20161121A subscribers_cover61404-postal.qxd 11/1/2016 9:01 PM Page 1
November 21, 2016 $4.99
ADAM I. KLEIN THE EDITORS RAMESH PONNURU Russia’sRussia s TThreathreat Hillary’sHillary s CCorruptionorruption Obamacare’sObamacare s SStrugglestruggles
A Second
DAVIDChance FRENCH ON HOLDING in Iraq OUR GAINS PLUS: JORDAN CHANDLER HIRSCH on what we got wrong
www.nationalreview.com base_new_milliken-mar 22.qxd 11/1/2016 1:47 PM Page 1
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE 9 PLANETS . . . Then Pluto lost the vote.
Science is the search for truth. Biomythology is the sale of truth. Science used to sell politics is pol- itics. Science used to sell values is ideology. These essays irreverently level the playing field of skepti- cism. They do for Darwin and science what Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have done for God and Religion.
Scientific truth rests on the faith that future“ discoveries won’t turn today’s facts into tomorrow’s fairytales.” —David Cook, Biomythology
A skeptical romp whose truths will persist long after today’s scientific stories voted most likely to succeed have been ravaged” by discovery. Clinician, author, and lecturer David Cook insists that while real science has doubled our life spans, biomythology is used to convince the court system that we lack free will and are not responsible for our choices. While real science has produced the Internet to unite the world, biomythology has fabricated the bell curve to divide it. A training manual for skeptics, Biomythology explores Darwin’s intelligent designs and over twenty rhetorical devices his disciples use to sell revisions of history, politics, and values under the name of science.
LAUGH OUT LOUD. BROWSE BIOMYTHOLOGY AT AMAZON.COM.
SOFT COVER ISBN: 978-1-5246-0183-6, $21.69. KINDLE ISBN: 978-1-5246-0182-9, $7.99. TOC--READY_QXP-1127940144.qxp 11/2/2016 2:56 PM Page 1 Contents
NOVEMBER 21, 2016 | VOLUME LXVIII, NO. 21 | www.nationalreview.com
ON THE COVER Page 26 Adam I. Klein on Russian cyberattacks A Second Chance p. 33
In Iraq BOOKS, ARTS A combined force is slowly encircling & MANNERS Mosul, trapping its ISIS remnant, GRANDE DAME and attempting to drive the Islamic 39 Michael Knox Beran reviews State from its last Iraqi stronghold. Eleanor Roosevelt: The War Years and After, 1939–1962, This offensive—if executed properly— by Blanche Wiesen Cook. gives America a second chance 41 HIGH TREASON to win the Iraq War. David French David Pryce-Jones reviews Searching for Lord Haw-Haw:
COVER: AHMET IZGI/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY The Political Lives of William Joyce, by Colin Holmes. ARTICLES 43 MASTERING DISASTER OBAMACARE UNRAVELS, CONT’D. by Ramesh Ponnuru Alvin S. Felzenberg reviews 16 Shall We Wake the President? Premium hikes reveal the law’s design flaws. Two Centurie sDisaster of A FISCAL COLLISION COURSE by Kevin D. Williamson Management from the 17 Oval Office, by Tevi Troy. The asteroid will hit our economy in 2021. HILLARY’S SECOND AMENDMENT NONSENSE by Charles C. W. Cooke 44 THE KING’S MAN 20 Abby W. Schachter reviews Her Heller position belies her supposed belief in the individual’s right to bear arms. The Secret Chord, 22 KILLING AIDA by Jay Nordlinger by Geraldine Brooks. A mortal threat to art. 45 FILM: A MAN FOR ALL WHERE TIME WEARS THIN by Ian Tuttle SEASONS AT 50 24 Peter Tonguette celebrates the On visiting the ever changing Spiral Jetty. Best Picture of 1967.
