Apocalyptic intemperateness, paranoia, a loathing of compromise, a demonization of the enemy — where have we run into this before?
Money, Politics, and Power
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
How Low Can You Go? Shoot Now, Think Later
Shoot Now, Think Later Conservatives everywhere are trying to outdo each other. Cut off welfare after two years? Make that just 60 days in some states. End social benefits to illegal immigrants? Make that legal immigrants too. Add the death penalty for some federal crimes? Why not for more? Revolutions often set off this kind […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Come the Devolution
You say you want a devolution? Then pay very close attention to the details, most of which stick the states with more liabilities — and fewer resources.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Reform Party Follies
In the summer of 1998, Jesse Ventura, who was running for governor of Minnesota on the Reform Party ticket, wanted to obtain a loan from the party’s national headquarters to pay for political advertising, but he couldn’t get the national organization on the phone. National Chairman Russell Verney later explained to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “The […]
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The Moynihan Enigma
Why the Senate’s intellectual giant is a strangely ineffective lawmaker.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
How Low Can You Go?
SENSE AND SENSATIONALISM Throughout the scandals of recent years, the public has seemed a lot more sober than the reporters. Take the Dick Morris affair. You have to work yourself into a state of extreme delusionary rectitude to be shocked by a relationship between a political consultant and a prostitute. Indeed, when I first heard […]
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Can Liberals Tell a Credible Story?
If Democrats want to be more than bit players in the Reagan movie, the liberal story needs new characters, new images, and stronger language about opportunity, wealth, and inequality.
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Lynne Cheney, Policy Assassin
Her role is simple but important: produce a steady supply of screeds for major media outlets claiming that our culture has been commandeered by the left. But there is often less to Lynne Cheney’s work than meets the eye.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
How Low Can You Go?
THE UPSIDE OF UNEMPLOYMENT Our last issue described PaineWebber’s “happiness index” for bonds, which goes up when unemployment increases. But unemployment, we’ve now learned, can prolong your life too. Our impeccable source is a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research: “Are Recessions Good for Your Health?” by Christopher Rohm (NBER Working Paper […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Of Our Time: The Clinton Presidency, Take Three
B ill Clinton’s first term effectively lasted two years, until the disastrous midterm elections of 1994. Then came the two-year Clinton-Gingrich government of national disharmony, ending in the President’s miraculous revival. Now we have the third Clinton presidency, the second Gingrich Congress, and a gathering storm of investigations that may well dominate national politics for […]
