If we want him to keep doing what he's doing, keep paying attention to him while he does it. Over the Memorial Day weekend I got to spend some time with my two grandsons, ages three and six, and among the many benefits of their visit was the realization of how we, as a people, … Continue reading A Modest Proposal for a Trump-Free Week
politics
Is Federalism Necessary?
Should whether I need a photo ID to vote, or how much that vote will count, really depend on the personal caprice of what state I happen to live in? The presidency of Donald Trump has stimulated new interest on the part of liberals in the concept of federalism, which has long been a favorite … Continue reading Is Federalism Necessary?
The Week
April 1-8, 2017 Finding Hope in Trump's Syrian Gesture Ever since Donald Trump became president (and no, it’s still not possible to write that phrase without a spasm of incredulity), gallows humor has been, for some of us, the only resort. It’s a state of mind in which you find yourself assuming … Continue reading The Week
The Pig-in-a-Poke Presidency
Trump is the personification of E.M. Forster’s one-line foretelling of the Twitter age, “how do I know what I think till I see what I say?”
What We Didn’t Vote For
I don’t know about you, but I still wake up every morning incredulous that Donald J. Trump has been elected to the Presidency of the United States. Just writing that sentence has the feel of vicious satire, and it’s a feeling that’s unlikely to diminish. He even looks like what central casting would offer up … Continue reading What We Didn’t Vote For
The False Parity of Ideas
Among the many casualties of the just-ended presidential campaign -- the presumptive ascendency of the liberal agenda, the requirement of qualification for high office, civility in political discourse, the credibility of pollsters, and the political career of Hillary Clinton – there has been another casualty, potentially more lasting and momentous: the Enlightenment dogma of a … Continue reading The False Parity of Ideas
The Electoral College Strikes Back
[Readers please note: this re-post contains technical corrections to the description of the outcome of the election.] Of the many painful realities that have begun to sink in after last week's national election, one of the most painful is the fact that, despite reduced voter turnout for both of the major parties, more American voters cast their … Continue reading The Electoral College Strikes Back
Strange Tales of the Electoral College
The Electoral College is one of those historical oddities whose persistence in our national life is in part owed to the infrequency with which we’re obliged to think about it at all, like the America’s Cup, or Newt Gingrich. Every four years we hear about the 270 “electoral votes” needed to secure the presidency, and … Continue reading Strange Tales of the Electoral College
Easy Targets: The Fun and Futility of Anti-Trump Journalism
In this silly season for American politics, I read daily a respectable smattering of serious journalism about Donald Trump, the now more-than-presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States. I read, daily, the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages, where the stable of staunchly right-wing regulars ranges from Bret Stephens, a conservative think-tanker who … Continue reading Easy Targets: The Fun and Futility of Anti-Trump Journalism