By Neil the Ethical WerewolfBelle Waring’s piece on guns and gun control is very fun. One thing I was curious about — how common is nighttime burglary, anyway? When people think about why they need a gun for protection, that’s one of the foremost crimes to come to mind. But is that really what the […]
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The Lone Patriot
The other day, editors of the American Prospect interviewed the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid. I pressed Reid about the difficulty that Democrats were having mounting a unified opposition to President Bush, even on issues like the badly bungled Medicare prescription drug program. Reid did not respond directly on privatized Medicare drugs, where his caucus […]
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Sour Charity
Ever conscious of political fashion, Rick Santorum wanted to demonstrate that he, too, was a “compassionate conservative” in 2000, when the Bush campaign popularized the phrase. Santorum helped sponsor the Good Neighbor Initiative, a fund-raising drive that netted $700,000, mostly from big corporations, to do good works in Philadelphia. “When I found out the Republican […]
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And the award for Most Condescending Prick goes to…
George Bush. Shakes here… First we have the president promoting health savings accounts at that well-known money factory, Wendy’s: In an hourlong speech in one of the most politically troublesome states for Republicans in this year’s midterm elections, Mr. Bush took on critics of his plan, who say that poor or underemployed people cannot afford […]
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Bush vs. Constitution
Repeatedly through our history, the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution have been threatened in war by an overreacting government and then reaffirmed in peace by calmer leadership. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, the suppression of free speech during and after World War I, the internment of Japanese Americans […]
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Taxing the Rich Until They Don’t Exist
By Neil the Ethical Werewolf As you often read, the top tax bracket back in the late 40s and early 50s used to be high. I mean, really high. I’m talking about tax rates in the over-90% range. And somehow, economic disaster didn’t befall America. Young liberal fellows like myself are often heard talking up […]
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Welfare Redux
When welfare reform passed in 1996, critics (including all of us) feared a substantial increase in material hardship among single mothers and their children. We were wrong. Six years ago, after reviewing dozens of government surveys, two of us wrote in these pages that the record was neither as grim as critics had feared nor […]
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The Accused
For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire by James Yee (with Aimee Molloy) (PublicAffairs, 240 pages, $24.00) One Woman’s Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story by Janis Karpinski (with Steven Strasser) (Hyperion, 256 pages, $24.95) War upends ordinary lives. At times, it can catapult individuals, […]
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All Power to the President
The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11 by John Yoo (University of Chicago Press, 378 pages, $29.00) George W. Bush was caught flat-footed on the morning of September 11, 2001. Intent on exercising executive power without any interference from the courts or Congress, the White House […]
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Dwight and Left
In 1958, writing in the Jesuit weekly America, the historian John Lukacs speculated whether Dwight Macdonald might become “The American Orwell.” Noting that Macdonald’s American “reputation is rising,” Lukacs wrote that he was already known among British intellectuals “as one of the most interesting American critics of these times.” In particular Lukacs lauded Macdonald’s “lonely […]