Bernard Chapin's Columns
The Federocracy: Explained and Indicted
"The real story of government, indeed, the real story behind any socialist enterprise, is that the power given to the state is always power wrenched away from the people. Where Leviathan reigns supreme, the rights of the citizenry are irrelevant and dismissed for the “good” of the whole as disinterested clerks and functionaries determine the fates of millions." Column by Bernard Chapin.
Bernard Chapin reviews Fred Barnes' new book on Bush.
"Politicians now get elected only through promising to do something about every disease, threat, and discomfort that someone shouts to them while they’re on the campaign trail. If they don’t commit to having their bureaucracies oppose every shadow, then there’s no way in which they will ever get elected." Column by Bernard Chapin.
Taking Sex Differences Seriously
"Telling men not to become aroused by signs of beauty, youth and health is, as David Buss has noted, like ‘telling them not to experience sugar as sweet.’" Column by Bernard Chapin.
The Presumption Against Marriage, Part II
"Many of those who automatically look to the state to provide solutions are the same ones who complain about the decline of marriage today. If they didn’t elect redistributionist judges and politicians, men would not fear marriage the way we do." Column by Bernard Chapin.
The Presumption Against Marriage
"My take on the issue is that the appropriateness of marriage has to be determined on a case by case basis but that presumption, in this day and age, should always be against marriage. To put it more simply, the tie cannot go to the runner. Men, when in doubt, walk away." Column by Bernard Chapin, who I'm sure will get some e-mail about this one.
"It is unfortunate but the playoffs have revealed to me that Canada now has government, as opposed to hockey, as its real national pastime." Column by Bernard Chapin.
Congressman Danny Davis and Special Education
"In general, exceptional pupils are never suspended for more
than ten days a year. I
recall one dean calling me on the intercom to ask about a child he
just put out of the building. He
asked, 'Hey, it’s his twelfth day out this year.
I was wondering, he’s not special ed is he?'
"On the aggregate, television has always been a tremendous waste of time. Now that the networks are attempting to politically indoctrinate us, it has gone from being merely a waste of time to becoming downright evil. My father gave me great advice on this topic and, incidentally, always knew best. I can still hear him admonish throughout my childhood to 'turn that damn TV off.' He was as correct today as he was in 1980." Column by Bernard Chapin.
No Idea Left Behind: An Interview with Dr. Diane Ravitch
She's the author of the new book "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn." Interview by Bernard Chapin.
A follow-up column by Bernard Chapin.
Education and the Cult of the New
"Every year a new behavioral system seems to be marketed, and it is heralded as being superior to all else in the field. The key word here is 'marketed,' as it sums up who really benefits from the cult of the new. The makers of education materials profit greatly from the federal 'education buildup' over the past few decades." Column by Bernard Chapin.
(C-BINO) Confirmed Bachelor in Name Only
"Living by oneself and answering to no one is a great pleasure that should not mindlessly be frittered away. It is a wonderful thing to wake up on a Saturday morning with complete freedom." Column by Bernard Chapin.
"Now
I work at an alternative school, and when people ask me why I do, I answer by
saying: 'There is no such thing as political correctness at an alternative
school. Life is real there and
reality can’t be covered up with lies and euphemisms.'" Column by
Bernard Chapin.
Anti-Intellectuals in the Schools
"The ignorance of the students is something all school personnel must acknowledge and accept (indeed, that’s why we have jobs), but the ignorance of the staff is something to which I have never easily adjusted. Given the state of our culture, I guess it really is not that surprising that many educators possess a lack of intellectual curiosity, but what is consistently shocking is their lack of shame about it." Column by Bernard Chapin.
"These same training wheel gangstas never laugh harder than when I tell them that I used to work at Long John Silvers when I was their age. Upon hearing this, they usually crack up as if Cedric the Entertainer had entered the building." Column by Bernard Chapin.
"My first love was not named Jenny or Sandra or Kay or Jackie. My first love’s name was 'history.' I first met this mistress long before I knew its actual name. As far as love goes, our relationship has been remarkably stable and predates any dealings I ever had with the opposite sex." Column by Bernard Chapin.
