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Charles Lane
Charles Lane is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a columnist for The Free Press.
charles.lane@aei.org
Things Worth Remembering: Orwell Saw This Coming
Days after Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor, Orwell’s ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’ feels more relevant than ever.
Charles Lane
Conquer Your Trauma Like Ebenezer Scrooge
Decades before Freud, ‘A Christmas Carol’ showed how to face childhood anguish and choose a better life.
Charles Lane
Amnesty International Can’t Handle the Truth About Hamas
A planned report on the terrorist group’s crimes turned into a moral muddle, including a long critique of Israel.
Charles Lane
How Trump’s Boat Strikes Could Lead to Full-Scale War
If you threaten to topple a dictator, you better not be bluffing.
Charles Lane
Why Shutdowns Never Work
For 41 days, the Democrats demanded an extension of Obamacare subsidies and a rollback of Medicaid cuts to end the shutdown. What did they get in the…
Charles Lane
Redistricting Is Ruining Democracy
In a ‘safe’ district, the general election becomes a formality. Instead of being held accountable by a broad cross section of voters, House members…
Charles Lane
It’s Time for the Supreme Court to Confront Trump
The tariff case being heard next week might be the biggest test of the court’s legitimacy in over 200 years. And the Constitution is clearly not on…
Charles Lane
Why Congress Won’t End the Shutdown
Members of the House and Senate in each party fear that their base will not accept compromise, even though that’s what the general public wants. As the…
Charles Lane
The Fight Inside Amnesty International over Its Hamas Report
Amnesty International claims to be an impartial human rights monitor. Internal emails about the timing of a long-delayed Hamas report suggest otherwise.
Charles Lane
Free Buses Are a Recipe for Disaster
Zohran Mamdani is promising to eliminate bus fares. Five years ago, Kansas City did just that. You’ll never guess what happened next.
Charles Lane
Why I Changed My Mind About the Death Penalty
I used to oppose the death penalty. Then I took a closer look and realized that though it is imperfect, it’s also necessary.
Charles Lane
Congress, Please Do Not Pass the SALT Deduction
The fate of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill may depend on a provision for wealthy blue-state voters who want help paying their property taxes.
Charles Lane
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