The rise of Donald Trump not only highlights the fecklessness of the political class but also the blindness of the conservative intellectual elite. Conservatism Inc., the vast apparatus of thinks tanks, policy journals, and periodicals that have formed the intellectual foundation for the Right over the past few decades, has failed to deliver
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska has become something of a lightning rod on the Right. Many movement conservatives are drawn to his erudite and scholarly manner and see him as a principled statesman in contrast to Donald Trump who, they argue—and quite rightly I might add—has abandoned what has come to be called
The arrival of a column by National Review founder William F. Buckley was almost always of some intellectual and literary significance. With his high command of the English language, Buckley would explore a vexing question of public policy or pillory an unsuspecting political opponent. He often made quick work of arguments that were
Rush Limbaugh has always had a keen talent for rooting out liberal assumptions. A gadfly to the ruling class, the broadcasting powerhouse has the unique (and almost philosophic) talent of angering the Beltway literati while at the same time edifying his audience. On his radio show last week, Limbaugh sensed he had happened
The Southern Poverty Law Center is at it again. At the hundred-day mark of President Trump’s administration, the center has released a report that purports to expose the rampant “white nationalism” the president and his “alt-right” advisors have unleashed upon the nation. Instead of judging President Trump’s actual record, the report rehashes left-wing
Leo Strauss Rod Dreher has discovered an exotic tribe known as the Straussians. Dreher, in case you’re not aware, is a blogger at The American Conservative and is the author of several books, including his newest and much-hyped The Benedict Option. Prior to landing his own blog at TAC, he worked at National
At the Liberty Law Blog, Professor James R. Rogers makes a sweeping claim that Americans no longer believe in the principle of consent ensconced in the Declaration of Independence. While “Americans at the Founding took seriously the idea that their consent could be conferred by their representatives,” Americans today do not. On both left and
The hilariously misnamed Southern Poverty Law Center is a non-profit group that purports to fight “hate and bigotry” and to seek “justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.” Though it makes the most of the goodwill and reputation earned in the 1960s, today they exist mainly to spread hatred, incite violence, and
We have become a nation of humorless aspiring lawyers. The bureaucratization of the American regime has affected the American soul in ways large and small—right down to how we think and act in the world around us. Reams of regulations control our everyday lives, from the type of light bulbs we use to the number
Over the weekend, Americans were again reminded that the default position of Republican “leaders” in Congress is to preach about the evils of unlimited government but to work at every turn to undermine anyone who actually stands up to do something about it. This reality became apparent when GOP senators issued swift denunciations of President
