2012_6_11 postall_1_cover61404-postal.qxd 5/22/2012 7:00 PM Page 1 GAY EVOLUTION June 11, 2012 $4.99 OBAMA’S ROB LONGLONG: LIBERALISM & FAKE INDIANS —The Editors Euro Clash JOHN O’SULLIVAN on Europe’s currency from hell PLUS: PETER HITCHENS on Philip Larkin $4.99 DAVID PRYCE-JONES on Bernard Lewis 24 0 74820 08155 6 www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 10/24/2011 1:16 PM Page 2 base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 10/24/2011 1:16 PM Page 3 Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Network Systems Secure Communications Command & Control www.boeing.com/C4ISR TODAYTOMORROWBEYOND D : 2400 45˚ 105˚ 75˚ G toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 5/23/2012 1:31 PM Page 1 Contents JUNE 11, 2012 | VOLUME LXIV, NO. 11 | www.nationalreview.com COVER STORY Page 30 Four Kinds of Michael Coren on marriage and Canada Dreadful p. 18 European governments and central banks meet, discuss, reiterate BOOKS, ARTS previous assurances, and, after an EU & MANNERS summit ends, resume their drift towards 40 STARK BEAUTIES disaster, because every single one of the Peter Hitchens reviews The practical solutions to the euro/Greek crisis Complete Poems, by Philip Larkin, edited by Archie Burnett. has dreadful consequences. John O’Sullivan 41 THE ODD COUPLE John O’Sullivan reviews Reagan and COVER: ROBERTO PARADA Thatcher: The Difficult ARTICLES Relationship, by Richard Aldous. 43 THE SCHOLAR 18 CANADIAN CRACKDOWN by Michael Coren David Pryce-Jones reviews Notes It’s not easy opposing gay marriage in the north country. on a Century: Reflections of a 20 TEA-PARTY PREQUEL by Daniel Foster Middle East Historian, Will today’s conservative grassroots go the way of FDR’s constitutionalist foes? by Bernard Lewis with Buntzie Ellis Churchill. 23 TAXPAYERS TAKE THE PUCK by John J. Miller A think tank defends them from the NHL. 45 RUNNING DEEP Florence King reviews Quiet: 25 GETTING IRRELIGION by Reihan Salam The Power of Introverts in a How should conservatives respond to declining church attendance? World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. 27 MANY BOOTS, MANY FACES by Jay Nordlinger The problem of moral selectivity in human rights. 50 FILM: TAME TYRANT Ross Douthat reviews The Dictator. 28 DIVERSE LIKE ME by Rob Long Our Mexican writer reflects on the Cherokee Senate candidate. 51 CITY DESK: IN THE KNOW Richard Brookhiser on what the knowers tell us. FEATURES 30 FOUR KINDS OF DREADFUL by John O’Sullivan SECTIONS On the possible outcomes of the Greek debt crisis. 4 Letters to the Editor MONETARY REGIME CHANGE 33 by David Beckworth & Ramesh Ponnuru 6 The Week An old order fails. 38 The Long View . Rob Long 39 Athwart James Lileks 36 SCANDAL STREET by Kevin D. Williamson . 41 Poetry William W. Runyeon Profit and loss vs. crime and punishment in the world of high finance. 52 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., 2012. Address all editorial mail, manuscripts, letters to the editor, etc., to editorial Dept., NATIONAL RevIeW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Address all subscription mail orders, changes of address, undeliverable copies, etc., to NATIONAL RevIeW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015; phone, 386-246-0118, Monday–Friday, 8:00 A.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., NATIONAL RevIeW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 or call 212-679- 7330. POSTMASTeR: Send address changes to NATIONAL 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. base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 5/21/2012 4:00 PM Page 1 Nuclear Energy Reliable Electricity & Clean Air How can we generate more low-carbon electricity that is affordable while creating more American jobs? Nuclear energy produces nearly 70% of America’s carbon-free electricity. With our electricity needs expected to grow 24% by 2035, advanced nuclear energy plants must be built to meet this rising demand without producing more greenhouse gases. Nuclear energy facilities have the highest reliability of all electricity sources with production costs that average about 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. Nuclear energy should be expanded as part of a balanced energy portfolio that generates more low-carbon and affordable electricity and reduces our dependence on foreign energy sources. Nuclear. Clean Air Energy. nei.org/cleanair letters--ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 5/23/2012 1:32 PM Page 4 Letters A Childish Question JUNE 11 ISSUE; PRINTED MAY 24* In “The Empty Playground and the Welfare State” (May 28), Ramesh Ponnuru EDITOR proposes increasing the child tax credit. Much of the argument is compelling, Richard Lowry. President Obama edited the Harvard Law Review. but I found one