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ROB LONG on Donald Trump
Ryan’s New Deal
JAMES C. CAPRET TA w RAMESH PONNURU $4.99 REIHAN SALAM w THE EDITORS 18
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MAY 2, 2011 | VOLUME LXIII, NO. 8 | www.nationalreview.com
ON THE COVER Page 30 Ryan’s Medicare Fix Robert Costa on Wisconsin Of all the reforms in Rep. Paul Ryan’s p. 18 2012 budget, none is more politically charged than the proposal to transform BOOKS, ARTS Medicare into a “defined contribution” & MANNERS program with a fixed and predictable 45 A JUST WAR budget. “Radical.” “Extreme.” “Cruel.” Andrew Roberts reviews Moral Don’t expect the demagoguery to end Combat: Good and Evil in World War II, by Michael Burleigh. before November 2012. James C. Capretta 50 EASTERN LIGHT
COVER: THOMAS REIS John Derbyshire reviews The House of Wisdom: How Arabic ARTICLES Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the 18 HOW WISCONSIN WAS WON by Robert Costa Renaissance, by Jim al-Khalili. A close call in a proxy war with the Left. 51 THE PEOPLE’S MILITARY 22 A VICTORY—AND A WARNING by Henry Olsen Thomas M. Donnelly reviews U.S. Some worrisome trends are evident in Judge Prosser’s reelection. Civil-Military Relations After 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil- 24 TRIAL BY FIRE by Anthony Daniels Military Bargain, by Mackubin The world reacts to a Koran-burning. Thomas Owens.
25 VOICE OF THE RESISTANCE by Jay Nordlinger 53 SHADOW FIGHTS Dr. Óscar Biscet, in Cuba’s prisons for twelve years, speaks. Anthony Paletta reviews An Army of Phantoms: American Movies 27 PRESIDENT ME by Rob Long and the Making of the Cold Imagining a Trump administration. War, by J. Hoberman.
55 CITY DESK: COOL TOMBS FEATURES Richard Brookhiser muses over graveyards. 30 PAUL RYAN’S MEDICARE FIX by James C. Capretta How to improve health care and shore up the federal budget with one entitlement reform. SECTIONS 34 RYAN VS. THE MYTHMAKERS by Ramesh Ponnuru Spurious claims, debunked. 2 Letters to the Editor 6 The Week 37 BLAME THE NOT-TOO-RICH by Reihan Salam 42 The Long View ...... Rob Long Why Obama courts the upper middle class. 43 The Bent Pin . . . . . Florence King 44 Athwart ...... James Lileks 39 A NATION OF SHARECROPPERS by Kevin D. Williamson 52 Poetry ...... Daniel Mark Epstein From slavery to six figures. 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., 2011. 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. letters5-2--ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 4/13/2011 1:35 PM Page 2 Letters
MAY 2 ISSUE; PRINTED APRIL 14 Rebutting Garfinkle
EDITOR The premise of Adam Garfinkle’s review of Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir Known Richard Lowry and Unknown (April 4, 2011) is that Rumsfeld evades responsibility for large mat- Senior Editors ters that did not go well by accepting responsibility for small matters that did not Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones go well. To bolster this, Garfinkle mentions an incident in which I was supposedly Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts involved. He writes that I “spoke with the secretary by phone” from Baghdad on Literary Editor Michael Potemra Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy the evening before the decision to disband the Iraqi army was announced. Garfinkle National Correspondent John J. Miller Political Reporter Robert Costa presents this as one piece of evidence that “Rumsfeld knew what was happening Art Director Luba Kolomytseva and approved it, without telling the president, Rice, or any other principal,” which Deputy Managing Editors Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson Garfinkle alleges that Rumsfeld denies in his memoir. Associate Editors Memory is a tricky thing. I do not remember the conversation that Mr. Garfinkle Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen Research Director Katherine Connell recounts. Beyond this, though, Garfinkle’s review approximates the offense of Research Manager Dorothy McCartney which he accuses his subject, by missing the rich forest of Rumsfeld’s life and Executive Secretary Frances Bronson Assistant to the Editor Christeleny Frangos focusing on the trees right in front of him. Contributing Editors I acknowledge my own lack of distance and Robert H. Bork / John Derbyshire Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum ob jectivity. I had a close association with Rums - Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg feld during the Bush administration and since; he Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi cites me in the book as one of several readers of Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne drafts along the way to completion. But I think David B. Rivkin Jr. I’m owed a chance to offer some further perspec- NATIONALREVIEWONLINE Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez tive, since Garfinkle brings me in. Managing Editor Edward John Craig I was in Iraq in April and May of 2003 to assist News Editor Daniel Foster Editorial Associates Jay Garner, who led the reconstruction team; I Brian Stewart / Katrina Trinko Web Developer Nathan Goulding served as a policy connection for Garner back to Applications Developer Gareth du Plooy the Pentagon and the inter-agency team working Technical Services Russell Jenkins on post-conflict Iraqi political developments. EDITORS- AT- LARGE What I remember about the decision to disband Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan the Iraqi army does not include any discussions Contributors Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell with Rumsfeld. I recall speaking with Rumsfeld James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley from Iraq just once or twice in two months, and Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans not about this topic. I do remember flying with Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman Bremer and others from Kuwait or Qatar up to James Gardner / David Gelernter George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart Baghdad—Garner had gathered some of us to go Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler down from Iraq to meet Bremer when he first arrived in theater. On the