Thoughts on an Awful Anniversary
The decision to drop the bomb was founded on the conviction that a blockade and invasion of Japan would cause massive casualties.
When Will the COVID Revolt Come?
At some point, there will be a revolt. The longer the arbitrary insanity persists, the more violent the reaction will be.
Losing Our Liberty All at Once?
Once upon a time, and it was not so long ago, an American could recognize totalitarianism and say “Thank God we’ve escaped that.” Can we still say that?
Are You Having a Free Speech Emergency?
As tales of fake woe and calls to ban conservative books circulate among woke booksellers, the White House is flagging “problematic posts for Facebook.”
Another Reckoning for a Bad Idea?
Bad ideas never die, but their rebirths reliably are met—eventually—by critics who call attention to the emperor’s nakedness.
Joe Biden’s Happy Things
Joe Biden plays an ambiguous role in this malevolent charade. He is not the prime mover but merely the public face of the machine.
Derek Chauvin, Scapegoat
The ritual the convicted Minneapolis police officer was subjected to was less a legal trial than a sort of pagan sacrifice.
Our New American Renaissance
Pretty soon, perhaps, all the days will be national holidays, one for every left-wing interest group going.
Pushing Through the Decadence
The forces of decadence that Jacques Barzun described are formidably potent. But decadence is no more inevitable than progress.
Remember Tiananmen Square
The Chinese are keen to brush the historical reality of what happened in 1989 under the rug. Don’t let them.
Paul Ryan’s Impotent Appeal
The Democrats, no less than the media, slobbered all over the former House speaker for his recent anti-Trump speech. But their love is strictly conditioned on Ryan remaining a pajama-boy conservative.
Bill Barr on the Forces of Division in America
The forces that Barr recognizes and rightly deplores are not confined to the obviously nasty precincts of explicit Marxism. They are also implicit in large swaths of traditional liberalism.
The Way We Live Now
Amid the comedy, there are dark and minatory signals.
The Way of Socialism
An absolute commitment to benevolence, like the road that is paved with good intentions, typically leads to an unprofitable destination.
The Supine Loser Party
If conservatives and Republicans don’t exactly constitute “the stupid party,” then there are certainly grounds to call them something else.
Granting Value to the World
By making happiness incompatible with man’s essence, Schopenhauer found himself deaf to Goethe’s wisdom: “If you want to delight in life, then you must grant value to the world.”
Slow-Motion Suicide of the West
Some people thought James Burnham’s identification of liberalism with civilization’s suicide was hyperbolic. In light of American institutions’ embrace of anti-Americanism, what would they say now?
The Fatuousness of Guilt as an Instrument of Policy
When the world no longer speaks meaningfully to us, we shout into the void and pretend the echoes come from on high.
The Appeal of the New Totalitarians
It’s easy to understand and reject the horrors of totalitarianism. It is much less easy to grasp its inexorable logic or its seemingly implacable attractions.
Christopher Lasch vs. the Elites of Our Time
One of the most trenchant critics and historians of American culture died more than 25 years ago. What do his writings tell us about the present crisis? Turns out, quite a lot.