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- Perhaps I'm unable to step outside my cosmopolitan liberal elitist bubble, but I find this need among some Americans to bash Europe inexplicable. Apparently "Obama's" new $100 bill "looks European" in the esteemed opinion of the Drudge Report. Never mind that the new currency design was adopted during the notoriously defeatist regime of George W. Bush -- this new piece of fiat money is the ultimate signal that America retiring from being the sole remaining defender of Western Civilization. But not all is lost. Efforts remain underway to put the greatest American ever on the $50 bill, even if the vast majority of Americans fail to appreciate this attempt to give our freedom attribute a +infinity modifier.
- Speaking of freedom, I think it's a mistake for liberals to try to reclaim the term from the right wing and relocate it in the progressive tradition. The reason "freedom" gets thrown around by the right wing isn't just because they believe they are in the business of promoting it but because it can be applied to most anything. And while it is typically understood to be freedom from government, it is also used as a preferred policy goal. But what does a "freedom policy" actually look like? If progressives adopt freedom as a policy goal, they will have the same problem and the term will be rendered further meaningless as it is co-opted for partisan gain.
- Jon Chait highlights a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that goes further than most conservative criticism in dismissing the economic recession's drag on public opinion of government and the parties. You see, before there was this "Internet," the argument goes, it was easy for Democrats to hide the "true cost of government," which is now driving public mistrust of government. As Chait points out, the graph accompanying the opinion piece actually suggests that trust in government correlates with economic conditions, but historically the opinion page of the Journal has had little tolerance for pointing out ideological inconveniences.
- Remainders: It's Earth Day, so let's point out the dangers of overzealous recycling and the hazard of accepting man's moral responsibility for the natural world; at this rate, a consensus on the amazing presidency of George W. Bush should gel in Washington in about six months; here are two excellent reasons to ignore the opinion columns of Charles Krauthammer; and here are a few more reactions to Jim Manzi's contribution to the "epistemic closure" debate.
--Mori Dinauer
