A federal program, Ronald Reagan used to say, is the closest thing to eternal life here on earth. Even the Gipper conceded he failed to get control of the federal behemoth. At least he tried. But what can be said for the conservative movement today, as one witnesses the Wall Street Journal battle to save...

More terrible news out of Iraq: The Defense Department today (Monday) announced 27-year-old 1st Lieutenant Andrew J. Bacevich of Walpole was killed yesterday (Sunday) when an improvised bomb exploded while he was on a patrol in the Salah Ad Din Province. His father — Andrew J. Bacevich — is a Boston University professor and a...

As I write, a drama is being played out in northern Italy where a band of criminals have hijacked a bus going from Alessandria to Acqui and forced it to enter the A26 Autostrada toward Genova. The bus left Alessandria with two policeman on board; the three hijackers sat in the back and with a...

On my first visit to Belfast, on a BBC World Service assignment 24 years ago, I was taken on a tour of the troubled areas by an RUC patrol in bulletproof vests. They were all Proddies, of course, tough and persevering, with low life expectancy. Our Land Rover—not a fully-clad Tangi but a regular Army...

If five whites carjacked a black couple, tortured them for hours, then dumped the bodies, the national news media would descend upon the benighted city in which the dastardly crime occurred and, having reported the unspeakable deeds, subject the rest of us to rants on racism and harangues on hate. It happened with James Byrd,...

It is sad to contemplate what the American Melted Pot and Deweyite education have done to the language of Shakespeare—which was also the language of the founders of America—the most beautiful and utilizable of all the tongues of man.  In our country in ...

The story: four Albanian Muslims from Kosovo, plus a Turk and a Jordanian, are arrested for conspiring to attack Fort Dix, a military base in New Jersey, with AK47s and “to kill as many soldiers as possible” (U.S. Attorney’s Office). The Mainstream Media spin: “Four ...

The six foreigners who planned a mass-murder at Fort Dix were originally described (by the FBI apparently) as being from the Former Yugoslavia. My initial question was Bosnian Muslim or Albanians? If the men had been Serbs, the term would have to have ...

A BBC television spy series, M I-5, which is now being marketed to the U.S., portrays a heroic group of British government agents who have been beefed up and empowered since 9/11 to fight the rising threat of terrorism. In the first episode, the ...

Nicolas Sarkozy, the Center-Right candidate, will face Socialist Segolene Royal in the run-off of France’s presidential election on May 6. In the first round last Sunday M. Sarkozy had 31 percent of the vote, Mlle Royal just under 26 percent, “extreme-centrist” Francois Bayrou 18 ...

From the very beginning, the Iraq War has been a comedy, albeit a very black comedy. Everything about the war is screamingly funny—everything but the deaths and taxes it has cost. The laughs never quit, from the President’s first-rate impersonations of Sheriff Roscoe ...

PERSPECTIVE Our Fathers’ Fields by Thomas Fleming Weaver, property rights, and conservatism. VIEWS Property Rights and the Founding by Marco Bassani The classical-liberal reading. The War on Blight by Steve Berg You may be next. Where Did Our Property Rights Go? by Steven Greenhut Not in my back yard. Of Landlords, Leases, and Calico Indians...

The shootings at Virginia Tech have aroused, once again, a national discussion, not only of campus security and gun control, but of the more fundamental questions of who we think we are as American and who we would like to be. The debate, as much as the killings, gives testimony (though not “eloquent testimony”) to...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s foray into shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East has drawn the fire of President Bush and a rebuke from Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert denies he ever authorized Ms Pelosi to take a message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A spokesman for President Bush has characterized her trip as “counter-productive,” and...

Whatever President Bush says about the “family values” of the growing horde of illegal Mexican immigrants, chilling newspaper accounts and cold data tell a different tale. On April 29, 2005, an illegal alien from Guatemala, Ronald Douglas Herrera Castellanos, was power washing a deck at the Nagle home in New City, New York. In her...

