The Liberal Threat to YUVAL LEVIN & RAMESH PONNURU
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20160926_upc_cover61404-postal.qxd 9/6/2016 10:09 PM Page 1 September 26, 2016 $4.99 MICHAEL LIND REIHAN SALAM Against the Post-National Elite How to Sell Immigration Restriction The Liberal Threat to YUVAL LEVIN & RAMESH PONNURU DEMOCRACYDEMOCRACY www.nationalreview.com base_new_milliken-mar 22.qxd 9/6/2016 6:58 PM Page 1 TOC-READY_QXP-1127940144.qxp 9/7/2016 1:53 PM Page 1 Contents SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 | VOLUME LXVIII, NO. 17 | www.nationalreview.com ON THE COVER Page 26 The Liberal Threat Jay Nordlinger on murder and abortion To Democracy p. 20 Hillary Clinton is a mainstream BOOKS, ARTS contemporary liberal, albeit a & MANNERS disturbingly unethical one. It is precisely 40 TALKING MAN in the way in which Clinton seems Peter Augustine Lawler reviews normal that she poses a serious danger to The Kingdom of Speech, by Tom Wolfe. American democracy. The mainstream contemporary liberalism she represents so 42 DEFINING DEMOCRACY DOWN well is itself a threat to constitutional Claire Berlinski reviews Islamic government in America. Yuval Levin & Ramesh Ponnuru Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam Is Reshaping the World, COVER: ROMAN GENN by Shadi Hamid. ARTICLES 44 THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN THE LIBERTARIAN SOCIAL ENGINEER by Kevin D. Williamson John Wilson reviews Reformations: 14 The Early Modern World, Gary Johnson is a flawed candidate, but the Right should woo his supporters. 1450–1650, by Carlos M. N. Eire. TRADE WINDS SHIFT by Eliana Johnson 17 OUT OF THE PAST Public opinion is moving toward protectionism, and politicians are following. 45 Nick Ripatrazone reviews 18 OBAMACARE ON LIFE SUPPORT by Josh Blackman Co mmonwealth, by Ann Patchett. Now its backers will push what they wanted all along. 46 WHEN THE DEAL 20 ‘NO MORE BABY’ by Jay Nordlinger GETS BROKEN A murder in Ohio and the question of abortion. David P. Deavel reviews Losing Susan: Brain Disease, the Priest’s 24 COMMUNITY ON CAMPUS by Ian Tuttle Wife, and the God Who Gives The University of Chicago strikes a small blow for learning. and Takes Away, by Victor Lee Austin. FEATURES 26 THE LIBERAL THREAT TO DEMOCRACY by Yuval Levin & Ramesh Ponnuru SECTIONS Hillary Clinton offers more of the same—and that is the scariest thing of all. 2 Letters to the Editor CITIES WITHOUT NATIONS by Michael Lind 31 4 The Week A pseudo-globalist outlook is dividing Americans by class. 38 The Long View . Rob Long Athwart . James Lileks BORDERS, BUT WHY? by Reihan Salam 39 34 47 Poetry . Sally Cook Immigration ‘restrictionists’ should put aside Trumpian rhetoric. 48 Happy Warrior . David Harsanyi NATIONAL REVIEW (ISSN: 0028-0038) is published bi-weekly, except for the first issue in January, by N ATIONAL 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., 2016. Address all editorial mail, manuscripts, letters to the editor, etc., to Editorial Dept., N ATIONAL REVIEW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Address all subscription mail orders, changes of address, undeliverable copies, etc., to NATIONALREVIEW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015; phone, 386-246-0118, Monday–Friday, 8:00A.M . to 10:30 P.M. Eastern time. Adjustment requests should be accompanied by a current mailing label or facsimile. Direct classified advertising inquiries to: Classifieds Dept., NATIONALREVIEW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 or call 212-679- 7330. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to N ATIONAL REVIEW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015. Printed in the U.S.A. RATES: $59.00 a year (24 issues). Add $21.50 for Canada and other foreign subscriptions, per year. (All payments in U.S. currency.) The editors cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork unless return postage or, better, a stamped, self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. letters-READY_QXP-1127940387.qxp 9/7/2016 2:34 PM Page 2 Letters SEPTEMBER 26 ISSUE; PRINTED SEPTEMBER 9 EDITORINCHIEF Richard Lowry Senior Editors The Wage-Floor Roof of the Richard Brookhiser / Jonah Goldberg / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts Working-Class Ghetto Literary Editor Michael Potemra Vice President, Editorial Operations Christopher McEvoy Washington Editor Eliana Johnson Helen Andrews’ review of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir, by J. D. Vance, in the Executive Editor Reihan Salam Roving Correspondent Kevin D. Williamson August 15 issue summarizes Vance’s effort to explain the factors making it National Correspon dent John J. Miller Senior Political Correspondent Jim Geraghty difficult for the Appalachian and midwest white underclass to escape “red- Chief Political Correspondent Tim Alberta neck” ghettos. Government is blamed for a number of factors, such as welfare- Art Director Luba Kolomytseva Deputy Managing Editors