Conservatives seemed to have finally learned their lesson on supporting big government Republicanism at home. But few seem willing to reject the other half of that “toxic mixture” of big government abroad, or what Joe Scarborough calls “Wilsonian globalism,” as demonstrated by the Right’s recent rhetoric on the ongoing developments in Iran. Conservative talk radio and many Republican pundits and politicians … [Read More]

On Dec. 14, 1825, following the death of Alexander I—who had seen off Napoleon—his brother, the grand duke, who had just taken the oath as Czar Nicholas I, was confronted by mutinous troops and rebels in Senate Square before the Winter Palace. For hours, the czar stood at the end of the square as the crowd shouted for a constitution or … [Read More]

We are all entitled our memories, but Charles Coulombe’s reminiscences about the American conservative movement are very different from mine. Although his recollections are not incorrect, they are excessively selective. Charles is looking from the perspective of the late 1970s back to the 1950s and trying to freeze the postwar conservative movement at a point at which it would coincide with … [Read More]

The very first time I walked into the Spectator office was in 1975, taken there for the summer party by Simon Courtauld, the then managing editor, i.e., he dealt with the business side of the oldest English speaking magazine in the world. Mind you, as I was about to find out, Simon had very little to do. The Spectator was selling … [Read More]

With Larry David back in the news this week for starring in (perhaps unsurprisingly) the latest Woody Allen movie, Whatever Works, it’s worth reviewing David’s misunderstood accomplishments. David, of course, was the co-creator of Seinfeld. Jason Alexander initially modeled his performance as George Costanza on Woody Allen, but then switched to playing David. And he’s the star of HBO’s Curb Your … [Read More]

British elections are known, just like American ones, for the boring consistency with which the two main parties dominate the results. Sure, there’s the occasional socialist from Vermont, perhaps a Liberal Democrat wins a seat in some strange part of England. But we know in our heart of hearts that it’s always going to be either the Republicans (on my side … [Read More]

When abortion doctor George Tiller was murdered by pro-life activist Scott Roeder and neo-Nazi James von Brunn shot and killed a security guard at the Holocaust museum in Washington, DC, according to liberal pundits, such acts of right-wing violence were not just isolated incidents, but inspired and even encouraged by the broader conservative movement. Citing Bill O’Reilly, FOX News, Glenn Beck, … [Read More]

In politics, words are often elusive things. Definitions change from speaker to speaker and writer to writer and age to age. Well do I remember, in the palmy days of the 1970s and 80s, mainstream columnists talking about “conservatives in the Kremlin.” This was a phrase that meant something to a degree, but was also an oblique slap at others who … [Read More]

The Obama policy of extending an open hand to Iran is working and ought not be abandoned because of the grim events in Tehran. For the Iranian theocracy has just administered a body blow to its legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people and the world. Before Saturday, the regime could credibly posture as defender of the nation, defiant in … [Read More]

Twenty-two years ago, June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan made a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate at the Berlin Wall in which he implored Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Within a year, the wall that symbolized repression and tyranny did in fact come crashing down. But with the demise of the Soviet Union, there is something else … [Read More]