The American Conservative

The TAC family of bloggers expands today with the addition of the many-talented Alan Jacobs, Clyde S. Kilby professor of English at Wheaton College and author of such works as The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction and Original Sin: A Cultural History. What that c.v. doesn’t tell you is that Alan also has a keen eye and sharp pen for popular culture and technology — but that will be evident soon enough on his blog. Follow him on Twitter, too.

The president takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention sometime after 10 pm tonight. TAC will be keeping an eye on things and commenting via Twitter. Here are the handles to follow:

Official TAC account: @amconmag
Daniel Larison: @DanielLarison
Michael Brendan Dougherty: @MichaelBD
Scott Galupo: @ScottGalupo
Michael Tracey: @MTracey
Yours truly: @toryanarchist

We’re now accepting applications for TAC’s fall internship. Interns gain experience in all aspects of producing the print magazine and website, including writing blog posts and articles, proofreading, conducting research, contributing headlines and story ideas, and managing social media accounts. Clerical duties, such as answering the phone and handling the mail, are also involved.

The interns will join our growing team in Arlington, Virginia from August/September through December, and receive a small stipend. College students or recent graduates who would like to apply should send a résumé and writing sample to intern@theamericanconservative.com by August 1. We’ll post more information about our spring and summer 2013 internships in the coming months.

As web readers have already seen, Michael Brendan Dougherty has returned to The American Conservative as our national correspondent through the election. In addition to his blogging below, you can also get a double-dose of Michael’s writing in the August issue, which includes his look at the Burkean conservatives who supported Obama in 2008 and may do so again — the Obamacons — and his take on a Cologne court’s ruling against male circumcision.

The August issue also features Rod Dreher on the class-war at the dinner table: “porky populist” outrage against Whole Foods and high-quality (and high-priced) food. David Cowan, meanwhile, urges conservatives to look to Jack Kemp before Ronald Reagan for inspiration and notes Kemp’s keen understanding of the priority of economics over military interventionism. (Kemp opposed the Iraq War.) Brendan O’Neill looks at how Britain is abolishing itself, while Brad Birzer explores the lost tradition of Christian humanism in T.S. Eliot, Russell Kirk, and other great 20th century literary figures. All this, plus Taki, Bill Kauffman, Bill Lind, Pat Buchanan, and reviews by Robert Schlesinger, Jacob Heilbrunn, Jeremy Beer, and much more.

Our cover story, which goes live on the site tonight, sees publisher Ron Unz tackling one of the most controversial topics of today: “Race, IQ, and Wealth.” Has political bias distorted our understanding of how intelligence, genes, and national wealth are related?

The magazine is in the mail to bookstores and subscribers (who can also read the digital edition the whole mag right away.) You can get instant access to by subscribing here, or try our Kindle edition.

Jim Antle vetted Rand Paul as VP, Daniel Larison cast doubt on the possibility, and Daniel McCarthy discerned the upsides. Ronald Bailey reviewed government by trial-and-error, and Rod Dreher sniggered at Romney’s wealthy suburban neighborhood’s pissing match. Paul Gottfried assailed libertarians for abusing the fascist pejorative. Scott Galupo thought Obama a centrist caretaker of the Reagan revolution, and Larison nodded.

Larison reconciled Greece with Europe, wandered through Marco Rubio’s fantasy world, defended U.S. credibility on Syria, determined that the United States won’t suffer a major blow for not intervening, and sketched the humanitarian crisis caused by the Libyan war. Philip Giraldi could not conceive of a pressing U.S. interest in Syria, and Scott McConnell regretted cyberwar activities against Iran.

Daniel Flynn hailed Ray Bradbury’s local library love. Dreher watched a transit of Venus video, resolved not to marry himself, wondered if we’re in a depression, heard a true theologian’s powerful sermon, and gave thanks for his TAC gig.