flight to David Klinghoffer / Anthony Lejeune D. Keith Mano / Michael Novak Baghdad, I recall, Bremer was keenly focused on two things: His forthcoming Alan Reynolds / William A. Rusher Tracy Lee Simmons / Terry Teachout orders to 1) disband the Iraqi army and 2) effectively outlaw the Baath party. Taki Theodoracopulos / Vin Weber My impression then and today is that “Washington” was quite aware of these ini- Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge tial Bremer decisions. When it came to early Iraq policy, though, “Washington” had Accounting Manager Galina Veygman Accountant Zofia Baraniak two primary centers of activity. One was the policymaking apparatus, in which Business Services Paul Wolfowitz, Ryan Crocker, Steve Hadley, Zal Khalilzad, Doug Feith, Bill Luti, Alex Batey / Amy Tyler Circulation Manager Jason Ng and others were paying close attention to the political developments, the transition WORLD WIDE WEB www.nationalreview.com MAIN NUMBER 212-679-7330 from Garner to Bremer, and other such matters. Garner and I reached back to that SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES 386-246-0118 group multiple times a week for guidance, reporting, etc. Crocker and Khalilzad WASHINGTON OFFICE 202-543-9226 ADVERTISING SALES 212-679-7330 also came to Baghdad to assist with the political discussions. Executive Publisher Scott F. Budd The other center of activity was around military employment, coalition-force Advertising Director Jim Fowler Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet management, and the like. Rumsfeld, Gen. Dick Myers of the Joint Chiefs, Gens. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Paul Olivett Tommy Franks and John Abizaid in CentCom, and their subordinate commanders PUBLISHER focused on this. There were a lot of issues under consideration, including a major Jack Fowler force rotation as combat-operations units that had been in theater for many months CHAIRMANEMERITUS Thomas L. Rhodes in some cases were cycled out and their replacement units came in. This is not to suggest Rumsfeld and those occupied with force planning and FOUNDER William F. Buckley Jr. Continued on page 4
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Letters
Continued from page 2 command were unaware of the policy decisions being made, and I don’t think he intends to leave that impression in his memoir. What Rumsfeld is clear about, though, is that Bremer was granted significant authority by the U.S. government and by U.N. resolution, and that Bremer used that authority according to his own best judgment. Bremer also was in frequent contact with the policy/political appa- ratus of official Washington, including Condi Rice, Colin Powell, and possibly Wolfowitz, Hadley, and others at State, Defense, and the National Security Council. Rumsfeld in his memoir simply describes the way decisions were being made, for better or worse. Contrary to Garfinkle’s broader premise, Rumsfeld accepts responsibility for many big things, too. He devotes significant ink to things that he might have done better or differently, and devotes an entire chapter to the idea in “The Road Not The Catholic Traveled.” In that chapter, Rumsfeld talks about his and others’ overreliance on Shakespeare? legal advice at the expense of political sensitivity, in particular with respect to pres- idential war powers and enemy detention. Rumsfeld was aware of and engaged in June 10-12, 2011 these decisions, and acknowledges, “I, too, was guilty of thinking that the legal questions were preeminent.” Later, he says, “As a former member of Congress, I Portsmouth Abbey School, RI might have been better attuned to the need for congressional buy in on such poten- tially difficult and controversial matters.” Speakers will include: Dr. Glenn Arbery: The Problem of Catholic Piety in the Henry VI Plays Garfinkle seems to have missed Clare, Viscountess Asquith: As completely the arc of Rumsfeld’s You Like It and the Elizabethan consequential career. Catholic Dilemma Dom Aidan Bellenger, Abbot of This is just one example of many like it in the book in which Rumsfeld accepts Downside: The Blasted Heath: The responsibility not just for “small matters,” as Garfinkle describes, but for the most Death of Catholic England consequential matters the administration faced. Rumsfeld also describes the limi- tations of institutions, including the Department of Defense, in addressing the chal- Rev. David Beauregard: Shakespeare lenges we face today. He is both descriptive in acknowledging the Pentagon’s and and Religion: the Catholic, the his own shortcomings, and prescriptive in addressing what might be done about Protestant and Secular Dimensions them. The large matter Garfinkle seems to have missed completely in his review, Dr. John Cox: Are Shakespeare’s though, is the arc of Rumsfeld’s consequential career in both public and private life, Prayers Catholic? as covered in the book. As defense secretary in the 1970s, Rumsfeld was the essen- Dr. Gerard Kilroy: “Changing Eyes:” tial pre-Reagan Cold War check against the tendency to accept strategic parity with Faith and Fluctuation in Romeo the Soviet Union as envisioned by Nixon and Kissinger; he was an architect of U.S. and Juliet Middle East policy for Reagan, and reshaped the national-security apparatus for the post–Cold War challenges of the 21st century. In between all that, he was chairman Rev. Peter Milward: and CEO of two Fortune 500 companies and non-executive chairman of a third The Catholic King Lear company, a pharmaceutical start-up that is now a successful and important public Mr. Kevin O’Brien and company. Mr. Joseph Pearce in a Theater of the In setting up the premise of his review, Garfinkle cites La Rochefoucauld as Word production of Hamlet’s Agony an authority in the matter of ignoring large matters for small matters. A more dispassionate reading of Rumsfeld’s memoir might call to mind another La ... and more to come. Rochefoucauld aphorism: “Everyone complains of his memory, and no one com- plains of his judgment.” For information or registration: www.portsmouthinstitute.org Lawrence Di Rita or contact Cindy Waterman Potomac, Md. at (401) 643-1244 or [email protected]. Letters may be sub mitted by e-mail to [email protected].
