James K. Galbraith

Often wrong, never in doubt,”—so Richard Nixon described his economists. Doesn’t apply to me; I’m haunted by doubts. And they torment me too, and here’s why. Professionally, I’m a pessimist, always looking at the dark side. (It complements my sunny … Read More

Sergio Vieira de Mello was the real thing. I met him in East Timor in 2001, at the U.S. mission on the evening of July 4th. He told my brother (his colleague in the transition cabinet) that he would not … Read More

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In 1976 at the height of the Irish troubles I called on Conor Cruise O’Brien, then serving as Minister of Posts in the Irish Republic; his offices were in the Dublin Post Office of 1916 fame. I was on my … Read More

“The voters have spoken–the bastards!” – Morris Udall So George W. Bush has won a national election. He did it by an astounding mixture of war fever, money, and media manipulation. But that is beside the point. From now on, … Read More

I want to talk about an aspect of Lyndon Johnson’s legacy that I have come to know well. For most people it is far less well known, and less accurately recollected than either the Great Society or (for that matter) … Read More

Forgive me if I do not join the applause for Michael Moore and his they-all-do-it defense of George W. Bush, prominently excerpted on these pages on April 12 (“Democrats…DOA”). Moore doesn’t mention it, but Federal regulations require drafting, publication, public … Read More

With the events of late in the year 2000, the United States left behind constitutional republicanism, and turned to a different form of government. It is not, however, a new form. It is rather, a transplant, highly familiar from a … Read More

ONE DOWN Billy Wafer, one of the defendants in the now notorious Tulia cocaine bust of 1999, is a free man. Wafer had been accused, along with three dozen other black defendants, of selling cocaine to undercover agent Tom Coleman … Read More