I’m sorry, but Kevin Gutzman is totally wrong about the Constitution. In his books and many online articles, Gutzman argues that the Constitution grants the Federal government a handful of limited powers, but leaves the states free to govern as they like. Hence, almost the entire apparatus of the Federal government is unconstitutional. What’s more, says Gutzman, with no little vehemence, … [Read More]

Many of you will still be alive in 50 years. It’s interesting to think about what life will be like in 50 years technologically and otherwise. Predictions are risky, especially when they’re about the future, but I believe we can make some pretty good guesses. To predict a predictable future, you need to look at the past. What was technological life … [Read More]

I should first admit that it took quite a lot for me to actually go see Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino’s latest about a special Army unit of Jewish avengers, led by a half-Cherokee Good Ol’ Boy, who rampage through German-occupied France, killing, scalping, and/or branding top Nazis, eventually slaughtering no less than the German Führer. I’m certainly not against counter-factual reverie, … [Read More]

Let’s suppose a business employed ten workers in June. Along came Barack Obama and huffed and puffed and blew six jobs away. Four employees now run a pared-down operation. The next round of retrenchments will invariably entail fewer than six people. The president, or any other wolf in sheep’s clothing, may declare that our proprietor has shed fewer jobs in the … [Read More]

On the day after Ted Kennedy’s death, the American Spectator’s James Antle wrote the following concerning the late senator’s involvement in the 1969 drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne: “The man who would become a beloved father figure to the sons and daughters of his slain brother, left another family’s daughter to die in an incident that would have ended virtually any … [Read More]

GSTAAD: What I find quite fascinating is how Americans have a blind spot about their own flaws in the area of human rights, and how they feel they have a duty to lecture other countries on the issue. I am, of course, referring to the outrage over the Libyan deal, an outrage shared by most people who have not sold out … [Read More]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which usually concerns itself with “consumer protection” issues, is now taking an interest in the journalism industry. The financially strapped New York Times reports: “The commission is planning two days of workshops in December–titled From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?”–to examine the state of the news industry.” This ominous development … [Read More]

Under Discussion: Critchlow, Donald T, The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History, Harvard University Press (2007), 368 pages. In his new history of the conservative movement, Donald Critchlow retells a story that should be quite familiar by now: Modern American conservatism, from its inception in the 1950s, was an intellectual synthesis of the classical liberal tradition, emphasizing individualism … [Read More]

Recently while talking to a “moderate” conservative and faithful NR reader, I was struck by this person’s profoundly negative view of the past, including the recent past. When I mentioned research by Thomas Sowell in the late 1970s proving that American blacks had made greater economic strides in the 1930s and 1940s than in the 1960s or 1970s, my acquaintance responded … [Read More]

Ayn Rand wrote, “when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed.” America is not yet doomed, but the fellows in Washington are pushing for that outcome. It seems that all the characters that encouraged this financial crisis are being rewarded, and Ben Bernanke’s re-nomination is no exception to this rule. He … [Read More]