"To put it in a nutshell," João Carlos Espada tells us, his book "aims at providing an intellectual case for liberal democracy." This aim puts The Anglo-American Tradition of Liberty on a crowded shelf of mostly desiccated husks. What gives his work vitality is his wish to clarify why European…
"To put it in a nutshell,” João Carlos Espada tells us, his book "aims at providing an intellectual case for liberal democracy." This aim puts The Anglo-American Tradition of Liberty on a crowded shelf of mostly desiccated husks. What gives his work vitality is his wish to clarify why European…
Last week in this space we sketched the case for a party of liberty. We noted that “one lesson of 2016 is that it's time to worry about liberty again." We asked whether partisans of liberty might be able to come together—"more likely informally than formally"—in its defense. We claimed the answer…
On MSNBC's Morning Joe Tuesday, editor at large Bill Kristol discussed the idea of reintroducing liberty into the political discourse following a presidential election where the idea was absent on both sides.
"At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous, by…
"At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare, and its triumphs have been due to minorities, that have prevailed by associating themselves with auxiliaries whose objects often differed from their own; and this association, which is always dangerous, has sometimes been disastrous, by…
Jeb Bush will no longer be talking about Donald Trump. Bush made the comments to Fox News' Bret Baier, in comments that aired today on Fox News Sunday:
The Islamist terrorist attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which, so far, has resulted in 12 deaths and many more wounded, should come as no surprise. The satirical weekly has been the target before, having been fire-bombed back in late 2011 after running a…
In remarks this morning from Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry said he agreed with the French imam who called the victims of today's murderous rampage in Paris "martyrs for liberty."
School bakes sales, that is, and the authority to regulate them. Agrarian types thought, quaintly, that authority as to the suitability of chocolate should be reserved to the states. Those who dreamed of a mightier union thought otherwise.
What return on investment do American taxpayers receive for the money we pay for international broadcasting in 61 languages from the Voice of America and five other USG-funded media organizations? And is that investment effective? The answer to each question is, we believe, not nearly enough.
The Associated Press reports:
Outgoing White House press secretary Jay Carney says he felt “liberated” when he left Time magazine to work for the Obama administration. At a breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor a block from the White House Thursday morning, Carney was asked about his transition…
Twenty-five years have passed since a lone man stood in front of Chinese tanks and dared to defy Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. His bold challenge to the Chinese Communist Party was one of history’s most profound reminders of the insatiable human desire to live free even in the…
Elliott Abrams, writing for the Washington Post:
In his dissent from the Supreme Court’s recent overthrow of the Defense of Marriage Act, Justice Antonin Scalia observed that the majority opinion accused the Congress and president who had enacted this law not merely of exceeding their powers but of spreading malice, encouraging stigmatization,…
The hot dog is in decline in America, writes Paul Lukas at Bloomberg, and one thinks, "What isn't?" What institution, anyway. If everything were not in decline, then what would there be for journalists to write about (see Andrew Ferguson on George Packer and Haynes Johnson) and what would…
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress declared independence. George Washington declared that day that “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves....The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct…
Today, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, President Obama paid appropriate tribute to the brave East Germans who rebelled 60 years ago against Communist dictatorship:
President Obama's statement on the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher:
In the aftermath of Mitt Romney’s defeat in last fall’s election, and the defeat of a myriad of Republican Senate candidates (establishment and Tea Party alike) in Romney’s wake, Republicans are getting no shortage of free advice. The quantity of that advice, however, is more apparent than its…
In his second inaugural address, President Obama made every effort to tie his political philosophy to the ideals and principles of the American Founding, even as he made clear how little he understands those ideals and principles. The gist of Obama’s speech was that only government can grant…
Sarajevo
Our government is not a pure democracy but a constitutional republic, meaning that we govern ourselves in accord with the Constitution, which provides for a Supreme Court with the authority to review and strike down laws that are in conflict with the Constitution. In Cosmic Constitutional Theory,…
William Kristol: "The 9/11 Generation."
Two lasting memories. The first, from the White House on the evening of September 11, 2001:
Charlotte
In addition to raising federal spending (by a whopping 13 digits), federal taxes, health insurance premiums, and overall U.S. health costs, Obamacare would cause the price of pizza to rise. Politico reports that Papa John’s CEO and founder John Schnatter conveys that Obamacare would “result in…
It was inevitable that after the massacre in a Colorado movie theater, the matter of gun control would come up and that the president would weigh in on the subject. And, according to this report by Michael A. Memoli in the Los Angeles Times, he has:
Speaker of the House John Boehner's Fourth of July tribute to the Declaration of Independence:
As is becoming increasingly clear, the legislation that was the principal cause of the Democrats’ historic defeat in 2010 isn’t getting any more popular as President Obama heads toward his day of accountability to the American citizenry. Four days before the 2-year anniversary of when Obama signed…
On Friday afternoon, the Obama administration released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to announce it was proceeding as planned with its new federal mandate that abortion pills, sterilization procedures, and contraception must be provided without co-pays under virtually all health care…
The Obama administration’s recent decree — that, under Obamacare, Americans would no longer be free to offer or to choose new health plans that don’t include complimentary coverage of birth control, morning-after pills and the abortion drug ella — would likely lead a great many people to switch to…
Caroline May reports that "More than 2,500 evangelical and ministry leaders from a range of denominations have signed a letter to President Obama voicing their opposition to the administration’s new mandate requiring that all health insurance plans contain contraceptive coverage."
The strategic thinker Eliot Cohen begins this impressive book with a passage that (as he seemingly recognizes) will at first glance strike contemporary readers as laughable, if not ludicrous: “This book . . . deals with America’s most durable, and in many ways most effective and important enemy…
Saturday's lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal discusses the White House's “accommodation” concerning its decree that all new private insurance plans must cover birth control pills, morning-after pills, and the abortion drug ella—and must cover them free of charge. The Journal writes, “Under…
James Pethokoukis: "Income inequality myths: No, the rich didn’t steal all the money"
Michele Bachmann knows that the Constitution prohibits the states from imposing health-insurance mandates. She just doesn't know what part of the Constitution does this. But she's open to suggestions.
Liberty and Civilization
In shopping for the best value in a health care plan, what sort of plan would you choose? What benefits would you choose to have it cover? Well, under Obamacare, that wouldn't really be your decision to make. It wouldn't even really be Congress's decision. Rather, It would be the decision of the…