How Political Bias Distorts the Facts

Obama’s Conservatives Class War Food Fight Ranking Presidents Britain Fades Away MICHAEL B. DOUGHERTY ROD DREHER ROBERT SCHLESINGER BRENDAN O’NEILL AUGUST 2012 ì ì#ììeìì ì ì # How& political bias distorts the facts RON UNZ CONCERNED PERSONS SUGGEST THAT UNTIL THERE IS AN AWAKENING, GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA’S REPUBLIC WILL CONTINUE BEING TRANSFORMED INTO A FOREIGN IDEOLOGY. Fortunately, there is an awakening powerful enough to halt that juggernaut of governmental control in the form of a natural law known as nature’s law of absolute right. Natural laws never play favorites. People obey natural laws or suffer the consequences. That is the awakening information for this generation. Visit The Alpha Publishing House Website (www.alphapub.com) to read our FREE eBooks and Natural-law Essays. Or write to The Alpha Publishing House, PO Box 255, Royersford, PA 19468 to receive our FREE mailing, describing print copies of the books. This Month Vol. 11, No. 8, AUGUST 2012 28 32 44 ARTICLES COVER STORY ARTS & LETTERS 25 Obama’s Right Wing 12 Race, IQ, and Wealth 44 Where !ey Stand: !e Why would a conservative vote "e facts tell an unexpected story. American Presidents in the for the president? RON UNZ Eyes of Voters and Historians MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY by Robert W. Merry FRONT LINES ROBERT SCHLESINGER 28 Porky Populism Class war comes to the 6 Has Germany banned Judaism? 46 Political Woman: !e Big kitchen table—and we’re on MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY Little Life of Jeane Kirkpatrick the wrong side. by Peter Collier 7 America goes jousting ROD DREHER JACOB HEILBRUNN WILLIAM S. LIND 32 !e Case for Kemp 49 Philanthropy in America: 8 Exorcising McGovern From war to state capitalism, A History by Olivier Zunz MICHAEL C. DESCH the mind that inspired Reagan JEREMY BEER was right. 9 It’s the jobs, stupid 51 Beauty Will Save the World: DAVID COWAN GREG KAZA Recovering the Human in an 36 Britain Abolishes Itself Ideological Age by Gregory COMMENTARY Tories do what the le! never Wolfe could—erase the UK. 5 Republican Obamacare ELIAS CRIM BRENDAN O’NEILL 11 Casino capitalism 53 !e Art of Robert Frost 40 Making Modernity Human PATRICK J. BUCHANAN by Tim Kendall How thinkers like C.S. Lewis MICAH MATTIX and T.S. Eliot tethered 31 Humanitarianism kills 55 !e Operators: !e Wild and Christianity to high culture RUSSELL KIRK Terrifying Inside Story of BRAD BIRZER 39 Intelligence budget interpreted America’s War in Afghanistan PHILIP GIRALDI by Michael Hastings MATTHEW HARWOOD 43 Loving LDS BILL KAUFFMAN 58 Princes among men TAKI AUGUST 2012 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE 3 !e American Conservative Publisher Letters Ron Unz Editor Daniel McCarthy Senior Editors Rod Dreher Daniel Larison Mark Nugent Associate Editor ORDER IN THE RANKS in disciplinary action by higher au- Jordan Bloom As a retired military o#cer I take ex- thority and rightly so. A military National Correspondent ception to Chris Bray’s article “Revolt where everyone does what is right Michael Brendan Dougherty in the Ranks” (June 2012). Courts in his own eyes and chooses which Contributing Editors have found that the military is, by ne- orders to obey is little more than an W. James Antle III, Andrew J. Bacevich, cessity, “a specialized society separate armed mob—there is nothing patri- Doug Bandow, Jeremy Beer, James Bovard, Patrick Deneen, Michael Desch, Richard Gamble, from civilian society … governed by otic about it. Are service members Philip Giraldi, David Gordon, Paul Gottfried, a separate discipline from that of the free to think, discuss, complain, and Freddy Gray, Leon Hadar, Peter Hitchens, civilian.” Part of that discipline is ob- engage in the political process? Abso- Philip Jenkins, Christopher Layne, Chase Madar, Eric Margolis, James Pinkerton, serving a clear line between appropri- lutely. But in addition to swearing to Justin Raimondo, Fred Reed, Stuart Reid, ate and inappropriate engagement in support and defend the Constitution, Sheldon Richman, Steve Sailer, John Schwenkler, R.J. Stove, Kelley Vlahos, politics, public debate and dissent. service members also swear to obey !omas E. Woods Jr. !is may not have been part of the the (lawful) orders of the president Associate Publisher culture of some 18th-century state and the o#cers appointed over them. Jon Basil Utley militias that Mr. Bray describes, but it !at is the real patriotic tradition of Publishing Consultant is an accepted part of today’s profes- our armed forces. Ronald E. Burr sional military culture. KEITH BURTNER Editorial Assistants Sergeant Stein blogged that the Dallas, Texas Andrew Downing president was a “domestic enemy” Nicole Gibson Simeon Morris SURVIVORS’ CREED and “as an active-duty Marine, I say Founding Editors screw Obama” and that any order Rod Dreher provides an excellent Patrick J. Buchanan, Scott McConnell, from the president sending troops to introduction to Eastern Orthodox