel so victimized by gun violence that they give up trying to stop criminals. Instead, they choose the most easily identifiable symbol of their problem — gun manufacturers — and start yelling at them. To these frightened souls, it feels good to yell at gun manufacturers. It feels good to vent their fears. Mainstream media, both TV and print, tell sad and compelling stories about how innocents are gunned down across our nation, to convince we the people that the solution is more gun control legislation.

March 24, 2013

WILLIAMS: The power of manipulated images

Veteran New York Timesman Bill Keller was asked recently what role he thought the newspaper played in journalism moving forward in the digital age. "Value added," he replied. Astonishing if you think about it: The world's No. 1 newspaper for more than a century had just been reduced to almost an afterthought in the eyes of its former editor.

March 17, 2013

WILLIAMS: We’re not entitled to high national self-esteem

Book 15 of Ovid's Metamorphoses contains a little synopsis of his epic, and of his Pythagorean philosophy: "Nothing in all the world remains unchanged. All things are in a state of flux, all shapes receive a changing nature. Time itself glides on with constant motion, ever as a flowing river. Neither river nor the fleeting hour can stop its constant course. But, as each wave drives on a wave, as each is pressed by that which follows, and must press on that before it, so the moments fly, and others follow, so they are renewed. The moment which moved on before is past, and that which was not, now exists in time, and every one comes, goes, and is replaced."

March 10, 2013

WILLIAMS: The home-grown terrorist next door

Reports are released every day in Washington, but one that could prove to be of life-or-death importance was unveiled last week by the Henry Jackson Society, a bipartisan think tank with headquarters in London. "Al-Qaeda in the United States: A Complete Analysis of Terrorism Offenses" holds up a mirror to America and provides us with a clear but terrifying image.

March 3, 2013

WILLIAMS: The wisdom of Dr. Ben Carson

Dr. Ben Carson, Presidential Medal of Freedom winner and legendary neurosurgeon, is now in the spotlight for his keynote address to the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 7. It's not brain surgery to figure out why.

February 24, 2013

WILLIAMS: Moving from ‘We the people’ to ‘We the government’

ANALYSIS/OPINION

February 17, 2013

WILLIAMS: Strom Thurmond and Essie Mae

People die, but the truth lives and breathes freely on its own. We now mourn the passing of 87-year-old Essie Mae Washington-Williams, who in December 2003 confirmed one of the oldest rumors in Southern political folklore: She was the mixed-race daughter of former South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond.

February 10, 2013

WILLIAMS: A Day to Remember

Anniversaries are, strictly speaking, not necessary, but neither is art, friendship or many other of the most important things in life. We observe them by taking time out of the present to remember the past. It is a way of “marking time,” of measuring ourselves against the great and the bad who have foregone us.

February 3, 2013

WILLIAMS: Setting the record straight on the King children

Usually, I like to use this space to start a conversation about the political and social issues facing our country as a whole. I try to focus on issues that either explicitly or implicitly affect everyone.

January 27, 2013

WILLIAMS: Gun rights are civil rights

As we mark the second inauguration of the first black American president, it is important to celebrate our successes in achieving the protection of civil rights for all people. But, sadly, this president has a terrible record on civil rights.

January 20, 2013

WILLIAMS: Understanding the ratchet effect

Sometimes, listening to the political discourse in this country, I wonder if we really understand the ratchet effect of increasing government programs and power over time: Unlike in business, unlike in nature, unlike in, well, real life, failure is not punished, but is at best ignored, at worst rewarded. Once a government program is in place, it is hardly ever repealed, even when Republicans obtain political power, because voters become dependent on it.

January 14, 2013

WILLIAMS: Some good things in maligned ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

If you are a conservative, you probably did not like the "fiscal cliff" deal that passed last week, but the mainstream media overlooked a few important things about the agreement that will help many people and the economy.

January 6, 2013

WILLIAMS: Will 2012 prove to have been America’s tipping point?

Time magazine has named President Obama as its Person of the Year for 2012. This has been, of course, controversial, and for the usual reasons: Much like with the president's Nobel Peace Prize, one has to wonder what he actually did to deserve it.

December 30, 2012

WILLIAMS: Gratitude and counting your blessings

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "Here ends another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, hands and the great world around me. Tomorrow begins another day. Why am I allowed two?" The shortest way to happiness that I know is gratitude, counting your blessings.

December 23, 2012

WILLIAMS: A bizarre and conflicting principle

Right now, the president is demagoguing the rich, as he has been doing for his entire political career (which, come to think of it, actually isn't a very long time).

December 16, 2012

WILLIAMS: The expanding entitlement state?

I was walking by the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill recently, and I saw a sign on its windows that read, "End Medicare. Vote Republican."

December 9, 2012

WILLIAMS: Is health care a right? And whose responsibility is it?

Often when people approach the end of life, they begin to contemplate their lives and recognize that of all the things they have accumulated, all the accolades that have been bestowed upon them, nothing is as valuable as life itself.

December 2, 2012

WILLIAMS: In Gaza: Life and death, blessing and curse

Watching the escalation of fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza last week, I was reminded of the words of God as recorded in Deuteronomy 30:19: "I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life -- so that you and your descendants will live."

November 25, 2012