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- Let's pretend for a moment that we don't live in a world where every time there is a Supreme Court vacancy to be filled we are subjected to a chorus of voices soberly suggesting that the president's nominee must meet an inhuman standard of neutrality and be dedicated to limiting their decision-making to strict interpretation of the literal text of the ur-Constitution. Let's pretend instead that we live in a world where there are two dominant, distinct judicial philosophies and ask ourselves which of those two philosophies we prefer. Perhaps in the latter world we could be honest with ourselves and get over the idea that "judicial activism" is purely a phenomenon of the left.
- There is a strain of thinking on the right and in libertarian quarters which is deeply concerned that America is heading down the road to serfdom exemplified by that bastion of totalitarianism, Europe. Indeed, it is a land so un-free that its very name can be invoked as a synonym for an oppressive state apparatus, such as "European-style welfare state" and "European-style surveillance state." Such is the preamble to Shikha Dalmia's opinion piece, which asks how conservatives (in the main) can support Arizona's new immigration policy while opposing "ObamaCare." Well, for one thing, conservatives aren't libertarians. But if this whole argument against the "Europeanization" of America sounds familiar, it's because it's the same old American exceptionalism trope we looked at in March, the declarative essay of which Dalmia approvingly cites.
- To be fair, this Politico piece that speculates about the political future of Hillary Clinton via foundations and groups leftover from the presidential campaign is not bad journalism, and you could easily imagine something similar being written about other political actors mulling a comeback. But few other political figures receive this sort of coverage that struggles, even as interview subjects deny it is so, to portray these foundations as a "platform-in-waiting." The working assumption seems to be, when writing about Clinton, that all she needs to do is give the nod and the campaign will pick up where it left off.
- Remainders: The late-night-TV, paid-programming, get-rich-quick crowd has adapted well to the Obama "disaster"; regard with horror the spectacle that is a list of 100 "influential" elites, ponder why any of it matters to anyone; the party of personal responsibility just loves to whine and blame others for their own malevolence; everybody loves John McCain; and Joshua Tucker has a good question about ratings agencies.
--Mori Dinauer
