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There’s Nobody as Dumb as a Smart Person

Note by , March 22, 2013

The problem with a reductio ad absurdum argument is that sometimes your opponent accepts the absurdity and just runs with it. When smokers were suing cigarette companies and the FDA was proposing to regulate tobacco, we thought it was a devastating retort to say, “What next, are they going to sue fast food restaurants and [...]

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Did We Already Get Cyprused?

Note by , March 20, 2013

In covering the proposed Cyprus bank account seizure—which fortunately was voted down by the country’s parliament—I came across an odd defense of the proposal from New York Times business writer Andrew Ross Sorkin. The essence of Sorkin’s defense was that it had been 72 hours since the proposal was announced—a whole 72 hours!—and disaster had [...]

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Voting with Their Feet, and Dollars

Note by , February 25, 2013

Federalism—the independent authority over their own affairs that is retained by the states—was designed by the Founding Fathers as a counter-balance to the centralized power of the federal government. But I’m not sure they realized the full extent of its advantages. The independence of the states allows some of them to adopt policies that move [...]

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“The Harsh Light of Modernity”

Note by , February 13, 2013

In my RCP newsletter, I just linked to an article by Pat Buchanan on the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the wider problems facing the Catholic Church. In 1965, three in four American Catholics attended Sunday mass. Today, it is closer to one in four. The number of priests has fallen by a third, [...]

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The Metaphysical Clintons

Note by , February 12, 2013

I noted recently in my RealClearPolitics newsletter that Hillary Clinton’s departure as Secretary of State prompted a wave of flattering profiles or her in the press—which has little to do with her term as Secretary of State and a lot more to do with her potential for a future term in a higher office. But [...]

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Guilt-Free Affluence

Note by , February 12, 2013

During the campaign, Mitt Romney was caught on tape telling donors that there were 47% of the public who paid no income taxes, who were (he assumed) net recipients of government largesse, and who therefore would back President Obama no matter what. Ironically, it was Romney who would get 47% of the vote, in part [...]

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“Healthy Government Is Strife”

Note by , February 11, 2013

Playwright and screenwriter David Mamet caused a stir a few years back by coming out as a conservative, which is way more controversial in Hollywood than any other kind of coming out. Unfortunately, Mamet embraces conservatism for the worst reason: his belief in the inherent depravity of man (which, come to think of it, has [...]

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The Population Implosion

Note by , January 23, 2013

For years, we were told to worry about a “population bomb.” Well, it’s finally going off, but it’s not an explosion. It’s an implosion. In defiance of the Malthusian world view, the real population problem is not too many people, but too few. China has deliberately induced a population implosion with its “one child policy.” [...]

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They’re On Their Own

Note by , January 23, 2013

With America withdrawing from the world militarily, we will have to rely more on diplomacy, right? But New York Times columnist Roger Cohen declares that “Diplomacy Is Dead,” that we no longer seem to be able to cut big diplomatic deals any more. One of the reasons is precisely this military withdrawal from the world. [...]

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The Enemy Gets a Vote

Note by , January 23, 2013

We have entered a period of foreign policy “isolationism.” I use that description for lack of a better word, because it has something of a history as a smear term for anyone who opposed the old “liberal” interventionists. But I use it, with that caveat, because I want to capture the stubborn and dogmatic anti-interventionism [...]

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