“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,and it grieved him at his heart.”—Genesis 6:6 It doesn’t matter, since right or wrong, no one will remember, but here are my predictions for 2008 and after. Clinton and Obama will be the Democratic nominees for President and V-P, and will be...

PERSPECTIVE Dead Monkeys and the Living Godby Thomas Fleming Clouded judgment. VIEWS Ecrasez L’infameby Tom Piatak The persistence of Christophobia. When Experts Attackby Aaron D. Wolf The Church Growth Movement versus church growth. Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodby Roger D. McGrath From eternity to here. The Cardinal Vicarby Hugh Barbour, O.Praem. (With apologies to...

Sir Elton John would like to “ban religion completely” because it stirs up “hatred toward gay people.” Like so many giants of the entertainment industry, Elton John probably does not hate religion per se but only Christianity. Christophobia is the religion of Hollywood. Ask Barbra Streisand; ask the top brass at Disney or DreamWorks. The...

Over at NRO, house ideologist Jonah Goldberg is very angry with bloggers Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam for taking an interest in the American middle class. So he unleashed the harshest criticism he could think of, commenting on their “Strange New Respect for Buchananism” and stating that Sam Francis’s “Middle American Radicalism is getting a...

Paying attention to the news may be dangerous to your physical and moral health. I am sure it lowers the IQ. It is not so much that news reports contain lies (though they frequently do) or that reporting and commentary on subjects ranging from Global Warming to Hate Crimes are mere propaganda exercises (as they...

PERSPECTIVE If Pigs Could Flyby Thomas Fleming Admitting defeat. VIEWS Iraq as “Intelligence Failure”by Wayne Allensworth We told you so. Exiting Iraqby Srdja Trifkovic The least undesirable end. The War on Terror Endedby Leon Hadar And the winner was not the United States. Reject False Prophetsby Ted Galen Carpenter The first step in mitigating the...

When I first heard of the young man who had opened fire in a Salt Lake City shopping mall, killing (I think) six and wounding three, I immediately began to wonder to which group of pschopaths the kid belonged: spoiled suburban white boy or Muslim. When it took more than an hour to release the...

PERSPECTIVE Pigs Is Pigsby Thomas Fleming Pretending with principles. VIEWS It’s the War, Stupid!by Leon Hadar Election 2006 and beyond. Committing Political Suicideby Doug Bandow The 109th Congress. Lost in Iraqby The Hon. John J. Duncan, Jr. The election, Republicans, and conservatives. The End of the Rove Era in Republican Politicsby Tom Pauken Time to...

Two members of the Kappa Alpha Psi chapter at Florida A & M have been sentenced to two years imprisonment for a violent hazing they inflicted on a fraternity pledge, who suffered a punctured eardrum and bruises on his buttocks. Michael Morton, 23, and Jason Harris, 25, were convicted under a 2005 Florida law making...

PERSPECTIVE Two Oinks for Democracyby Thomas Fleming Looking out for number one. VIEWS The Declaration of Independence and Philosophic Superstitionsby Donald W. Livingston Meaning without culture. Nationalism or Patriotismby Thomas Storck Love of an idea versus love of place. Harry Jaffa and the Historical Imaginationby Tom Landess Reconfiguring souls. NEWS WMD Negotiations Must Be Based...

The difference between politics and history is that the living do not give up their secrets with the candour of the dead. —Acton The study of history is not to make us cleverer for next time, but to make us wiser, forever. —Acton History is the science of what only happens once. —Unknown History is...

Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia’s prime minister for the past three years, has one of the most challenging jobs in the world. He nevertheless seems at ease with that burden, and appears more confident than while he was Yugoslavia’s last president (2000-2003). When we met in ...

