Conservatism

Anchor Rising’s Top 10 Right-of-Center Rhode Islanders: 2, 1

By Justin Katz | April 3, 2009 |

It isn’t until one attempts to score people’s influence and power that it becomes clear what separates the tiers — and what an opportunity and responsibility having the spotlight can be. By virtue of their offices, our top 2 are well ahead of the rest of the pack, and unless conservatives (or otherwise right-of-center players)…

Anchor Rising’s Top 10 Right-of-Center Rhode Islanders: 4, 3

By Justin Katz | April 2, 2009 |

Our ranking continues with a battle of the media, in a sense, the old media and the… well… young adult media. Among the interesting factors that are likely to affect this list by its next iteration will be trends in how people consume their news and commentary. For the time being, though, that folded paper…

A Brief Chat with Number 10

By Justin Katz | April 2, 2009 |

Andrew stopped by the studio to take our Wednesday spot on the Matt Allen show and to discuss our top 10 list as well as the political philosophy and action that the state of Rhode Island requires. Stream by clicking here, or download it.

Anchor Rising’s Top 10 Right-of-Center Rhode Islanders: 7, 6, 5

By Justin Katz | April 1, 2009 |

This batch of right-of-center Rhode Islanders stands as evidence that disaggregating subjectivity can have unpredictable results. If we had been satisfied to wing our list without settling on criteria, one the following three members of the top 10 would have been lower, one would have been higher, and one probably wouldn’t have made the list…

Anchor Rising’s Top 10 Right-of-Center Rhode Islanders: 10, 9, 8

By Justin Katz | March 31, 2009 |

Last week, we began a conversation about how one would gauge the top 10 conservative Rhode Islanders. To be sure, the conversation didn’t stay on topic very long, but it did spark some discussion among the contributors. Once we defined criteria and a scoring system, we felt capable of providing a veneer of objectivity to…

A Not-So-Idle Question

By Justin Katz | March 26, 2009 |

Pondering something not at all self-referential, I got to wondering who might rank on a top 10 list of conservative Rhode Islanders. (Given the competition, let’s define “conservative” as “right-of-center.”) Some names and placements are obvious, but what would the breakdown be? I suppose one would first have to settle on criteria. There are folks…

Hoping Against Hope for Presidential Wisdom

By Justin Katz | March 2, 2009 |

Curious about how conservative Obama fans are getting along, I checked in with the man whose leg the messiah made tingle with knowledge, David Brooks. Here is a guy who reallly, really wants to believe: If ever this kind of domestic revolution were possible, this is the time and these are the people to do…

While on the Topic of Pining (a Little Revivification)

By Justin Katz | March 1, 2009 |

If you’ve got ten minutes, it might do your patriotic spirit good to watch a couple snips of speeches from opposite ends of Ronald Reagan’s political career: The first I came across while perusing Prof. Jacobson’s blog: “Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us they…

The Top Issue at CPAC

By Monique Chartier | March 1, 2009 |

… and the margin by which it surpassed other issues surprised me. From ABC’s The Note: CPAC’s straw poll got underway on Thursday at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., and was conducted through Friday afternoon. As conference attendees would walk into the hotel’s main ballroom, they were invited to fill out a questionnaire.…

On Reports of Conservatism’s Death

By Justin Katz | February 22, 2009 |

Don’t count Jay Nordlinger among those who believe American conservatism is in crisis. He unnecessarily elides conservatism and Republicanism, but his point is well taken: Consider the 2008 presidential election. It was almost a perfect storm for Republicans. John McCain was a very, very poor candidate. He could barely make a case for himself. Now,…