Liberalism Diminished Liberalism Diminished
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2010_4_5 postal_cover61404-postal.qxd 3/16/2010 9:57 PM Page 1 April 5, 2010 49145 $3.95 JOHN O’SULLIVAN: How Special a Relationship? LiberalismLiberalism $3.95 DiminishedDiminished 14 MICHAEL KNOX BERAN 0 09128 49145 5 www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 3/16/2010 11:43 AM Page 1 6SBOJVN'VFM1FMMFU ÍÍÍ Nothing in Washington Generates This Much Power. "TJOHMFQFMMFUPGVSBOJVNGVFM BCPVUUIFTJ[FPGB Power Production QFODJMFSBTFS DBOQSPEVDFBTNVDIFMFDUSJDJUZBTB Equivalents UPOPGDPBMPS DVCJDGFFUPGOBUVSBMHBT VSBOJVNGVFMQFMMFU 'JWFVSBOJVNGVFMQFMMFUTHFOFSBUFBIPVTFIPME±T FMFDUSJDJUZOFFETGPSPOFZFBS0OBMBSHFSTDBMF UPOPGDPBM SFMJBCMFOVDMFBSFOFSHZQSPEVDFTNPSFFMFDUSJDJUZ DVCJDGFFU UIBOBOZPUIFSTPVSDFJO$POOFDUJDVU /FX PGOBUVSBMHBT )BNQTIJSF /FX+FSTFZ /FX:PSL 4PVUI$BSPMJOB BOE7FSNPOU QPVOETPGXPPE HBMMPOTPGPJM 4PVSDF/VDMFBS&OFSHZ*OTUJUVUF Nuclear. Clean Air Energy. 7JTJUOFJPSH*2UPMFBSONPSFBOEUBLFPVSPOMJOFRVJ[ toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 3/17/2010 1:45 PM Page 1 Contents APRIL 5, 2010 | VOLUME LXII, NO. 6 | www.nationalreview.com COVER STORY Page 30 Mark Steyn on Deferred Adulthood The Descent of p. 56 Liberalism The progress of the social imagination has BOOKS, ARTS forced liberals to relinquish the principles & MANNERS and even the language of the classical 45 SEARING DEFEAT conception of liberty. Michael Knox Beran Alistair Horne reviews Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu That Led America COVER: ROMAN GENN Into the Vietnam War, by Ted Morgan. ARTICLES 47 THE ANOINTED 16 THE DEAD END OF LIBERALISM by Ramesh Ponnuru John Derbyshire reviews Intellectuals Why progressives can’t govern. and Society, by Thomas Sowell. 20 DIVIDED BY AN OCEAN by John O’Sullivan The Obama administration is undermining the Anglo-American 50 PAUL, TO THE LIFE special relationship. John Wilson reviews Paul Among the People: The Apostle 24 THE PRESIDENT’S NEW SEX ED by Robert Rector Reinterpreted and Reimagined So long, love, abstinence, and marriage. in His Own Time, by Sarah Ruden. 26 BAWD AND MAN AT YALE by Nathan Harden Involving lux, veritas, and plenty of adult toys. 52 MUSIC: A NOSE, A SCOT, AND A HUN 28 A LITTLE WORK by Rob Long Jay Nordlinger on three musical By rights, Nancy Pelosi should resemble Tip O’Neill. evenings in New York. 54 FILM: FUGITIVE PLEASURES FEATURES Ross Douthat reviews The Ghost Writer. 30 THE DESCENT OF LIBERALISM by Michael Knox Beran Having repudiated classical liberty, which once counterbalanced their 55 COUNTRY LIFE: politics of social reform, the Left today confronts the abyss. CAN I HELP YOU? Richard Brookhiser searches for service. FINANCIAL SPECIAL 36 WE DIDN’T DEREGULATE by Veronique de Rugy SECTIONS And more regulation won’t prevent another financial crisis. 2 Letters to the Editor 38 BREAK UP THE BANKS by Arnold Kling 4 The Week It’s politics, not economics, that made them behemoths. 43 The Bent Pin . Florence King 44 The Long View . Rob Long 41 RESOLVE TO REFORM by Stephen Spruiell & Kevin D. Williamson 46 Poetry . Lawrence Dugan How to get un-TARPed and police the shadow banking system. 56 Happy Warrior . Mark Steyn NATIONAL RevIeW (ISSN: 0028-0038) is published bi-weekly, except for the first issue in January, by NATIONAL RevIeW, Inc., at 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. © National Review, Inc., 2010. Address all editorial mail, manuscripts, letters to the editor, etc., to editorial Dept., NATIONAL RevIeW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. 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Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. letters--ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 3/17/2010 1:45 PM Page 2 Letters APRIL 5 ISSUE; PRINTED MARCH 18 Monkeying with the Facts EDITOR Richard Lowry I don’t want to belabor Matthew Scully’s critical review of my book A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy, but he continues to mislead readers about a particular Senior Editors Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger experiment described in its pages. Scully initially claimed I supported an exper- Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones iment that broke the limbs of chimps. When I wrote in reply (“Animal Welfare Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts Literary Editor Michael Potemra vs. Animal Rights,” March 22) that I had never heard of such an experiment, Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy National Correspondent John J. Miller Scully referenced pages 74–75 of my book. Art Director Luba Kolomytseva I did indeed write about an animal experiment in those pages—the “Silver Deputy Managing Editors Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson Spring Monkey Case,” infamous because of animal-rights activists’ nearly suc- Associate Editors cessful attempts to stop it. The experiment did not, however, involve the break- Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen Research Director Katherine Connell ing of limbs, but rather a surgical procedure performed under anesthesia. It was Research Manager Dorothy McCartney NIH-approved research, and led to a tremendous breakthrough in the rehabili- Executive Secretary Frances Bronson Assistant to the Editor Natasha Simons tation of stroke patients—Constrained Induced Movement Therapy—that Contributing Editors now benefits tens of thousands of stroke patients around the world, and, most Robert H. Bork / John Derbyshire Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum recently, children with cerebral palsy. Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg It seems to me that any discussion of such research should accurately describe Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi the animals used and what was done, and address the tremendous human bene- Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne fit thereby derived. David B. Rivkin Jr. NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez Wesley J. Smith Managing Editor Edward John Craig Castro Valley, Calif. Deputy Managing Editor Duncan Currie Associate Editor Emily Karrs Staff Reporter Stephen Spruiell News Editor Daniel Foster On Thin Ice Web Developer Nathan Goulding Technical Services Russell Jenkins I have been a subscriber to NATIoNAl RevIeW since at least 1971. Your publica- CHAIRMAN & CEO tion not only was the first, but continues to be what I consider the finest, source Thomas L. Rhodes EDITORS- AT- L A RG E of conservative thoughts and ideals. Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan That said, it concerned me—as I eagerly leafed through the March 8 issue to Contributors read one of my favorite columns, Mark Steyn’s “Happy Warrior”—to discover Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley that with a flick of his deft pen Mr. Steyn had seemed to relieve our family Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans company, which makes ice-resurfacing machines, of a long-held trademark by Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman declaring its name, “Zamboni,” a generic noun. James Gardner / David Gelernter George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler James Jackson Kilpatrick / David Klinghoffer Anthony Lejeune / D. Keith Mano Michael Novak / Alan Reynolds William A. Rusher / Tracy Lee Simmons Terry Teachout / Taki Theodoracopulos Vin Weber Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge Accounting Manager Galina Veygman Accountant Zofia Baraniak Treasurer Rose Flynn DeMaio Business Services For more than 60 years, the Zamboni brand name has been a valuable trade- Alex Batey / Amy Tyler mark, and we diligently protect it. like “Coke,” “Kleenex,” and “Jeep,” Circulation Director Erik Zenhausern Circulation Manager Jason Ng “Zamboni” has a close identity in the public mind with a particular type of WORLD WIDE WEB www.nationalreview.com commodity—but please remember: A trademark is always an adjective, never a MAIN NUMBER 212-679-7330 SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES 386-246-0118 generic noun. “Zamboni” is the brand, and “ice-resurfacing machine” is the WASHINGTON OFFICE 202-543-9226 ADVERTISING SALES 212-679-7330 generic product name. Executive Publisher Scott F. Budd Advertising Director Jim Fowler Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet Richard F. Zamboni ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Paul Olivett President, Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. PUBLISHER Jack Fowler FOUNDER William F. Buckley Jr. Letters may be sub mitted by e-mail to [email protected]. 2 | www.nationalreview.com APRIL 5 , 2 0 1 0 base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 2/24/2010 1:18 PM Page 1 3HWLWLRQIIRRU 55HGUHVV RI **ULHYDQFHV RW US Attorneyy General Eric Holder FDA Food Czar Michael R. TTaaaylorylor The WWorldorld Health Organization (WHO) has just recommended that drinking water contain 25-50 mg of magnesium per liter to prevventent deaths from heart attack and strstroke. www.MgWater.com/download.com/. American