Taki !eodoracopulos Syria would be unconstitutional and Christianity (“Eastern Right,” June he would disobey it. !ese comments 2012). However, he does not mention !e American Ideas Institute are acceptable for a civilian; they are one important characteristic of the President Wick Allison unacceptable for an active-duty Ma- Eastern Orthodox churches—their !e American Conservative, Vol. 11, No. 8, rine and he was rightly discharged. rather remarkable ability to survive August 2012 (ISSN 1540-966X). Reg. U.S. Private Manning’s alleged un"l- in hostile environments, o%en in Pat. & Tm. O!c. Published 12 times a year by "e American Ideas Institute, 4040 tered data-dump of tens of thousands isolation from the rest of Christen- Fairfax Drive, Ste. 140, Arlington, VA 22203. of classi"ed documents to WikiLeaks dom. !at includes facing centuries Periodicals postage paid Arlington, VA and additional mailing o!ces. Printed in the USA. potentially put lives at risk, compro- of Muslim rule, Crusades, and brutal POSTMASTER: Send address changes to !e mised intelligence sources and meth- social engineering by secular tyrants American Conservative, P.O. Box 9030, Maple ods, and hampered American military like Peter the Great or Joseph Stalin. Shade, NJ 08052-9030. Subscription rates: $49.97 per year (12 issues) and diplomatic e$orts during war- Enduring the years of communist op- in the U.S., $69.97 in Canada (U.S. funds), and time. Is this really the type of decision pression is particularly noteworthy, $89.97 other foreign via airmail. Back issues: $6.00 (prepaid) per copy in USA, $7.00 in we want our Army privates to make as communism explicitly states as Canada (U.S. funds). under the guise of engagement in pol- one of its most important goals the For subscription orders, payments, and other itics and public debate so long as they elimination of religion and replacing subscription inquiries— are well intentioned? A court martial it with a “scienti"c” humanistic ide- By phone: 800-579-6148 (outside the U.S./Canada 856-380-4131) will soon answer that question. ology. Via Web: www.theamericanconservative.com While no service member is re- God willing, past experiences will By mail: !e American Conservative, P.O. Box quired to obey an unlawful order, dis- help us to survive the current assault 9030, Maple Shade, NJ 08052-9030 Please allow 6–8 weeks for delivery of your obedience that is “politically inspired” by the pseudo-liberal secular human- "rst issue. is unacceptable. Mr. Bray portrays ism. !ey might also be useful to our Inquiries and letters to the editor should be “politically oriented military disobe- Catholic and Protestant brothers and sent to [email protected]. For advertising sales call Ronald Burr at 703-893-3632. For dience” as part of some proud, patri- sisters. editorial, call 703-875-7600. otic American tradition, but virtually ANDREI ALYOKHIN !is issue went to press on July 11, 2012. every historical case he cites resulted Old Town, Maine Copyright 2012 The American Conservative. 4 THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE AUGUST 2012 { Vol. 11, No. 8, AUGUST 2012 } Don’t Blame John Roberts he Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision uphold- ply similar strategic thinking to legislative priorities. ing the Patient Protection and A!ordable $ere would have been no Obamacare in the #rst Care Act—Obamacare, including its in- place had Republicans not ceded Congress to Nancy dividual mandate—was bitter medicine Pelosi in 2006 before forfeiting the 2008 presidential Tfor conservatives. All the worse was that the pivotal election to Obama. Both defeats were entirely of the vote came not from the mercurial Anthony Ken- GOP’s own making, results of investing all the party’s nedy but from Chief Justice John Roberts. His defec- political capital in utopian enterprises and short- tion pours doubt upon an article of faith for many: term electioneering scams during the Bush years. that whatever its other faults, today’s Republican Medicare Part D, the largest expansion of the welfare Party can at least be relied upon to appoint judges state since the days of Lyndon Johnson, was passed who hold a strict view of what the Constitution al- by a Republican Congress under Bush with a view to lows the federal government to get away with. Rob- capturing seniors’ votes—perpetuating GOP power erts rejected expansive arguments for justifying at enormous cost to the country’s #scal health, to say Obamacare through the Commerce Clause, but he nothing of the party’s principles. found in Congress’s power to tax su"cient sweep to Brave #gures like Rep. John Duncan and Rep. Ron sustain the law anyway. With Republican-appointed Paul aside, few congressional Republicans objected as justices like that, who needs Elena Kagan? Bush prepared to take us to war with Iraq. In the wake Yet the decision should serve as a wake-up call to of 9/11, voters seemed to believe that Republicans, and conservatives in another way.

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