http://www.takimag.com/blogs/ABramwell.xml The Online Magazine for Independent Conservatives, edited by Taki Theodoracopulos en abramwell@takimag.com Copyright 2008 2008-05-15T22:13:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/who_are_we/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/who_are_we/#When:22:13:00Z On the question of conservatism, one can count on two things: First, that at any moment, some opinion-monger or other is holding forth on the nature of conservatism, and, second, that nearly everything he is saying is unedifying. Conservatism as conventionally understood is either vacuous ("conservatives respect tradition—except when they don’t"), asinine ("conservatives resist change"), or imperceptible ("conservatism is no more than a certain temperament"). A recent exchange on the Volokh Conspiracy group blog illustrates the point.  Sympathetic to it or not, neither Jonathan Rauch, Ilya Somin nor Dale Carpenter—three very smart and fair-minded writers—understands conservatism in a way that would … Conservatism 2008-05-15T22:13:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_theory_of_the_interventionist_class/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_theory_of_the_interventionist_class/#When:14:13:01Z It would be no exaggeration to say that Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class made possible for the first time the scientific study of culture. The ideologies that arise from time to time to justify the peculiar, useless or destructive tastes of a particular class—from barbarian warriors (Song of Roland) and effete gentlemen (Newman’s Idea of the University) to moralistic meritocrats (Stuff White People Like)—all these Veblen exposed as nonsense. It is not the mysterious movements of the human soul that produces culture but rather the need to signal one’s dominance over others. Reading Matthew Yglesias’s new book, Heads in … 2008-05-02T14:13:01-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/were_making_progress_in_iraq_towards_what/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/were_making_progress_in_iraq_towards_what/#When:14:50:00Z Progress in Iraq! Every opinion seems to turn on whether one believes that it exists. (See here, here and here.) “Progress” (or “lack of progress") may seem like a neutral way to describe what is or isn’t happening in Iraq.  In reality it is no more than an elusive figure of speech.  By grossly simplifying what we are trying to achieve, the notion of “progress” makes it much easier to believe in the efficacy of the American occupation. (Is it not also possible to oppose the occupation on the grounds that it is making too much “progress”? A stable, democratic Iraq … 2008-04-11T14:50:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/remembering_wfb/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/remembering_wfb/#When:21:39:00Z Next time you reflect on the universality of human heartache, reflect also on the life of William F. Buckley Jr. Here was a man who had everything one could desire: money, friendship, fame, wit, talent, distinction, a beautiful and devoted wife, an extraordinary son. Everything he touched turned to gold. Was he happy? Yes, absolutely, he was. As far as I could tell, he did not understand disappointment, much less experience it. Even after he lost his wife, his health, and his will to remain on Earth, he faced death as he had lived life, namely, without regret. Some may dismiss … 2008-04-05T21:39:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/marriage_freedom_discrimination/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/marriage_freedom_discrimination/#When:13:00:00Z Many others commit the offense, but Ryan Sager, the industrious libertarian pundit, commits it more often than most. That is, he assumes without warrant that freedom and equality are not only consistent with but in fact demand government recognition of same-sex marriage.  Sager writes, in his recent review of Grover Norquist’s book Leave Me Alone: [T]oday’s Religious Right is hell-bent, above all else, on writing discrimination against gays into the Constitution—overriding states that have begun to move toward accommodating gay relationships with either civil unions or full-fledged marriage. They are . . . the ones who need to learn to leave … 2008-03-28T13:00:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/wars_without_bullets/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/wars_without_bullets/#When:15:28:00Z Among the first tributes paid upon the death of William F. Buckley Jr. was that he “waged the war of ideas"—indeed, that he may have died doing so. I leave aside to what extent “he waged the war of ideas” aptly describes any part of Bill’s career. Let us consider only to what extent it may be regarded as praise. To “wage a war of ideas,” I take it, is to propagate a certain set of opinions in the hope that they will become widely shared and a spur to action. “Propaganda,” then, is what a man who wages the war … 2008-03-11T15:28:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_long_struggle_for_yada_yada_yada/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_long_struggle_for_yada_yada_yada/#When:15:17:00Z Iraq, says scientist and curmudgeon Gregory Cochran, “is a Seinfeld war—a war about nothing.” That is, I take it, neither the defenders nor the architects of the invasion and occupation or Iraq have ever actually spelled out—not even in their own minds— the causal logic whereby the occupation of Iraq will actually make Americans safer. They may know how the story begins (“First we invade Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein, then with Iraqi cooperation we establish a reasonably functioning democracy…”) and how it’s supposed to end (“… and so Americans become much safer from attack”), but not one of them has … 2008-02-18T15:17:00-05:00 http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_neocon_by_any_other_name/ http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/a_neocon_by_any_other_name/#When:06:36:01Z Few words raise hackles these days faster than “neoconservative.” Some see it as an anti-Semitic euphemism for “jewish conservative.” Others defend the term and call the efforts to squelch it self-serving. For better or worse, the very controversy over “neoconservative” may soon drive it out of polite society. Readers of the great linguist Steven Pinker will remember the “euphemism treadmill,” whereby an inoffensive word becomes tainted by an unpleasant association and so gets replaced by another. For example, “negro,” a politically correct term during the Civil Rights era, was replaced by “black,” which was later replaced by “African American.” Today, just … 2008-02-12T06:36:01-05:00