Jordan Michael Smith critiqued Thomas Sowell’s bad eyesight. Daniel Larison shot down Scott Walker as a potential VP choice, and decided that the Wisconsin recall election probably doesn’t matter. Noah Millman placed the recall in the wider context of labor movement struggles, while Scott Galupo declared Walker a secondary tumor, and imagined the Romney-Ryan Keynesian stimulus plan. Rod Dreher remembered the Republican spending spree, and championed various mafias.

Philip Giraldi detailed killing by powerpoint, Tom Englehardt scrutinized our choice of assassin-in-chief, and Kelley Vlahos wondered why we’ve been so pathetically slow in acknowledging the magnitude of the drone wars. Buchanan advised against intervention in Syria, and Larison unearthed more awful arguments for that intervention. Scott McConnell revisited the reviled Peter Beinart.

Larison reflected on his own conservative Orthodoxy in response to Dreher’s take on the Eastern Right. Dreher determined his public radio name, transcended the culture wars, sought life on the mighty Mississippi, chastised the crazy old men in the Vatican, and watched a stuffed-cat fly. Jordan Bloom welcomed the Goddess of light.

We’ve ditched Disqus and returned to the older commenting system for all TAC blogs and articles. Comments from the old site have also been restored.

Charles Hugh Smith dodged the neo-Keynesian trap, and Nick Turse regretted the Terminator Planet. Scott Galupo wondered about Democratic jokes, and credited Mitt with a magnificent May. Scott McConnell grimaced at the plutocracy, while Philip Giraldi rejected John McCain’s leadership. Noah Millman delved into a Polish death camp, and Rod Dreher called Bloomberg a nut.

Daniel Larison deemed Romney a continuing neocon, discovered the pitfalls of “nation cultivation,” interpreted unexceptional Romney’s take on American exceptionalism, analyzed the Romney-Obama divide on Russia, declared the U.S.-Russian reset a success, and re-examined foreign policy campaign rhetoric.

Eve Tushnet thought about gay kids in Catholic schools, and Samuel Goldman examined prejudice against Mormons. Dreher looked at children’s books as travel guides, and evaluated paying off pervert priests.

James Bovard feared the FBI’s Stasi pretensions, and Jim Antle noticed Obama’s Rovian maneuvers. Daniel Larison fathomed the depths of team Romney’s neoconservatism, and expected a clueless Romney attack on Obama’s Polish gaffe. Noah Millman challenged Matt Yglesias to a bloggingheads duel on fiscal responsibility. Scott McConnell muddled through France, while Scott Galupo recoiled at the the now official Romney-Obama choice, and Rod Dreher seconded the nausea.

Jordan Bloom remembered the 1980s anti-empire Bob Dylan, and Galupo joined his apologia. Eve Tushnet dwelled on The Outsourced Self. Dreher found poison snake-loving Pentecostals, praised the Louisiana fightin’ Monks, shunned sex offenders, loved Wodehouse, and wondered if Fr Mark gets drunk every Sunday.

Larison refuted the imperative for Christian support of humanitarian intervention, pondered Russian irrelevancy, processed the Romney-Obama Syrian similarities, and could not stomach a cynically amoral argument for intervention in Syria. Kelley Vlahos watched a cliche-shattering WWII documentary, and Phillip Giraldi heard the Washington Post’s continuing drumbeat for war with Iran.

Daniel Larison went another round on Noah Millman’s discussion of Christianity and liberalism, and Millman extracted the truth of Wall Street from the Facebook IPO. Dreher placed potential baby boomer assisted suicide in philosophical context, and offered his take on mommy porn fan-fiction.

Larison doubted the efficacy of small government in a Romney administration averse to a rollback of the national security state, and Pat Buchanan reexamined Watergate. Jordan Bloom anticipated libertarian discontent with a hypocritical choom gang president, Scott Galupo cycled through Republican W-regret, and Samuel Goldman defended political constitutionalism against originalist misconceptions.

Tom Engelhardt blasted America’s forgetfulness of wars. Philip Giraldi exposed profound governmental ignorance of Islam, while Scott McConnell reflected on Israel from Paris, and Goldman went obscure-book shopping.