47 FILM: A STRANGE SUPERMAN FEATURES Ross Douthat reviews The Accountant. 26 A SECOND CHANCE IN IRAQ by David French After ISIS falls, we must remain the ‘strongest tribe.’ 29 HUMILITY, CREDIBILITY, PRUDENCE by Jordan Chandler Hirsh SECTIONS How the GOP can escape the shadow of Iraq. 2 Letters to the Editor 31 MEN WITHOUT WORK by Nicholas Eberstadt 4 The Week Our quiet employment calamity. 37 Athwart ...... James Lileks 38 The Long View ...... Rob Long THE HACKING BEAR by Adam I. Klein 33 42 Poetry ...... James Matthew Wilson What can we do about Putin’s cyber-subversion? 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 11/2/2016 2:58 PM Page 2 Letters
NOVEMBER 21 ISSUE; PRINTED NOVEMBER 3
EDITORINCHIEF Richard Lowry Humble Experts Senior Editors Richard Brookhiser / Jonah Goldberg / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts Literary Editor Michael Potemra The widespread connotation of “elitist” is one of arrogance and a haughtiness Vice President, Editorial Operations Christopher McEvoy Washington Editor Eliana Johnson born not of achievement in the trenches but of patrician privilege. However, I feel Executive Editor Reihan Salam certain this was not the intent that “Masters of the Game” (Kevin D. Williamson, Roving Correspondent Kevin D. Williamson National Corresponde nt John J. Miller November 7) was meant to convey. Without altering the gist of the article, a sub- Senior Political Correspondent Jim Geraghty Chief Political Correspondent Tim Alberta stitution of “elite” and “elitist” with “expert” would have made for a much more Art Director Luba Kolomytseva Deputy Managing Editors palatable read. Nicholas Frankovich / Fred Schwarz Production Editor Katie Hosmer While it can be agreed that there is a need for experts in running not only football Assistant to the Editor Rachel Ogden Research Associate Alessandra Trouwborst teams but also many aspects of our country, experts tend to suffer from tunnel Contributing Editors vision; they have neither the inclination nor the mandate to consider an enterprise Shannen Coffin / Ross Douthat / Daniel Foster Roman Genn / Arthur L. Herman / Lawrence Kudlow outside of their particular purview. General managers and elected representatives, Mark R. Levin / Yuval Levin / Rob Long Mario Loyola / Jim Manzi / Andrew C. McCarthy therefore, are vitally important to manage the experts, to stitch their expertise into Kate O’Beirne / Andrew Stuttaford / Robert VerBruggen the whole of the fabric. NATIONALREVIEWONLINE Editor Charles C. W. Cooke As for Mr. Williamson’s assertion that talk-radio listeners or football fans (most Managing Editors Katherine Connell / Edward John Craig Deputy Managing Editor Nat Brown of them average Joes) could no more do Paul Ryan’s work than Ben Roethlis - National-Affairs Columnist John Fund Staff Writer David French berger’s, it should be pointed out that these men are fallible, as we all are, and that Senior Political Reporter Alexis Levinson Reporter Katherine Timpf they also achieved their current positions through on-the-job training. Thus the Associat e Editors Molly Powell / Nick Tell Digital Director Ericka Andersen average Joe is quite capable of assuming such expert roles with time and experi- Assistant Editor Mark Antonio Wright Technical Services Russell Jenkins ence. Web Editorial Assistant Grant DeArmitt Web Developer Wendy Weihs The grousing of the average Joe is a necessary feedback mechanism in our Web Producer Scott McKim democracy and should be encouraged. It should also be noted that grousing is what EDITORS- AT- LARGE Linda Bridges / Kathryn Jean Lopez / John O’Sullivan leads many to pursue a path to expertness. NATIONALREVIEWINSTITUTE THOMASL. RHODESFELLOW Ian Tuttle Roy McCormick BUCKLEYFELLOWSINPOLITICALJOURNALISM Youngsville, N.C. Alexandra DeSanctis / Austin Yack Contributors Hadley Arkes / James Bowman / Eliot A. Cohen KEVIN D. WILLIAMSON RESPONDS: “The average Joe is quite capable of assuming Dinesh D’Souza / Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman James Gardner / David Gelernter / George Gilder such expert roles with time and experience.” Along with a great deal of effort and Jeffrey Hart / Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler David Klinghoffer / Anthony Lejeune / Michael Novak a little bit of maturity. You can see my concern. Alan Reynolds / Tracy Lee Simmons Terry Teachout / Vin Weber Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge Accounting Manager Galina Ve ygman Accountant Lyudmila Bolotinskaya Corrections Business Services Alex Batey Circulation Manager Jason Ng Advertising Director Jim Fowler Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet “Dark Loyalties” (Ronald Radosh, November 7) asserted that, “freed by the Assistant to the Publisher Brooke Rogers Director of Revenue Erik Netcher regime, [Noel] Field chose to live in Czechoslovakia and help build the PUBLISHERCHAIRMAN Jack Fowler John Hillen Communist system that had imprisoned him.” Field actually chose to live in
FOUNDER Hungary. William F. Buckley Jr.
PATRONSANDBENEFACTORS Robert Agostinelli Because of an editing error, “The Blue Wave” (Tim Alberta, November 7) cited Dale Brott Mr. and Mrs. Michael Conway two different figures for the percentage of Hispanics who voted for Mitt Romney Mark and Mary Davis in 2012. The correct figure is 27 percent. In addition, the percentage of Hispanics Virginia James Christopher M. Lantrip who voted Republican in 1984 was 37, not 34. 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 NOVEMBER 2 1 , 2 0 1 6 base_new_milliken-mar 22.qxd 10/4/2016 12:21 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 teenager 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. What better way Reagan’s lasting accomplishments to celebrate freedom than by walking through a series of innovative in President Reagan’s footsteps lectures, discussions, and briefings. and learning about the ideas he For dates and information, and to championed? register a student for this invaluable, At a Young America’s Foundation historical experience, please contact High School Conference at the Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan Ranch, the student in your conference director at 800-USA-1776.
4HE 2EAGAN 2ANCH #ENTER s 3TATE 3TREET s 3ANTA "ARBARA #ALIFORNIA s 53! .ATIONAL (EADQUARTERS s #OMMERCE 0ARK $RIVE 3IXTH &LOOR