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Paul Starr

Paul Starr is co-editor of the The American Prospect. His most recent book is Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American Struggle over Health Care Reform. Click here to read more about Starr.

Recent Articles

How Low Can You Go? Made of Sterner Stuff

Paul StarrNov 16, 2001

MADE OF STERNER STUFF

The Lewinsky investigation has put me to reflecting about the many
opportunities for rectitude that were missed in our past. Americans have now
been told, all too late, about the illicit sexual behavior of presidents from
Thomas Jefferson to JFK. Just think of how much better informed and more
righteous the American people might have been if the methods of uncovering the
truth familiar to us today had only been used when they could have really
mattered.

How Low Can You Go?

Paul StarrNov 16, 2001

PASS THE MALICE

Five mistakes in a single sentence must be some kind of record
for America's greatest newspaper. On August 17, in an article
about the new White House roles of Sidney Blumenthal and Paul
Begala ("Clinton Looks for Inspiration From the Left"),
the New York Times quoted the New Republic as saying
about Blumenthal, "A beat is just an assignment but a slut
is who you've become maybe."

The next day the Times admitted the following:


  1. The statement had not appeared in the New Republic.

  2. The statement was not a reference to Blumenthal.

How Low Can You Go?

Paul StarrNov 14, 2001


YOUR NAME HERE

As public broadcasting has long shown, there is a thin line between philanthropy and advertising that is well on its way to being completely erased. Consider the recent proliferation of corporate logos on endowed professorships, as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Stanford has a Yahoo! chair of information systems technology; the University of Arizona has a Coca Cola distinguished professor of marketing; and Washington State has a Taco Bell distinguished professor of hotel and restaurant administration.

I'm impressed by what companies have done so far, but I'm waiting for William Bennett to get the General Electric Chair in Philosophy.

How Low Can You Go? Viagravated Assault

Paul StarrNov 14, 2001

VIAGRAVATED ASSAULT

Early demand for Viagra, the new potency pill from Pfizer, has been so enormous that it has caused worries about an unexpected rise in health care expenses. Newspapers have reported the weekly sales of Viagra the way they earlier reported the gross for Titanic. In April one urologist was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, "If we were in the military, I think we would call in and say our position is being overrun."

The Defining Issue

Paul StarrNov 14, 2001


For liberals, it's the lost crusade. For conservatives, it's the emblematic case of overweening big government. Perhaps more clearly than in any other issue, federal action to achieve universal health coverage brings out ideological and partisan differences in America. In the early 1990s, health care became a defining conflict for the nation, and so it remains today. The uninsured figure prominently in the debates between Al Gore and Bill Bradley, but they're only a marginal issue for the Republican presidential candidates.



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