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The Medieval World Taught by Professor Dorsey Armstrong IM 1. The Medieval World ED T E O IT FF 2. The Legacy of the Roman World E IM R 3. The Christianization of Europe L 4. After the Roman Empire—Hybrid Cultures 5. Early Monasticism 70% 6. From Merovingian Gaul to off Carolingian France 1 7. Charlemagne and the O R Y Carolingian Renaissance D UL ER BY J 8. Byzantium, Islam, and the West 9. The Viking Invasions 10. Alfred the Great 11. The Rearrangement of the Medieval World 12. The Norman Conquest and the Bayeux Tapestry 13. King Arthur—The Power of the Legend 14. The Three Orders of Medieval Society 15. Pilgrimage and Sainthood 16. Knighthood and Heraldry 17. The Gothic Cathedral 18. Piety, Politics, and Persecution 19. The Persistence of an Ideal 20. Late Medieval Religious Institutions 21. The Magna Carta 22. Daily Life in a Noble Household 23. Daily Life in a Medieval Village 24. Medieval City Life 25. Food and Drink 26. Music and Entertainment 27. Dress and Fashion 28. Medieval Medicine 29. The Black Death and its E ects 30. Childhood in the Middle Ages 31. Marriage and the Family 32. Art and Artisans 33. Science and Technology 34. Weapons and Warfare 35. Revolts, Uprisings, and Wars What Was It Like to Live 36. Toward the Early Modern Period
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n You know, we miss the days when he was anonymous, too.
n President Obama officially launched his reelection bid. He owed his win in 2008 to five factors. He was not Bush. He was historic (i.e. black). He would end global warming, and stop the rising of the seas (in the hopes of his most fervid supporters). He seemed politically unclassifiable (to independent—i.e., inatten- tive—voters). The economy was bad. Where does he stand on each point today? He is still not Bush, but Bush himself is off the table, enjoying retirement. He is still black, but he has already made history; the political dividends of that feat began to dimin- ish the moment he took the oath of office. The globe and the seas maintain their courses; the children who stormed to the polls hoping to change them have either grown up some or lost heart. He has revealed himself, for all his compro- mises (staying in Afghanistan, keeping Gitmo open), to be a dogmatic domestic liberal, willing to sink congres- sional Democrats in order to saddle America with a social- democratic health-care system. The econ omy is still bad. Many things could reelect him: an improving econo- my, Republican mistakes, some unifying national disaster, the sheer power of incumbency. But he can- not rerun his first game plan. The votes just aren’t there—because the 2008 Barack Obama isn’t there either.
n After Wisconsin’s state government curtailed public- union power, attention shifted to an election for the state The white upper middle class—the top 20 percent—marries, supreme court. The justice up for reelection was David works, and to a great extent practices some sort of faith. The Prosser, who votes with the court’s 4–3 conservative majority. white working class—the bottom 30 percent—reproduces Unions poured resources into the campaign of his liberal chal- without marrying, is unemployed, and stays home on Sundays. lenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg, and the left-wing carnival that How can the lowers improve? Not through the force of good had made Madison a big tent while the public-union law was example, since the upper middles “will not preach what they under discussion took to the streets. Conservatives feared that practice.” Murray calls this “non-judgmentalism.” The upper an organized minority could swamp an oddball judicial elec- middles do judge the lowers, however: They have increasing- tion and upend the law on appeal. A million and a half voters ly less to do with them as they bond and mate in associational turned out, almost double the normal number; a lead of a few purdah. That is what college is about these days (it certainly hundred votes shifted from Prosser to Kloppenburg on elec- isn’t about learning). Benjamin Disraeli subtitled one of his tion night and the morning after. Then Waukesha County novels “The Two Nations.” Murray is the modern Disraeli, announced that thousands of votes had been excluded from its employing statistics rather than Victorian plots. unofficial tally, giving Prosser a lead of over 7,000. The Left sometimes owns the streets, but people who have day jobs vote n President Obama has compared his political skills to the too. Rally and tally them all. The conservative resurgence basketball moves of LeBron James. But sometimes his politi- may have the staying power it needs to undo years of mis - cal skills look more like the basketball moves of a nerd on government. The Big Bang Theory. Speaking at a factory in Pennsylvania, Obama told a questioner who asked about rising gas prices that n Charles Murray gave the 2011 Bradley Lecture at the he should change his life. “I know some of these big guys, American Enterprise Institute. “The State of White America” they’re all still driving their big SUVs. . . . If you’re complain- highlighted one of the main themes of his 1994 book The Bell ing about the price of gas and you’re only getting eight miles a Curve, while avoiding the race issue it evoked. America is gallon, you may have a big family, but it’s probably not that splitting into classes that are behavioral, as well as economic big.” Then something—good sense, possibly—made Obama
DARREN GYGI (as behavior diverges, the economic consequences increase). ask how many children his questioner had. The man answered,
