“All country people hate each other,” wrote William Hazlitt. “There is nothing good to be had in the country, or, if there is, they will not give it to you.” I wonder what Hazlitt would have made of last week’s convention. I was among those who found it slightly chilling to see America’s Mayor get his William Wordsworth on, and only … [Read More]

You have no idea what joy lies in discovering that there is another human being in one’s homeland who actually has heard of, and reads with pleasure, Samuel Francis. But so there is. Australia, where moral cowardice and insanely punitive libel laws have combined to produce an intellectual milieu even more squalid than the average Beltway think-tank, has actually allowed the … [Read More]

One amusing aspect of the New York Times’s coverage of the government takeovers of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is that throughout the Gray Lady’s 2000-word lead essay, it’s never once mentioned that the two lending institutions have, well, already been federal organizations for the past 70 years (!). The latest “nationalization” is not too different from the government deciding to … [Read More]

When Republican delegate Cyndi Mosteller was asked why Joe Lieberman was speaking at the Republican Convention, she answered, “Because he understands the importance of 9/11. This is a big-tent party.” But apparently the tent wasn’t large enough for Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, whose counter-convention in Minneapolis drew upwards of 12,000 supporters who listened to a day’s worth of … [Read More]

If you think that FOX News—with its bleached-out blonde anchorbabes made up to look like mid-price hookers, and its braying neocon mouthpieces trumpeting the party line—is the televised voice of conservatism, then think again. Sean Hannity, Bill Kristol, et al. offer up plenty of “conservative” platitudes on the war in Georgia, the war in Iraq, and the permanent wars on Jihadism, … [Read More]

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The American Right has just died and gone to heaven. Wednesday night’s convention address by Sarah Palin here in St. Paul has confirmed the bold decision of John McCain to choose the Alaska governor as his co-pilot and united the Republican Party as it has not been since the second term of Ronald Reagan. A wild enthusiasm for Sarah … [Read More]

Okay, of late I’ve been a really lousy political commentator. Not much of a citizen, either. I would have cheered on our guys and gals in the Olympics, had I known they were going on. (I’m a big fan, in theory, of beach volleyball and synchronized swimming.) But the games just plain slipped my mind, so all I caught was a … [Read More]

Austin Bramwell tells us the tax code favors the rich at the expense of everyone else. As an argument he gives some examples that very likely loom large in his estate planning practice. Anecdote and instance are rhetorically effective, but their moral depends on how the story is told. More particularly, a common problem with righteous complaints about special tax benefits … [Read More]

“Goblins and devils have long vanished from the Alps, and so many years have passed without any well-authenticated account of a discovery of a dragon that dragons too may be considered to have migrated.” So the Alpine Club was informed in May 1877 by Mr Henry Gotch, the secre-tary, and the news set off great celebrations among sporty but superstitious Englishmen. … [Read More]

A great deal of ink has been spilled over the last month about the proximate causes of the fighting in the Caucasus. Abkhaz, Georgians, Ossetians and Russians have all presented conflicting accounts of who fired first—with timelines that stretch back to the 18th century. Meanwhile, the debate in the West has centered over whether the efforts to enlarge NATO to Russia’s … [Read More]