aspect confusing. Mr. Ponnuru says that raising children constitutes a contribution to the Senior Editors Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger nation’s fiscal health and therefore should count toward tax payments; he cites Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones research suggesting a $5,000 credit per child. And yet he says that the credit Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts shouldn’t be refundable—that is, families that owe less than $5,000 in taxes for Literary Editor Michael Potemra. President Obama is a noted literary figure. every child they have would not be able to take full advantage of the credit, and Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy families with no income-tax liability (a situation that about half of households Roving Correspondent Barack Obama National Correspondent John J. Miller find themselves in) would not benefit from the credit at all. The only explana- Political Reporter Robert Costa tion he gives for this is, “That arrangement would enable them to start getting Art Director Luba Kolomytseva their own free ride: receiving pension benefits without having contributed Deputy Managing Editors Nicholas Frankovich / Fred Schwarz through either children or taxes.” Robert VerBruggen I’m not familiar with the formulas that determine pension benefits, but it Research Director Katherine Connell seems to me that this is a rather unfair way of addressing the problem. If a two- Executive Secretary Frances Bronson Assistant to the Editor Madison V. Peace President Obama child family contributes $10,000 to the nation’s fiscal health, but our tax policy won the Nobel Peace Prize. says it should owe only $4,000, it should get the missing $6,000 back—just as Contributing Editors it would if it overpaid $6,000 in conventional taxes. In addition, if tax policy Robert H. Bork / Shannen Coffin overall discriminates against families with children by failing to give parents Ross Douthat / Roman Genn Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg credit for their investment, then this policy does as well: It treats a family with Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin no tax liability and four kids the same as a family with no tax liability and zero Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne kids. David B. Rivkin Jr. / Reihan Salam What am I missing? NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez Albert Rolen Managing Editor Edward John Craig National Affairs Columnist John Fund Chicago, Ill. News Editor Daniel Foster Editorial Associates Charles C. W. Cooke / Katrina Trinko Technical Services Russell Jenkins RAMESh PonnuRu REPlIES: Most people with no federal-income-tax liability Web Developer Julia Web Production Assistant Anthony Boiano pay payroll taxes, and the credit should be available to offset those taxes. But a EDITORS- AT- L A RG E family with five kids and $20,000 in total tax liability (income and payroll com- Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan bined) should be eligible for only $20,000 of tax relief. The argument for the Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge large tax credit is that taxpaying parents are overtaxed relative to non-parents. Accounting Manager Galina Veygman They are contributing to the future of entitlement programs with both their Accountant Zofia Baraniak Business Services taxes and their investments in their children, whereas the childless are only Alex Batey / Kate Murdock contri buting with their taxes. The tax credit recognizes that double contribution. Elena Reut / Lucy Zepeda. President Obama is A fam ily that doesn’t pay taxes is still making a contribution to the future of the committed to eliminating business abuses. Circulation Manager Jason Ng entitlement programs, as Mr. Rolen writes. But it is not making a double contri- bution—in that respect it’s in the same position as a childless taxpayer—and so WORLD WIDE WEB www.nationalreview.com The White House has a website, too. there’s nothing to offset. MAIN NUMBER 212-679-7330 SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES 386-246-0118 WASHINGTON OFFICE 202-543-9226 ADVERTISING SALES 212-679-7330 Executive Publisher Scott F. Budd Advertising Director Jim Fowler Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Paul Olivett PUBLISHER Jack Fowler CHAIRMANEMERITUS Barack Obama FOUNDER William F. Buckley Jr. *As edited by White House staff Letters may be sub mitted by e-mail to [email protected]. 4 | www.nationalreview.com JUNE 1 1 , 2 0 1 2 base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 5/21/2012 1:19 PM Page 1 week_QXP-1127940387.qxp 5/23/2012 2:21 PM Page 6 The Week n A prisoner took 40 percent of the vote in a Democratic pres- idential primary against Obama.