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ten. Obama laughed, then added, “You definitely need a hybrid guards in Mazar-e-Sharif. In the wake of the Afghan violence, van.” Rude, clueless, mocking, patronizing: Obama incarnated Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed his disapproval of free speech a Republican attack ad on himself. All he didn’t do was ask in wartime, in which he was echoed by Gen. David Petraeus whether the poor voter clings to his God and his guns. (who has at least the excuse of being on the firing line). Meanwhile many on the right saw the riots as one more mani- n On the same day President Obama announced his reelection festation of Islam’s bloody essence. Lost in the shuffle is a bid, Attorney General Holder completed the administration’s cardinal fact: The riots, like the worldwide protests over the most blatant national-security reversal, announcing that Mohammed cartoons, were ginned up by political actors. In Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 plotters will be Afghanistan, the guilty politician was Pres. Hamid Karzai, tried by military commission. The White House had previous- who condemned Jones’s Koran burning in order to shore up his ly said that the commission trials would resume, but had not Islamist flank against the day the Americans leave. Muslim given a straightforward answer when families of the victims societies are often described as theocratic. They might equally asked about the plans for these terrorists. Obama was trying to be called caesaropapist. The mullahs, so far from running thread a needle: a nod to convince the national-security Right the state, are run by it, to keep the faction of the day in power. that commissions were a viable option, and a wink to assure his For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, as antiwar base that civilian trials would take all the big cases— another religion has it. in the hope of tucking the issue under the radar until after the 2012 election. But then defense lawyers for the 9/11 plotters n Conservatives who complain about the liberal media’s habit complained publicly that the Defense Department had denied of treating similar incidents differently for political reasons them funds to resume their preparation because, regardless have an a fortiori case with the Kill Team. This was a rogue of what the administration was claiming, the commission group of American soldiers who in 2010 murdered Afghan remained suspended. Obama chose to cut his losses. How civilians, mutilated their corpses, and took photos of it all. happy was Holder about all this? We’ve seen defendants plead Now, recall the Abu Ghraib scandal of 2004—which, terrible out with more grace. as it was, involved enemy combatants already in custody, who were abused but not killed. It inspired not just months of n The Rev. Terry Jones burned a Koran in Florida. Twelve front-page coverage and op-ed fulmination but art exhibits, days later, rioters killed U.N. staff workers and Nepalese plays, novels, academic conferences, and the whole panoply of Written a politically incorrect book? At last, new Conservative writers have St.John, is a writer himself and knows thousands of readers. Elderberry is a publisher of their own. Elderberry how hard it is to nd a publisher will- now accepting ction and nonction Press has published over 250 titles since ing to read your work. How does Dave submissions. Does your book deserve 1998. Reviewers include Je rey Hart, nd tens of thousands of readers for to be read by up to 50,000 readers? If William F. Buckley, Booklist, Library the Conservative books he publishes? so, maybe Dave St.John should hear Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Elderberry authors are interviewed on from you. He’d like to hear about and Leatherneck. Elderberry books talk radio, promoted in Conservative your book. Tel: (541)459-6043. have been read by over a quarter mil- media, and their books are available in Or visit: elderberrypress.com lion readers this year. e editor, Dave all formats at aordable prices to grab Doesn’t your book belong here? Sons in the Shadow Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing Surviving the Brandy Portrait of an Liberalism Family Business Formula For Failure Intelligence O cer Dr. Clark Jensen Roy H. Park, Jr. Chuck Render
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THE WEEK leftist outrage, along with angry demands for resignations and Ryan plan? Maybe you’ll prefer what’s in the People’s Budget: impeachments. One would have expected the Kill Team to massive, massive tax increases, hundreds of billions of dollars’ cause an even stronger reaction, but after it broke in late worth. Top income-tax rates are raised to 47 percent, taxes on March, it was a modest one-day story in most media outlets; capital gains are increased, taxes on dividends are increased, the New York Times gave it 700 words on page A4 and then the tax on death is increased, and, perhaps most destructive, the let the distasteful matter drop. Whatever could explain the tax on work is increased: Both the employer and the employee difference? sides of the payroll tax are raised substantially—an enormous tax hike on everybody fortunate enough to be employed and n All praise the House Progressive Caucus, which intends to a significant disincentive to future hiring. More new taxes on release an alternative to Rep. Paul Ryan’s fiscal program. businesses of all kinds—from banks to investment firms to They’re calling it “the People’s Budget.” (Strange how pro- manufacturers—round out the agenda. As for spending cuts: gressives continue to claim the mandate of “the people,” when National defense is gutted. And that’s about it. Instead of the people continue to not elect many of them.) Don’t like the putting the brakes on our out-of-control entitlement spending,
Attention Deficit
