In the recent national security debate, Newt Gingrich clashed with Ron Paul, who had said something that sounded like “terrorism is bad, and we should certainly go after them for doing such things.” Paul had cited Oklahoma City as an example. In response Newt said that the point was to head off such attacks beforehand, …
One of Jupiter’s Moons
Those who are accustomed to the language of punditry know that when a candidate or office holder is said to “pivot,” this means that he has double-crossed somebody, most usually the people who elected him. “Pivoting” is a nice way of saying that I am going to go off and do something else now. “Something …
Slaughtering Pigs With a Butter Knife
Okay, we know that the outlook and behavior of the president during all these debt negotiations has been lame sauce. But let us not forget virtually everybody else! The supercommittee failed to reach a consensus, and so — unless Congress acts — 1.2 trillion will be automatically cut from future spending, half from the military …
Occupy Brawl Street
The essential characteristic that is necessary for helpful political analysis and action is not logic (though that is sometimes badly wanted), but is rather courage. The reason our liberties are eroding is because of a failure of nerve. The reason drunks on a fiscal jag have broken into your great-grandchildren’s piggy banks (in order to …
No Condemnation Where There Ought to Be Some
A friend shared this link with me, one that illustrates nicely a point I have made before about the importance of “justification” in cultural and social polemics. First, check out this link that compares the Tea Party protests and the Occupy protests. Having perused that, here is the point about justification again. Justification means, as …
When Talking Heads Explode
The race for the Republican nomination is still too early in the demolition derby to make too much sense out of it. It will be interesting to see what happens when there are only three very dented cars still running. The conventional wisdom was that the rise of Herman Cain was just the latest flavor-of-the-month …
Everyone But the Demons
As I have thought about how best to respond to this Occupy Wall St. business, it seems to me that it really should be treated with the seriousness it deserves. It is not every day that the body politic gets covered with economically illiterate pustules. We are trying to make out their demands — for …
Said the Spider to the Fly
When the Constitution first came out of the convention, the opposition to it (as it then was) was identified with the anti-Federalists, led by men like Patrick Henry. The support for it was called Federalist, led by men like James Madison. In the resulting clash between the two factions, the Federalists compromised enough to agree …
A Headache That Starts at the Ankles
I want to modify a thought experiment that David Mamet suggested in his fine book The Secret Knowledge, and do so as my own response to the risible proposal coming before the U.N. this week. Excuse me, I see that “risible proposal” doesn’t narrow things down enough. I am referring to the idea that the …
Lollygaggers at the Somme
After the clowns-on-tiny-bicycles show that we have all just witnessed, which clown show obtained for us our debt ceiling deal, it would be easy for conservatives to think that it all was, in fact, just a show, just for show. Since there was so much fuss and bother, with so little result, it is easy …