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2024 Voter Guide from the Editorial Board of The Washington Times

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Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas is one of the most widely syndicated political columnists in America. Based in Washington, he is a wide-ranging social commentator, not a "beltway insider," who supports traditional conservative values and the American "can-do spirit." He'll take on virtually any topic, from the decline of the family to growing terrorism worldwide.

A syndicated columnist since 1984, he is the author of “America’s Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires, Superpowers and the United States” (HarperCollins/Zondervan, January 2020). His latest book is “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen in 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books, May 2023). Readers may email Mr. Thomas at tcaeditors@tribune.com.

Columns by Cal Thomas

Illustration on The State of the Union Address by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

CAL THOMAS: Obama’s State of the Union same old song

Here's a suggestion for Joni Ernst, the new Republican senator from Iowa, who will deliver the GOP response to the State of the Union address Tuesday night. Get a chorus together and open with this old Sammy Cahn-Jule Styne number: "It seems to me I've heard that song before; it's from an old familiar score, I know it well, that melody." Published January 19, 2015

Illustration on France's response to Islamic terrorism by M. Ryder/Tribune Content Agency

CAL THOMAS: Paris burning for failing to modernize radical Muslims

The late Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times, Paul Conrad, frequently used religious symbols to illustrate his point of view. Conrad drew the ire of some readers whenever he used the Star of David or a cross in his drawings. Letters to the editor denounced him, but to my knowledge no one showed up at the newspaper to kill him. Published January 12, 2015

Mario Cuomo Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

CAL THOMAS: Mario Cuomo: The rhetoric and the record

How precious in the sight of progressives was one of their saints, Mario Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who died last week at age 82. He was a model of progressivism and a gifted rhetorician. Published January 5, 2015

FILE - This undated image posted on Aug. 27, 2014 by the Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group, a Syrian opposition group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows a fighter of the Islamic State group waving their flag from inside a captured government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria. The Islamic State group is test flying, with the help of former Iraqi air force pilots, several fighter jets captured earlier from air bases belonging to the Syrian military, a Syrian activist group said Friday, Oct. 17, 2014. The report by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights could not be independently confirmed, and U.S. official said they had no reports of Islamic State group militants flying jets in support of their forces on the ground.(AP Photo/ Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group)

CAL THOMAS: Understand ISIS extremists to fight for Western values

The commander of American special operations in the Middle East, Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata, is reported to be seeking help in learning why the Islamic State is so dangerous. If he doesn't know, what does that say about the prospect for victory over these radical terrorists who seek to destroy everyone who disagrees with them? Published December 31, 2014

CAL THOMAS: America shows decline signs of empires in history

In the film, "Girl Interrupted," Winona Ryder plays an 18-year-old who enters a mental institution for what is diagnosed as borderline personality disorder. The year is 1967, and the country is in turmoil over Vietnam and civil rights. While lying on her bed one night and watching TV, she sees a news report about a demonstration. The narrator says something that might apply to today's turmoil: "We live in a time of doubt. The institutions we once trusted no longer seem reliable." Published December 29, 2014

Illustration on the value of the Christmas story by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

CAL THOMAS: Christmas story belief a true blessing

Suppose what some call the "Christmas story" is true — all of it, from the angels, to the shepherds, to the virgin birth, to God taking on human flesh. By this, I don't mean to suggest it is true only for those who believe it to be true, but what if it is objectively true, no matter what the deniers say? What difference would it make? Should it make any difference? Published December 24, 2014

Illustration on Obama's new policy toward Cuba by Donna Grethen/Tribune Content Agency

CAL THOMAS: Cuba libre!

Rather than try to block the partial lifting of the embargo, the new Republican Congress should require reciprocity from the Cuban government before lifting additional restrictions. Published December 22, 2014

The Ghost of Flight 93 Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

CAL THOMAS: Enhanced interrogation limits for terrorists risk American lives

The attack on a cafe in Sydney, Australia, by a self-described Islamic cleric with a long police record, left two hostages dead, along with the cleric. That incident, which was televised worldwide, was quickly eclipsed by the massacre of 145 people at an army-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan. How is the West responding to these and other atrocities? More important, how is the Muslim world responding? Published December 17, 2014

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin says Republicans need to show up in minority neighborhoods and ask what has voting for Democrats gotten them? It's a good question.. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

CAL THOMAS: Paul Ryan’s hope for a Congress that works

Like two predatory animals circling each other, Republicans and Democrats are trying to sort out the meaning of last month's election and plan strategies for the remaining days of the current Congress and the new one in which Republicans will hold majorities in both houses. Published December 8, 2014

Businesses were left in piles of rubble in the aftermath of violence and looting in Ferguson, Missouri, on the night of Nov. 24, 2014. (Associated Press)

CAL THOMAS: Ferguson protesters must pay for their mayhem

No matter whose side you are on in the upheaval following the killing of Michael Brown by Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, everyone should agree on the profound sadness of it all: sadness that an 18-year-old boy-man walked a path that led to his destruction; sadness that a police officer felt the need to defend himself by shooting another human being; sadness over the rioting and looting that followed a grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Wilson; and, for some, sadness that Officer Wilson was not indicted. Published December 1, 2014

Larry Kawa says President Obama's unilateral changes to immigration law exemplify a pattern of executive overreach. (Illustration of effects of illegal alien order on American blacks by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times)

CAL THOMAS: Obama puts illegal immigrants over loyal black American voters

The framers of the Constitution sought to limit the power of government and expand individual liberty. President Obama sees it the other way. Whether he violated the constitutional limits of his power will be debated and possibly decided in the courts and by the new Republican majority in Congress, but there is another issue surrounding the amnesty order that needs addressing. Published November 24, 2014

Illustration on the real results of Obama's so-called immigration reform by Linas Garsys/The WAshington Times

CAL THOMAS: Unfaithfully executing the law

President Obama is soon expected to issue an executive order that would make it possible for some illegal immigrants to live and work in this country without the threat of deportation, in effect granting amnesty to up to 5 million people. Published November 17, 2014