S I write this, the president is poised to give a explaining how Reagan’s deficits were a fiendish plot to A speech on tackling the deficit. Speculation on keep government from pursuing progressive goals. “Pres - what he is going to say runs the gamut from the ident Reagan killed the golden goose,” the head of a usual unserious “We need a serious discussion but I group called KidsPac told Dionne. won’t mention any specifics” to “Tax hikes for every- And of course, under George W. Bush the deficit went body!” up again and, again, we were told that this was a crisis of To listen to liberals, we are through the looking glass biblical proportions by the same people who today now. I heard E. J. Dionne on the radio champion a deficit X times larger than the other day bemoaning how the George W. Bush’s. How many times terms of the debate had changed in did we hear how outrageous it was to Washington. He’s still part of that old pay for two wars with deficit spend- “consensus” that says the govern- ing? Now we’re paying for three and ment should be regurgitating cash on that’s just fine. the American public the way a mom - This whole “starve the beast” thing my bird feeds its young. That we’ve turned out to be wrong. The beast, it suddenly abandoned the “more stim- seems, can get all the nutrients it ulus” era in favor of the “more cuts” needs from Chinese food. Second, the era has liberals like Dionne com - assumption that liberals would feel plaining like the kid who upon arrival constrained in their statist ambi tions at the Twine Ball Museum shouts, by a deficit was wildly optimistic. Ba - “But you said we were going to Disney World!” rack Obama’s first budget deficit was nearly as large as the One of the amusing things about all this is that the entire budget of 2000. same liberals used to say that Ronald Reagan’s “mas- There’s hypocrisy on the right, too, of course. Con - sive” deficits—which paid for victory in the Cold War, servatives have been on every side of the deficit question. which in turn begat the “peace dividend” that fueled Bill But there’s an important caveat to be made on this point. Clinton’s deficit reduction—were the main reason why To say that small deficits aren’t that great a problem does- historians will view Ronald Reagan as a failure. At the end n’t make you inconsistent when you say that massive of the PBS “American Experience” documentary on deficits are a problem. Having a few too many beers at a Reagan, a saddened Anthony Lewis whines that we “paid barbecue isn’t a red flag. Waking up, with no memory of a terrible price” for the victory in the Cold War, those huge how you got there, in a flophouse with a toothless prosti- deficits: “And we are continuing to pay for it, and our chil- tute named Kandiii (“that’s the classy way to spell it!”) is dren are going to pay for it.” more of a concern. But if you once said that even a few too In 1988, when E. J. Dionne was a reporter for the New many beers is a grave problem, but now don’t have any York Times (please—it was just a coincidence that they objection to a Fleet Week getaway with Kandiii, well, picked someone with Dionne’s views to be their national hypocrisy barely covers it. GETTY / correspondent; no liberal bias here), he penned an essay —JONAH GOLDBERG ALEX WONG
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THE WEEK the People’s Budget spends even more. Rather than repealing Obamacare, as Ryan would, the People’s Budget complements it with a health-care system directly run by the federal govern- ment. Our sincere thanks to Representatives Nadler, Fattah, Rangel, and Frank, Senator Sanders, et al., for helping to spell out the options to the American people.
n Every so often the Supreme Court uses a good method to reach a good result. Such was the case when the Court dis- missed a recent challenge to an Arizona law that offered tax credits for donations to organizations that provide private- school scholarships. The plaintiffs claimed that letting people Making waves—Raúl and Jimmy receive a tax break in return for donations that help students n Jimmy Carter put on quite a performance in Cuba. Many attend religious schools violates the First Amendment. A 5–4 were hoping he would return with Alan Gross, the American majority of the Court ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing aid worker who has been a hostage and prisoner since to bring the case: In other words, even if they were right, they December 2009. He did not. After visiting Gross, Carter said, had not suffered a harm that the Constitution empowers fed eral “He still seems to be in good spirits, professing his innocence.” courts to remedy. In her dissent, the newest justice, Elena That was unusual wording. Carter met with Fidel Castro, refer- Kagan, demonstrated that she has mastered the misleading ring to him as an “old friend.” He said that Castro “seems to be diction of modern judicial activism. The Court, she wrote, in good health,” for those who were worrying. Carter also had “damages one of this Nation’s defining constitutional com mit - the decency to meet with democrats. But, in a gratuitous twist, ments,” said commitment to lax standing rules having been he called for the release of the “Cuban Five.” These are Cuban made in a 1968 case. A win for judicial restraint, and for school spies, held in American prisons, after their convictions for choice. espionage and conspiracy to commit murder. Unlike Alan Gross, they have been afforded every legal protection. One of n President Obama concluded a free-trade agreement with them was convicted for his role in the Castro government’s Colombia—you know, the one Pres. George W. Bush negotiat- shootdown of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996. Those ed more than four years ago? If passed, the pact would elimi- planes were in international airspace, and three U.S. citizens, nate most Colombian tariffs on U.S. goods and, one estimate and one permanent resident, were killed. While in Cuba, Carter predicts, boost our exports by $1 billion per year. In 2008, met with Raúl Castro for six hours. Afterward, this Castro said, Obama swore to oppose the deal because of “violence against “Carter is an honest man.” He is something. unions” in that country. But Colombia was in a civil war; there was violence against everybody. Now, Pres. Juan Manuel San - n Maybe the Obama administration was right to avoid saying tos has promised to implement a labor-rights “action plan”—a we’re at war in Libya, since it’s not treating our military en - sop to Obama’s disgruntled union buddies. As is so often the gage ment with any strategic seriousness. The U.S. has backed case, Obama’s performance cannot truly have pleased anyone. out of much of the military operation and NATO is struggling