David Frum has been purged off into the sunset at NR... He’s leaving his NRO blogging gig at the end of the year and plans to start up a new website called “NewMajority.com” We could, of course, indulge in a little Schadenfreude with Frumy—the man who tried to purge the conservative movement of the antiwar Right is now getting his comeuppance, … [Read More]

The classic interpretation of Ian Fleming’s James Bond character is that he stands as a kind of fantasy of Britishness the British people, and especially the elite, could indulge in during the rather grim 1950s—when the Sceptred Isle lost its empire, was usurped as a Great Power and banker to the world by Uncle Sam, and suffered under a social democracy … [Read More]

Over at Chronicles, Scott Richert comes to the defense of Tom Piatak and, referring to my last blog, accuses me of “individualism” and of not properly understanding economics. Unfortunately, in his justification of the proposed 25-50 billion dollar bailout of Chrysler, Ford, and GM, Scott stumbles into an economic fallacy or two along the way—and classic ones at that. Scott claims … [Read More]

This past weekend, I was in Alabama at a Mises Institute conference and got to hear Ron Paul speak on his “dealings with Fed Chairmen.” All the familiar Paulian themes were sounded and constant throughout was the congressman’s unflagging earnestness and good cheer—according to Paul, information is being exchanged differently now, and it’s only a matter of time before We The … [Read More]

“Democracy,” says Mencken, “is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” There’s probably no better summation of the 2008 election. After an interminable campaign, Americans are urged to go exercise their little slices of the Popular Will and decide who shall be the The Decider for the next four years. … [Read More]

When Christopher Buckley, the novelist, writer, and son of the founding editor of National Review, first penned his endorsement of Barack Obama in Tina Brown’s new web venture, The Daily Beast, he, no doubt, thought that he’d make a stir—but one probably confined to the media gawkers. “Sorry Dad, I’m Voting for Obama.” He consciously didn’t pitch the piece to NR … [Read More]

At first read, Scott McConnell’s review of Mark Krikorian’s The New Case Against Immigration—Both Legal and Illegal seems like a rather courteous, and not particularly surprising, examination of the volume. McConnell rightly credits Krikorian with crafting a well-researched, levelheaded book that will be indispensable once the immigration debate gets going again during a McCain or Obama presidency. Dig a little … [Read More]

Jim, let me just make a point. I’ve got a bracelet, too… ~Barack Obama This statement, better than anything else said, sums up Barack Obama’s performance at the presidential debate last night. Coming in a close second would be this exchange on the Georgia-Russia situation (or was it the Wall Street bailouts?): LEHRER: You see any—do you have a major difference … [Read More]

Barney Frank, the 14-term congressman from Massachusetts’s Fourth, might be the most well-connected and secure Democrat in Washington. Ideologically speaking, however, for the past decade or so he’s seemed like one of the Left Behind. Frank hails from the retro-liberal wing of the Democratic Party that most thought had gone the way of the dodo after Bill Clinton’s second term. And … [Read More]

He might not want to say it out loud, but Barack Obama senses, no doubt, that this past weekend’s financial meltdown will do much to boost his slumping electoral prospects. According to Democratic lore, financial woes make the “rich guy” Republicans look bad and send the reeling middle classes into the arms of the party of welfare and wealth redistribution. Wide-scale … [Read More]