In the writebacks thread on

PERSPECTIVE Jihad's Fifth Column by Thomas Fleming Collaborating with terror. VIEWS Eurabian Nights by Srdja Trifkovic A horror travelogue. Fictional Muslims, Nonfictional Muslims by Derek Turner The Flying Inn revisited. Holding a New Line by Alberto Carosa Pope Benedict, Islam, and the media. NEWS Time to Talk Turkey by Christie Davies Why we must say no. REVIEWS War of the Worlds by Jack Trotter Philip Rieff: My Life Among ...

PERSPECTIVE El Gringo y El Mexicanoby Thomas FlemingAn amalgamation. VIEWS The Economic Realities of U.S. Immigrationby David A. HartmanCounting the cost. Pure Personalityby Chilton Williamson, Jr.The meaning of Francisco “Pancho” Villa. Immigration, the Border, and the Fate of the Landby Gregory McNameeNotes on a crisis. How Santa Ana Became SanTanaby Steven GreenhutAn irrelevant border. Islam,...

The American love of free enterprise has been one of this country’s greatest blessings. The same, however, cannot be said unequivocally of the economic individualism that we too often assume is an indispensable part of the free-enterprise system. The fundamental fallacy of that assumption should be obvious: Every economic transaction, by definition, requires more than...

PERSPECTIVE The Root of All Evilby Thomas FlemingPolicy, purpose, and pleonexia. VIEWS It’s Hard Times, Cotton Mill Girlsby Tom LandessManufacturing, gone with the wind. How Neutral Is the Fed?by Greg Kaza A measure of humility. Giving America Priority in Trade Policyby William R. HawkinsFreeing American trade. The Price of Globalismby David A. HartmanAssessing the fallout....

“Let us eat and make merry.” —Luke 15:23 “This has been a happy time: I’ve spent all day with my family, eaten a fine meal, played with my grandchildren, been to a baptism, and I went to communion.” These were the words ...

PERSPECTIVE Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off by Thomas Fleming The right to an opinion. VIEWS Educated at Home by Hugh Barbour, O.Praem. The pleasure that comes with struggle. The Supreme Court, Globalization, and the Teaching of Religion by Tom Landess Shaping society. Education to the ...

Public figures talk about globalization as if it were the Rapture. We are told that, unlike Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus, we live in an era of international trade; so these days, we must worry more about what the world thinks and does. ...

Watching a disaster or beholding a disintegration is inherently destructive, but there is also an element of morbid fascination. Might there be, as well, a redemptive element in tracking the entropic parabola of the great fall of yet another Humpty Dumpty? The national coverage of the recent conventions of the Episcopalian Church, U.S.A., and of...

President Bush is in Hungary to join the celebrations of the failed 1956 Hungarian Uprising, and this is one Yale graduate on whom the lessons of history are not lost. Bush told the world:

Warren Buffet has made the biggest “philanthropic” donation in the history of the universe. The largest part of the gift goes to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Why? Obviously, Mr. Buffet is just smart enough to make nearly $40 ...

PERSPECTIVE Socialism Is Theft   by Thomas FlemingThe thievery we know and love. VIEWS The Natural History of the Night Watchman Stateby Donald W. LivingstonA culture of autonomy. Thoughts on Socialismby John LukacsThe failure of Economic Man. The Idea of Socialismby Claude PolinA heresy and its legacy. Marx’s and Engels’ Illegitimate Offspringby David A. HartmanA nation...

PERSPECTIVE Violent Revolution by Thomas Fleming Women in bondage. VIEWS Hollywood Blues by George Garrett A culture of grand illusions. Culture War by Clyde Wilson Fighting on. Dressing for Progress by Andrei Navrozov A culture of lovelessness. An American Dilemma by Tom Landess The Episcopal Church (1976-2006). RUOK?  AWHFY? by James O. Tate Communication in the vast wasteland. O Literature, Thou Art Sick by Catharine Savage Brosman The consequences of theory. INTERVIEW Rendering ...