to keep up the intensity of its strikes in our absence. If we are n The useful term “anarcho-tyranny” describes that stage of to have any hope of cracking Qaddafi’s government or forcing governmental dysfunction in which the state is anarchically a favorable diplomatic settlement, we have to keep up the hopeless at coping with large matters but ruthlessly tyrannical pressure on the ground and continue to destroy Qaddafi’s mil- in the enforcement of small ones. An example recently turned itary. The rebels are a shambolic lot in the best of circum- up in San Gabriel, a middle-middle-class, mostly Asian sub- stances, and are utterly hopeless without relentless strikes urb of Los Angeles. Following complaints from neighbors against the pro-Qaddafi forces arrayed against them. President about noise, police and building inspectors entered a row of Obama seems intent on maintaining multilateral form over connected townhouses and found a large “birthing center” function, putting U.S. non-leadership above our ultimate filled with women from mainland China. The women were goal of ousting Qaddafi. It’s no way to fight a war, or even a “obstetric tourists” who had flown in from China to give birth, kinetic military action. thereby securing the advantages of U.S. citizenship for their children. One Chinese website advertising such services enu- n For decades Syria has been a fiefdom of the Assad family. merates those advantages: tuition-free public schools, student Bashar, the current president, learned how to be a tyrant at the loans, consular protection, “preferential treatment in assum- knee of his father Hafez, the previous president. Specializing ing significant leadership positions in the US . . . access to all in war and terror, they turned the country into an agency of American social welfare measures and medical facilities . . .” Iran. Dissidents real and imaginary are murdered or disappear It was not this flagrant hawking of U.S. citizenship that into underground prison cells for most of their lives. When the NEWSCOM / caused San Gabriel to shut down the birthing center, though. Tunisian and Egyptian regimes fell, Bashar assured the world GETTY / Nor was it the shameless appeal to foreigners to come leech that he was a true representative of the Syrian people and there- AFP / off our welfare and public-education systems. No: The pro- fore safely in power for as long as he liked. A sort of rolling prietors had removed interior walls in violation of building wave of protest is breaking over Damascus, Latakia, Banias, codes. Some challenges to the rule of law the authorities and numerous smaller towns. Foreign journalists have been
ADALBERTO ROQUE cannot abide. thrown out or refused entry, and facts are hard to come by. The
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THE WEEK security forces are reported to have shot dead 170 demonstra- cars, but not in any “public space,” though freedom of worship tors, a figure that is almost surely too low, and to have ringed might permit wearing it near a mosque. A policeman, or better several towns with tanks and mortars. Bashar’s apologists put a policewoman, may invite a veiled woman to show her face for forward the standard conspiracy nonsense that foreign agents purposes of identification but it is forbidden to pull the veil off and saboteurs (read: Americans and Israelis) are behind every- in any circumstances. And much more small print besides. The thing. Syrians are showing exemplary courage in their deter- ministry of the interior judges that a mere 2,000 women are mination to be rid of a dictator who has no hesitation about affected, and most commentators think the law is only a gesture having them shot, if need be, by the thousands as his father on the part of a state proud to be secular. A handful of Muslim used to order. women hurried to be the first to be arrested, and the fact that the police did almost nothing suggests that the law starts out n Richard Goldstone is the former South African judge who as a dead letter. Someone of Algerian origin, Ab der rahmane wrote a report for the United Nations Human Rights Council Dahmane, gloried in the title of Sarkozy’s diversity adviser on the fighting in the Gaza Strip that began in December 2008. until he was fired. The current niqab to-do coincided with a The report was a travesty, laughable except that it has raised government-inspired debate on the role of Islam in France. A the campaign to ostracize and delegitimize Israel to a higher vengeful Dahmane condemned Sarkozy and his party as the level. Elementary legal principles were ignored. Such investi- “plague of Muslims.” He calls on Muslims to wear a green star, gation as there was served to blacken Israel. The report reached a reference to the yellow star the Nazis forced Jews to wear. the conclusion that Israeli troops had deliberately killed civil- Whether this should be sewn on the niqab he does not say. ians and were guilty of war crimes. Goldstone was thus en - dorsing the main plank of Hamas propaganda—that Israel’s n Dalil Boubakeur, France’s most prominent Muslim leader self-defense against terrorism is actually aggression. After an and head of the Grand Mosque in Paris, wants the taxpayer to exhaustive Israeli inquiry into the conduct of its armed forces, fund a major mosque-building program. Sixteen other Muslim Goldstone has been obliged to reverse himself. In an op-ed in notables have a simpler proposal: They have signed a joint the Washington Post, he accepted that civilians in Gaza were petition asking for empty Catholic churches to be made over to not targeted intentionally. More than that, he wrote that if he them. As things stand, every Friday thousands of Muslims take had known then what he knows now, his report would have over streets to hold their prayers in the open. They close local been very different. Where does a country go to get its reputa- businesses, block traffic, and intimidate residents, trapping tion back? them in their homes. Marine Le Pen, the new head of the far- right National Front party, compares Muslims praying in the n Call