"Only a few short days ago, on July 11th 2003, our nation reached the point at which taxpayers could begin to work for themselves as opposed to working for the federal government. This day was lamented by federal bureaucrats who would like nothing better than to see citizens divert every one of their pennies to buoy up a centralized Disneyland of rides and pork barrel projects--also known as Washington, DC." Column by Bernard Chapin.
The Language Police Live Inside of My Head
"The current state of affairs regarding the materials used in the public schools is that 'what began with admirable intentions has evolved into a surprisingly broad and increasingly bizarre policy of censorship that has gone far beyond its original scope and now excises from tests and notebooks words, images, passages, and ideas that no reasonable person would consider biased in the usual meaning of that term.'" Book review by Bernard Chapin.
"I,
of course, have nothing good to say about yet another corrupt, rapacious
African dictator like Charles Taylor, but the word 'another' says it
all....He is by no means a unique case." Column by Bernard
Chapin.
Don't Just Stand There, Do Nothing
"This
is exactly how our government has gone from being a night watchman to a nine
million member leviathan. When a
crisis occurs, it appears the simultaneous response is to widen the breadth of
the state.
Communism: One Giant Oil Slick for Mankind
"...what is communism? It appears to possibly be a man-made acid bath, a moat of asps, or a pathological suicide cult, but the one thing it definitely is not is a reasonable means with which to govern." Column by Bernard Chapin.
"I then heard a young teacher in the first row raise her hand and ask possibly the silliest question I’ve ever heard: 'If we go on strike, do we still get paid?' Sure, the reader as disinterested observer can laugh, but I was intimately tied to the proceedings and wanted to put my fist, along with the union stewards, through the wall." Column by Bernard Chapin.
The End of Myth: An Interview with Dr. John Lott
By Bernard Chapin.
The Joys of Politically Incorrect Living
"It used to be, when I was not in complete revolt against the mandarins that structure our daily behavior, I resisted the temptation to turn around and salaciously examine attractive women as they passed by. Then I realized that leering is a magnificent political statement by itself. I now make certain to do it both as a way to please myself and also to alienate the social engineers that may be waddling down the other side of the street. Why deprive oneself? One of the great joys of a man’s existence is getting a chance to visually appreciate a woman’s derriere, particularly if her waist is about seven-tenths the size of her hips." Column by Bernard Chapin.
Socialism: 'If You Build It, They Will Leave'
"His coverage of Marx and Engels makes one ask the inevitable question, which is how two rogues such as these could have seduced a large portion of the world’s population with their delusions. Marx appears to have been the prototype for what I call the 'self-righteous leftist' who still swings, like a Bonobo in search of a five second mate, from the girders of our political infrastructure today." An interesting book review by Bernard Chapin.
"Add this to society’s dead beat dad stories. I go to court to assume full responsibility for my son and now I’m an outlaw." Column by Bernard Chapin.
Radical Feminists Infest Canada
"My
advice is to never surrender an inch of ground to these people.
They exist to destroy the polarity between men and women.
They are evil, and you and I should not meet the devil halfway by
considering any of their statist laws or suggestions for better living.
Their programs are unabashedly socialistic, but they are so uneducated
that they do not understand that only capitalism can provide the resources for
the fulfillment of all their sick legal fetishes and enactments."
Column by Bernard Chapin.
"The teacher unions are a longstanding cancerous influence on the body politic. They are highly accomplished in the art of political pressure, and funnel money into the accounts of whatever political candidates will uphold their monopoly on public schooling." Column by Bernard Chapin.
Interview with the National Taxpayers Union
An interview by Bernard Chapin. The interview subject is definitely not an anarchist, and I don't agree with some of the things he says, but there is still a lot of info in here, especially towards the end.
Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor
"Our narrator is initiated into this 'war on maleness' while conversing with a feminist editor with whom he makes the mistake of discussing his personal life. She had been the conduit for many of Marin’s dates, but she cuts him off abruptly saying, 'This is what makes us scream ourselves to sleep at night. No more setups. I want to write a book on men titled You Call This a Gender.'" Column by Bernard Chapin.
"Despite alertness and refined driving skills, my time too came to meet the highwayman." Column by Bernard Chapin.
Teen Pregnancy: From the Government With Love
"We pay taxes so that the offspring of teenage mothers can rob, rape and murder us 20 years down the line. This is anti-social security and we’d do better if we embossed their checks with that descriptor right now." An excellent column by new Root Striker Bernard Chapin.