It seems that “noted scholar” Christopher Hitchens visited Georgetown, an institution that at one point was connected with the Catholic Church, and announced that Mother Teresa “helped kill millions of people.” Hitchens also falsely claimed that Mother Teresa had denounced contraception as one of the leading threats to world peace in her Nobel Laureate address,...

PERSPECTIVE Imposing Utopiaby Thomas FlemingConcealing despotism. VIEWS Cincinnatus, Call the Office!by Clyde WilsonPublic service versus the American System. Judging for the Peopleby Stephen B. PresserDemocracy, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution. Democracy: The Enlightened Wayby Claude PolinThe your-fault society. REVIEWS A Government We Deserveby H.A. Scott Trask Sean Wilentz: The Rise of Democracy: Jefferson to...

PERSPECTIVE New Wine in Old Bottlesby Thomas FlemingThe Christian war on the family. VIEWS The Perpetual Familyby Hugh Barbour, O.Praem.From Rome to Las Vegas to Blackheath and back. Love on the Rocksby Aaron D. WolfA new covenant. Rejecting Marriageby Christopher J. CheckThe elephant in the room. NEWS Staying the Courseby Edward A. OlsenThe unintended consequences....

PERSPECTIVE Where the Ashley and the Cooper Rivers Meet…by Thomas FlemingLife among the tombs. VIEWS Importing Prosperityby Clyde WilsonOut-Babbitting Babbitt. An Invisible Borderby Chilton Williamson, Jr.Defending fausses communautés. Anywhere But Hereby Aaron D. WolfThe dark imaginations of eSlavery. NEWS China and the North Korean Nuclear Crisis.by Ted Galen CarpenterCarrots and sticks. REVIEWS Enemies Right and...

Actually, I can very easily wait to get back on the road again. I have been back from Serbia for a bit more than week and am now on the way to our conference on the Scottish Enlightenment. At least I am flying direct to Glasgow and taking a short train ride from there to...

What are Americans thinking these days? So many seem surprised by what is happening in New Orleans. How could they be? Last year, when hurricanes raked the Gulf Coast, a rural store offered free ice and water and a serious riot erupted in the parking lot where people refused to wait in line. Or take...

PERSPECTIVE The Royal Prerogativeby Thomas FlemingIndispensable means. VIEWS Does the Federal Government Protect Private Property?by Stephen B. PresserLife, liberty, and takings. Latter-Day Beggarsby Hugh Barbour, O.Praem.A lesson in apocalyptic economics from the City on Seven Hills. Unjust Compensationby Scott P. RichertWhat’s not to love? NEWS Property Rights Redefinedby Steven GreenhutA new kind of blight. REVIEWS...

PERSPECTIVE Lost in Translation by Thomas FlemingThe art of reality. VIEWS Mind Your Language!by James O. TateA sea of ruined words. Manners, Morals, Languageby Chilton Williamson, Jr.Forsaking the Beau-Ideal. A Trip to Smart-Mouth Collegeby Aaron D. WolfThe loss of sacred words. NEWS Riots in the Suburbsby Claude PolinThe programmed suicide of France. REVIEWS Seasoned Travelsby Catharine...

PERSPECTIVE Fortifying the Back Yardby Thomas FlemingUnearthing the remnants of real life. VIEWS Think Locally, Act Locallyby Scott P. RichertGood stewardship. Outgrowing the Pastby Tom LandessEminent domain down South. Aristotelian Worms in the Leviathanby Donald W. LivingstonHobbes versus the human scale. Small Is Beautiful Versus Big Is Bestby Joseph PearceE.F. Schumacher and true conservatism. STORY...

PERSPECTIVE The Beauty of Holinessby Thomas Fleming Fixing our gaze. VIEWS The Romantic Reactionby Joseph PearceTranscending the divide. The Loving Lookby Hugh Barbour, O.Praem.A cure for the epicure. Conservatism as Medicineby Claude PolinNature versus the state of nature. Pugin and the Gothic Dreamby James PatrickTheology in the architecture. NEWS Did the Supreme Court Destroy Property...