Posted on November 18th, 2011 by Craig Holland Dixon
The world is rapidly changing, says Andrew Bacevich, and Americans need to change with it. The “Freedom Agenda” of neoconservatives is unraveling as America is gripped by recession, the Middle East faces an uncertain future, and Europe looks for a lifeline from financial chaos. All the while, Bacevich says, American politicians continue to fiddle obliviously, [...]
Filed under: Books, Conservatism, Religion, War, World
Posted on October 25th, 2011 by Clark Stooksbury
Aaron Goldstein asked a question that probably would have garnered the label “unpatriotic conservative” eight years ago: I have given a great deal of thought to the War in Iraq since President Obama announced that all American troops would be withdrawn at the end of this year after he failed to obtain an extension to [...]
Filed under: Conservatism, Iraq, War
Posted on October 19th, 2011 by Clark Stooksbury
Will Conor Friedersdorf ever learn? He argues that since Rush Limbaugh has no shame, the people who endorse and support him ought to be shamed: Shame on him, but that isn’t where it ends. George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush ought to be embarrassed that they invited Limbaugh to the White House. The Claremont [...]
Filed under: Conservatism, media
Posted on October 17th, 2011 by Clark Stooksbury
This from John Hanlon at Townhall is a pathetically weak effort in the politics of cultural resentment. Hanlon quotes Elizabeth Warren, whom I like a bit better every time I hear from her, as saying “I’m going for the hick vote here, I just want you to know. Maybe we could start wearing stickers that [...]
Filed under: Conservatism
Posted on October 10th, 2011 by Clark Stooksbury
The Andrew Breitbart site Big Government has a post up featuring this picture: The substance, if that’s the right word, of the picture is that if you use the products of corporations it is some how wrong or hypocritical to criticize them. That of course is absurd. I purchase gas for my car but I [...]
Filed under: Conservatism
Posted on October 6th, 2011 by Clark Stooksbury
Daniel Larison and Rod Dreher both discuss the status of populism in the Republican party. Larison’s reference to “folksy mummery,”accurately sums up the substance of Republican populism these days. In their defense, deploying faux populism has been reasonably successful strategy for the Republican party (see Bush, George W.) as they devote themselves to the interests [...]
Filed under: Conservatism, Politics
Posted on September 20th, 2011 by Clark Stooksbury
According to House Speaker Boehner, giving more money to the Federal Government is like “would be like giving a cocaine addict more cocaine.” In case anybody is interested, Boehner voted in favor of invading Iraq and the Medicare Part D entitlement during the last Republican presidency. I’m sure that a bit of research would reveal [...]
Filed under: Conservatism
Posted on September 19th, 2011 by Daniel McCarthy
The University Bookman is running a symposium this week on conservatism and empire post-9/11. My contribution, “Metternich vs. McEmpire,” is here. It’s a look at two uncomfortable truths: America is indeed an empire of sorts, however much we deny it; and Europe’s great conservatives, from Burke to Metternich to Salisbury, were pillars of empire for [...]
Filed under: Conservatism
Posted on September 16th, 2011 by Daniel McCarthy
“In a strong sense, the Old Right and the New Left are morally and politically coordinate.” Students for a Democratic Society leader Carl Oglesby, who died Tuesday, was largely correct about that. As Bill Kauffman wrote in our pages three years ago: Oglesby rejected the “socialist radical, the corporatist conservative, and the welfare-state liberal” and [...]
Filed under: Conservatism, libertarianism, War
Posted on September 14th, 2011 by Clark Stooksbury
A post by Bill Whalen at Ricochet makes what I think is a common error among the right when he states that the 2008 election was ” largely about cult of personality.” That may explain why Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton for the nomination in the Democratic primaries the last time out, but the Republicans [...]
Filed under: Conservatism, Politics