supported destructive lifestyles. However, the inability to get work is a key Nicholas Frankovich / Fred Schwarz Production Editor Katie Hosmer factor and one that deserves greater emphasis. Assistant to the Editor Rachel Ogden Licensing is one obstacle to employment. However, there are many others. Research Associate Alessandra Trouwborst A major element is the inability of wages and employment costs to decline Contributing Editors Shannen Coffin / Ross Douthat / Daniel Foster for employers in such areas. For example, a surplus of labor would attract Roman Genn / Arthur L. Herman / Lawrence Kudlow Mark R. Levin / Yuval Levin / Rob Long employers only if other cost benefits existed. Wage laws, both state and federal, Mario Loyola / Jim Manzi / Andrew C. McCarthy tend to equalize unskilled wages and prevent distressed areas from competing Kate O’Beirne / Andrew Stuttaford / Robert VerBruggen NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE on the basis of wage costs. Hence both skilled and less-skilled workers must Editor Charles C. W. Cooke leave established relationships and homes to obtain work instead of waiting Managing Editors Katherine Connell / Edward John Craig Deputy Managing Editor Nat Brown for employers to hire in distressed areas. National-Affairs Columnist John Fund Staff Writer David French This destructive lack of labor-market wage flexibility in “advanced” nations Senior Political Reporter Alexis Levinson retards assimilation, creates ghettos and rural poverty, and, ironically, encourages Reporter Katherine Timpf As sociate Editors Molly Powell / Nick Tell illegal immigration (since wages are high compared with those of developing Digital Director Ericka Andersen Assistant Editor Mark Antonio Wright nations). It prices labor-intensive production out of the domestic marketplace. Technical Services Russell Jenkins It is also necessary to explore the question of how such policies were foisted Web Editorial Assistant Grant DeArmitt Web Developer Wendy Weihs upon us. I suggest labor-union influence on the Democratic party: A labor union Web Producer Scott McKim imposes on its employer in order to survive; Congress and bureaucrats oblige. EDITORS- AT- L A RG E Linda Bridges / Kathryn Jean Lopez / John O’Sullivan NATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTE Alphonse I. Johnson THOMASL. RHODESFELLOW Ian Tuttle Lisbon, Ill. BUCKLEYFELLOWSINPOLITICALJOURNALISM Alexandra DeSanctis / Austin Yack Contributors Hadley Arkes / James Bowman / Eliot A. Cohen It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Duplicity Dinesh D’Souza / Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman James Gardner / David Gelernter / George Gilder Jeffrey Hart / Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler David Klinghoffer / Anthony Lejeune / D. Keith Mano Hurrah for Richard Brookhiser, who points out (City Desk, September 12) the Michael Novak / Alan Reynolds / Tracy Lee Simmons fallacy behind today’s exaggerated weather-map scare numbers. The first time Terry Teachout / Vin Weber Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge I saw a TV meteorologist standing in front of a sea of 105s and 108s, I thought: Accountingr Manage Galina Veygman My God, the world is coming to an end! Then, when I started to listen, I found Accountant Lyudmila Bolotinskaya Business Services Alex Batey out that the figures were not actual temperatures but the “heat index”: in other Circulation Manager Jason Ng Advertising Director Jim Fowler words, the real temperature corrected by adding a random number between 10 Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet Assistant to the Publisher Brooke Rogers and 20. The only thing lamer than the heat index is the wind-chill factor, Director of Revenue Erik Netcher which uses similar fake precision to inform residents of cold places that wind PUBLISHERCHAIRMAN makes you feel even colder. In order of increasing mendacity, the hierarchy is: Jack Fowler John Hillen (1) government budget figures, (2) car dealers’ list prices, (3) overhyped FOUNDER William F. Buckley Jr. weather statistics for heat or cold. PATRONS AND BENEFACTORS Robert Agostinelli Peter Sanders Dale Brott Mr. and Mrs. Michael Conway Norfolk, Va. Mark and Mary Davis Virginia James Christopher M. Lantrip Brian and Deborah Murdock Mr. & Mrs. Richard Spencer Mr. & Mrs. L. Stanton Towne Peter J. Travers Letters may be sub mitted by e-mail to [email protected]. 2 | www.nationalreview.com SEPTEMBER 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 base_new_milliken-mar 22.qxd 7/11/2016 2:23 PM Page 1 At a High School Conference at the Reagan Ranch... Your Teenager Can Walk in President Reagan’s Footsteps and Learn Conservative Ideas You can send your child to visit life will expand his or her knowledge Ronald Reagan’s California ranch of economics, American history, to learn about the 20th Century’s personal responsibility, and President greatest president. 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