I first subscribed to National Review when I was in high school, which would be somewhere northwards of 42 years ago. I have been a faithful subscriber since that time, and — disagreements and all — it remains my favorite magazine. They are still genuinely conservative, although it should be said at the outset that …
Weapon of Mass Confusion
So yesterday, or whatever it was in Indonesia, our Secretary of State beclowned his office by saying that climate change could well be considered as a weapon of mass destruction. This means any number of things, but the central thing it means is that somebody doesn’t want to have the 2014 elections hinge on the …
Her Other Hand Comes Too
In order to understand the politics of our time, we have to understand the paradox of inequality. The way the debate is usually framed, we are forced to choose between liberty and equality. Now when I am charged to pick one of these, I am happy to do so, provided it is the right kind …
Let’s Watch Them for a Bit
A policeman doesn’t need a warrant, and shouldn’t need a warrant, to look at your house. But there is more to it. I have noted before that many contemporary Americans are demanding privacy when what they really want is anonymity. But these are not the same thing at all. If I am walking down a …
Hygiene Lectures From Typhoid Mary
A bill now before the Idaho legislature raises a thorny question. The choice facing our legislators is this. If they vote yes, and they remove the religious exemption shield, then they will be seen as encroaching on the religious freedom of parents to care for their children according to their conscience. But if they vote …
There’s A Dear
When it comes to your “personal data” and national security issues, there are two basic layers to the question. The first has to do with the nature of the world, and the second has to do with the nature of our particular moment in history. The first asks whether anybody should be trusted with this …
In a Pig’s Eye
The president’s Twitter account recently sent out this small dribbly contribution to the oceans of illiteracy that already exist out there. What’s another half pint? Here’s how to improve our economy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs: #RaiseTheWage. http://OFA.BO/tXMYUq pic.twitter.com/UDTcTSaqZJ So here’s the comeback, and I must say that it is hard to type …
Conceit on Stilts
Yesterday the president showed defiance on the Obamacare question, although, it must be said, it was an anemic kind of defiance. He said, in a calm and listless sort of way, that Obamacare would not be repealed “as long as [he was] president.” In this, he has, yet again, mistaken the actual position of affairs. …
Ducks, Both Lame and Dead
There are two kinds of legitimacy when it comes to political rule. The first is the obvious — when the rules are honored, and the procedures followed. The second is not so obvious, and I want to get to a detailed discussion of it in a minute. But for the purposes of the set up, …
Obamamandias
With apologies to P.B. Shelley . . . I met a traveler from bankrupt land Who said: ‘One vast and hapless head of stone Lies in the desert. Near it, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered website lies, still down. That haughty look, and sneer of cold command, And photo-op poses, a myriad! Still …