National Politics

President for ’08: Getting an Early Line

By Marc Comtois | April 27, 2005 |

Patrick Ruffini is asking Republicans to make an honest assessment of some potential Republican primary two-man races to determine the “conventional wisdom.” It seems prompted by recent reports that Rudy Giuliani, who would presumably fare well in the general election, has been losing ground among the generally more conservative Republican primary voters. As such, he…

Parents or Government/Unions: Who Should Control Our Children’s Educational Decisions?

By | April 18, 2005 |

What greater gift can we give our children than a fair shot at living the American Dream? The important contribution of a quality education to having that fair shot led me to write: While hard work alone can make the difference, sometimes it is not enough to make the American Dream come alive for every…

Sandy Berger & Clintonian Ethics

By | April 3, 2005 |

Do you remember how the nation was lectured during the 1990’s on how there was no connection between private ethics and public life? How Bill Clinton could do what whatever he wanted in his private life but, rest assured, it had no connection to his behavior as President?

Rediscovering Civility and Purpose in America’s Public Discourse

By Donald B. Hawthorne | March 31, 2005 |

Hugh Hewitt writes: The Terri Schiavo tragedy has been seized on by long-time critics of the “religious right” to launch attack after attack on the legitimacy of political action on the basis of religious belief. This attack has ignored the inconvenient participation in the debate–on the side of resuming water and nutrition for Terri Schiavo–of…

Limited Government to Protect Equal Rights

By Justin Katz | March 31, 2005 |

When Mac Owens first signed on as a contributor to Anchor Rising, he sent me a speech that he had given on February 23, 2002, at the North Kingston Town Committee’s Annual Lincoln Dinner. The current collection of issues, both nationally and in Rhode Island, makes it particularly appropriate for posting now. (I’m told, by…

Big Government Corrupts, Regardless of Party

By | March 28, 2005 |

I wrote a piece last December entitled “Pigs at the Public Trough” which talked about how the ideals of the 1994 Congressional revolution had dissipated into nothing more than power politics as usual. Today’s Wall Street Journal contains an editorial entitled “Smells Like Beltway: The real reason Tom DeLay is in political trouble” that only…

Tyranny by Assertion

By Justin Katz | March 28, 2005 |

I understand that Jerry Landay, “a former CBS News correspondent,” is part of the mainstream media club, and I continue to think the Providence Journal’s editorial page admirably broad in what it publishes. Still, I’m a bit surprised that the page would publish this rant from Landay: Few of the “hath littles” are aware of…

Re-3: A Republican Crack-up?

By Justin Katz | March 25, 2005 |

I guess I’ve always lumped the country-club folks with the managerialists. Whatever the case, I’d be inclined to include libertarians in your breakdown of the factions. And regarding those libertarians, let’s just say I’m not quite as optimistic that the abstract principle that you’ve noted will serve as sufficient glue. My general sense is that…

Re: A Republican Crack-up?

By Justin Katz | March 25, 2005 | Comments Off on Re: A Republican Crack-up?

I’ve thought much the same thing for a while, Andrew, although I emphasize the tentative Republicans’ libertarianism, rather than what you call “managerialism.” It’s unfortunate that Terri Schiavo has become the excuse of the week for libertarians to stomp their feet about the “theocrats” with whom they have to share a coalition. As I see…

Chipping at the Edges

By Justin Katz | March 23, 2005 |

Mark Steyn writes the following in a piece that touches on the Terri Schiavo case: You can read similar stories in almost any corner of the developed world, except perhaps the Netherlands, where discretionary euthanasia is so advanced it’s news if the kid makes it out of the maternity ward. As the New York Times…