The recent Supreme Court decision upholding the federal ban of partial birth abortion should serve as a reminder of the stakes in the next election. Other than the obvious questions of war and peace that confront us, I can’t think of a more important consideration. This is particularly so if you take time to read […]
Archives for 2007
Freedom and Its Legacy
“China Approves Property Law Strengthening Its Middle Class” – March 2007 New York Times headline of article announcing China’s first law protecting private property. “The whole theme of the last century and of Einstein’s life is about people who fled oppression in order to go places to think and express themselves.” – Walter Isaacson, author […]
Current Reading
My reading time has been greatly curtailed lately because of my education reform priorities, but here are some recent books that are worth considering: *First Things: An Inquiry into the First Principles of Morals and Justice, by Hadley Arkes. The title is a dead giveaway, because this is a classic work of political theory as […]
More from the “No Truth” Crowd
Speaking of the post-modern left, nothing better exemplifies their approach than the radical environmental movement and their poster boy, Al Gore, who, as reported in First Things, announced in a recent TV interview, “The argument is over”, meaning the argument about global warming, of course. To Gore and his followers, the verdict has been rendered, […]
Defining the Enemy
As we all gather around the tube each morning to get our daily fix on the world according to Rosie O’Donnell on The View, many of us tend to laugh off her brand of celebrity talk show hyperventilation as grandstanding for ratings or, at worst, the innocent rantings of the lunatic leftist fringe. But when […]
What Kind of Leader?
Which brings me to this question—what kind of leader can fill the role that America and the world need? Although many of us probably feel we have already heard enough presidential politics, at least in the unattractive style in which it is presented to us, it’s not too early to get a fix on those […]
Flat Earth II
A couple of announcements caught my attention recently. One was that Tom Freidman of the NY Times and “the earth is flat” fame will be releasing an update of his popular book in August; the other was that widely-followed economist and advisor to Democratic presidential candidates Alan Blinder, who has been one of the more […]
The Truth about the Campus Left
Professor Ruth Wisse of Harvard sternly corrects those who say that university faculties are increasingly “liberal”: “Liberalism worthy of the name emphasizes freedom of the individual, democracy, and the rule of law……..What we see on the American campus is not liberalism, but a gutted and gutless “gliberalism”, that leaves to others the responsibility for governance, […]
Lonely Joe Lieberman
“Congress faces a choice…..: Will we allow our actions to be driven by the changing conditions on the ground in Iraq or by the unchanging political and ideological positions long ago staked out in Washington? What ultimately matters more to us: the real fight over there, or the political fight over here?”—Joe Lieberman in the […]
Health Care Fixes—Do’s and Don’ts
If the states are to serve as laboratory models with guidance on how to fix health care finance, there are already some models to avoid. One is in California, which is essentially proposing a plan to tax, spend, and regulate the state’s path to universal coverage, with an enormous additional subsidy from the Federal government. […]