it multilateral mission creep. Mere weeks after it suc- streets to the wartime Nazi occupation “without tanks or sol- ceeded in getting a no-fly zone established under U.N. aus- diers.” A shocked public seems to believe that churches con- pices to protect rebels in Benghazi, the Arab League has made verted into mosques would never be allowed to revert to a similar plea to the Security Council vis-à-vis Gaza. What Christianity, while in a Muslim country Christians could never events have transpired in that prison strip to justify a similar hope to convert a mosque into a church. Marine Le Pen is ex - “humanitarian intervention”? Israeli aircraft have targeted the pecting that same public to vote for her in the next presidential agents of Hamas and the tunnels through which they smuggle election—and they well might. Qassam rockets. Recently, more than 100 of these rockets were launched into southern Israel, and one of them struck a school n The classic Tour de France bicycle race is famously grueling, bus. If a truly humanitarian intervention were launched in pitting rider and bike against Alpine gradients and Mediterranean Gaza, we doubt it would be to the Arab League’s liking. heat. Cyclists seeking an even greater challenge might consider the Tour de Pakistan, a 1,000-mile race from Karachi in the south n The Chinese Communists are cracking down more intensely to Abbottabad in the north, up by the border with Kashmir. than they have for many years. The Middle East unrest has Competitors face atrocious road surfaces, makeshift accommo- spooked them, because it has inspired restless Chinese: Maybe dations, and Islamic disapproval of their bare limbs and tight they, too, can once more challenge their rulers? Ai Weiwei is shorts, along with the everyday hazards of just being in a nation one of the people who have been cracked down on. He is not yet as riotous as Pakistan. Unsurprisingly, the organizers’ main another anonymous dissenter. He is one of the country’s most problem is attracting foreign competitors. This year’s event famous artists, the designer of the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadi- hosted just one team from um, for example. In recent years, he has been detained and beat- another nation: Afghan istan. en, beaten so badly that his brain has hemorrhaged. As of this The Af ghans were, however, writing, he has been “disappeared.” He was in Beijing Airport, mighty happy to be taking part. about to fly to Hong Kong, when he was dragged off. He has Their team leader, 24-year-old not been heard from since. The Chinese government is awfully Hashmatullah Tookhy, said bold, to “disappear” such a well-known personage. Then again, to the Wall Street Journal: “In they have the current Nobel peace laureate in prison. Afghanistan the situation is not good, and the security is not n The ever-enthusiastic Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy has promoted a good. In Pakistan, the whole PPI / new law in France regulating the niqab, the veil that covers a time we relax.” Just as your woman’s face except the eyes. He thinks the veil makes them mother told you: There’s always
AFTAB AHMED “prisoners.” It’s to be allowed at home, in hotel rooms, and in someone worse off than you.
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THE WEEK n The U.S. Army’s former marketing slogan, “An Army of One,” was justly derided, but one British soldier comes close n “Snooki” is the stage name of 23-year-old Miss Nicole to embodying it. The British Army has awarded the Con - Polizzi, who shares a beach house with seven coevals in spicuous Gallantry Cross to Sgt. Dipprasad Pun, a Gurkha the reality-TV show Jersey Shore. Cast members in the show warrior from Nepal, who singlehandedly dispersed some 30 live the vacation lifestyle of young white-ethnic working- Taliban attackers besieging his guard post in Afghanistan last class Americans—clubbing, drinking, sunbathing, gossiping, fall. When the mujahideen appeared, he hauled a 50-pound fighting, and “hooking up.” For reasons unfathomable to us, machine gun off its mount and fired 400 rounds, then threw Jersey Shore has colossal viewing figures: 8.45 million for the gun’s mount at the attackers, tossed 17 grenades, and the 2011 season premiere. Snooki’s extramural activities have finally screamed “I will kill you” in Nepali while fending the included participation in a tag-team bout on Wrestlemania survivors off with a sandbag. That plus a Claymore mine that he set off were enough to disperse the Taliban. On the other (her team won) and a minor conviction (fine, community ser- hand, readers of The Week may recall a recent item about a vice) for being, in the words of the judge, “rude, profane, Gurkha soldier on a train in India who fended off three dozen obnoxious, and self-indulgent” on a public beach when armed robbers using only his sword. In view of that, it hardly drunk. This résumé so commended Miss Polizzi to the seems cricket to equip Sergeant Pun with WWII-level Programming Association of Rutgers weapons. University that they paid her $32,000 to appear in person for two Q&A ses- n John Steinbeck at his best—Of Mice and Men—was a force. sions with students. Over 2,000 people At his worst—The Grapes of Wrath—he was the liberals’ Ayn showed up at the events, to their ever- Rand, minus the fun parts. He also made up a lot of nonsense lasting shame. They heard such pearls of that he presented as fact, including a good deal of his celebrated scholarship as: “When you’re tan, you feel Travels with Charley: In Search of America. As the writer Bill better about yourself,” and: “Study hard, Steigerwald has discovered, the heart of that story—Steinbeck’s but party harder.” Annual tuition fees at solitary travels in 1960, sleeping in a cramped camper-truck Rutgers are $23,466. bed accompanied only by his faithful mutt—are a load of it. Mr. Steinbeck seems to have been one of the original champagne radicals, staying in expensive hotels accompanied by his actress n One of the lesser transient sensations of early April was the wife, consorting with the high-and-mighty “gay caveman” story, as follows. From the late Stone Age to rather than the down-and-out. (During the early Bronze Age (2900 to 2400 B.C.) northern and eastern one stop, Stei ger wald reports, Steinbeck Europe was dominated by peoples known collectively to had to be loaned a jacket and tie by the archeologists as the Corded Ware culture. These folk were hotel management, in order to satisfy very particular about proper burials. A male was customarily the dining room’s dress code.) Travels buried lying on his right side facing west, with weapons and with Charley is partly an indictment tools around him; a woman was buried lying on her left side of America—for racism, pollution, facing east, surrounded by necklaces, earrings, and household materialism, etc.