Ball Diamond Ball

Folks, I’m about to watch the new Jeff Nichols movie, Midnight special, so this is a chance to give you a reminder of movies conservatives should watch. By the way, the Batman v. Superman movie is pretty good & very American. I feel for the director, because I resemble his case: Trying to give popular spectacles intellectual & moral dignity in a world where the people who are pretentious about learning show their vulgarity by not finding insight in popular stuff & the people who enjoy popular spectacles concur that the things they enjoy are mindless. Few people are willing to say that criticism of popular spectacles should include an attempt to understand their intentions & some knowledge of the clever stuff they have to say. But the… Continue reading →

Published (though someone edited out the &s) on The Postmodern Conservative blog!

Many of us on the right have come to believe & to say in louder & louder voices that it’s over: The (1)free market-(2)strong defense-(3)we’ll talk about maybe doing something about abortion, (3*)but no, we won’t! coalition of the Reagan era is over. Now, it’s change or become a minority party, with or without a massive organizational-ideological collapse. & it’s happening right before our eyes. 2016 is the most interesting year for conservatism since when? I think it’s been a generation since anything this troubling has happened… So last year I was telling people on Ricochet & wherever I could get them to listen: If you think you’ve only got a messaging problem, you have no idea what a problem you really have! If you think, it’s mostly that… Continue reading →

I have an acquaintance who recently read Dark Money. She says she is willing to read the conservative counterpoint. Any ideas what that might be?

Do you have fifteen minutes? Listen to this recent interview: This is what it takes to make me speak up for Mr. Jonah Goldberg, until recently a star in the intellectual firmament of recent American conservatism. He lays out his case against talk-radio-at-its-best for its connivance in the rise of Mr. Trump. Mr. Bennett, I believe, makes a fool of himself. Mr. Goldberg is all of respect & consideration–do not judge him by my tone, of course–but he points out what I think is true of all supposedly principled anti-anti-Trump speakers. They are all trying to have it both ways: Be committed conservatives & support–but only at arm’s length, only polemically, apparently–the man who is proving that conservatism does not matter. As I never tire of saying, the GOP has advanced from… Continue reading →

I’ve been recommending postmodern conservatism over the last year & I’ve been happy to see former–& future?–Ricochet & Postmodern Conservative member James Poulos warmly recommended on Ricochet by Prof. Rahe’s. I’d like to share with folks who are likelier to agree his argument that in the new America, there’s no place for the Sunshine Senator. Prof. Rahe only showed the pretty stuff, so allow me the pleasure of introducing to you the ugly attacks that led to this new Cruz v. Trump world. This is a column from about a week or a ten-day before the Florida primary & it’s really good on showing what wrong with the view of the GOP that Sen. Rubio championed. His focus on the future–new American century!–really failed on all levels to deal with the failures of… Continue reading →

I have always self  identified as a conservative back when that phrase was also viewed as synonymous with patriot. As I proceeded through life and read the writings of Friedman, Hayek and Buckley, I found my reading of Bob Heinlein as a kid was my real foundation, and took my new influences with a salt shaker or two. Lately, watching the next generation of ‘conservatives’ after Reagan, those who viewed him as a distant father figure and now make their living in the conservative media I worry that some of the basic belief systems that used to moderate conservative theory like ‘the national interest”  have been left by the wayside, and our new intelligentsia , like their progressive counterparts are following their theorists blindly. We live in a… Continue reading →

If Trump becomes president he will not be “the leader of the free world.” He, and the office, will merely be the head of one of three, co-equal branches of government. Not such a bad thing, eh?

Well here’s something we can all agree upon — that this is one of the finest, most life-affirming, it’s a beautiful day to be alive things that you are likely to see today.  Or tomorrow.  Especially if the news gets any of your eyeball time.  

At the beginning of this election cycle there was a general sense of “good things are coming”. Perhaps it was merely a tiredness with Obama and his socialist ideological combat. Perhaps it was a sense that now we just might have a chance to grow the economy and get an overall better standard of living. Perhaps it was the rather large contingent of young politicians who were vying for the brass ring. The party has dragged on. Jeb attempted to pre-empt the others with money, an old establishment trick, and Bushes are nothing if not establishment. So if you can just collect an apparently insurmountable pile of cash, you will win. Didn’t work that way. The younger crowd wasn’t so impressed with the cash, and Jeb’s overall lack… Continue reading →