—meaning that what pots. Imagine, therefore, the bewilderment of archeologists in Steinbeck is most guilty of is not just the Czech Republic on finding a Corded Ware male skeleton literary malpractice but fabricating buried female-style. “The man was probably homosexual or evidence. transsexual,” archeologist Katerina Semeradova told an April 5 news conference. Two British newspapers picked up the n In early April, Bob Dylan gave concerts in Beijing and story and within hours the Internet was alive with commen- Shanghai. The performances included neither of his two signa- tary about the gay caveman. In vain did more conservative ture political-protest numbers, “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The archeologists point out that Corded Ware peoples were pas- Times They Are a-Changin’.” Coming as China’s Communist toralists and early farmers, several millennia removed from authorities were conducting their latest crackdown on dissent, paleolithic cave dwellers, and that determination of sex from this raised eyebrows, notably those belonging to Maureen skeletal remains is an approximate science. The story was Dowd of the New York Times op-ed page. Dylan had allowed “too good to check,” and offered too many opportunities for the Chinese government to pre-approve his sets, Dowd tasteless humor. alleged, on what evidence we do not know. Dylan’s defenders riposted that the man cut loose from his folk/protest roots in n Frank Lampl was born in 1926 in Brno, in Czechoslovakia, 1965 and revisits them rarely and reluctantly. On a schedule of the son of a landowner. He was still a teenager when the around 100 concerts a year, Dylan last performed “Blowin’” in Germans deported him first to Auschwitz and then as a slave July 2010, “Times” in August 2009. Dylan has long been sunk laborer to Dachau. He was the only member of his family to in apolitical solipsism. It would have been gratifying, but survive. After the war, he was a “bourgeois undesirable” in the PICTURE GROUP
astounding, to hear him emulate Icelandic singer Björk, who eyes of the Czech Communists, and they condemned him to / called for Tibetan independence from the stage of a 2008 con- more slave labor in the mines. In the Prague Spring of 1968 he cert in Shanghai. In any case Miss Dowd, if she wants to attack escaped to England, where he rose eventually to become SCOTT GRIES people for kowtowing to Chinese tyrants, might turn her gaze chairman of Bovis, turning it into a huge international con- :
across the page to Thomas Friedman. struction company. An extraordinary triumph in itself, this POLIZZI
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was also fitting revenge for so much earlier injustice and evil. Dead at 84, R.I.P. THE BUDGET I A Conflict of Fiscal Visions n Mike Campbell was a farmer and a proud african—and no less so because he was white. Robert Mugabe saw things differently. aul Ryan’s budget proposal for next year is the most In 2000, Zimbabwe’s dictator began a “land-reform program”— ambitious conservative initiative since—well, actually, the seizure of farmland possessed by white Zimbabweans and P since ever. It includes more than $6 trillion in budget expulsion of its owners. The seized land was awarded to Mugabe cuts over the next decade, as compared with Pres. Barack loyalists who lacked the ability to farm or the inclination to learn Obama’s budgets. If implemented, the plan would rapidly sta- how. Resisting Mu ga be is tempting death, so most white bilize the national debt and then pay it down. Ryan proposes to Zimbabweans resigned to fate. But Campbell wouldn’t cede his repeal Obamacare, take on the massive health-care entitle- edenic Mount Carmel. He appealed to Zimbabwe’s supreme ments, privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pare back agri- Court, and was dismissed. so he appealed to the southern african culture subsidies, build on the success of welfare reform, and De vel op ment Community—and Mugabe loyalists kidnapped, overhaul the tax code. savagely beat, and retained in indoctrination camps him, his wife, not even a small fraction of this agenda can be achieved and his son-in-law—an ordeal that Campbell barely survived. while President Obama and senate majority leader Harry Reid Improbably, on nov. 28, 2008, the saDC ruled in Campbell’s retain their positions. The purpose of Ryan’s plan is to raise a favor, though his head injuries prevented him from understanding standard to which Republicans can aspire in 2012. In the best- the ruling. an african court declared Mugabe’s land seizure racist: case scenario, their presidential candidate runs on most of an important symbolic victory, but only symbolic—law alone these ideas, the party wins a mandate in the next election, and could not re strain Mu ga be. In april, the Campbells were beaten the work of making the government leaner and more sober can again; in september their house was burned, and the intimidation begin in earnest in 2013. became too much. They moved away, effectively dispossessed, People over 55 have spent their working lives in the expecta- though the son-in-law promises more litigation. Mike Campbell tion that the government would fund Medicare at a certain level, never fully recovered from his beatings. He died on april 6, at age and Ryan would keep that implicit promise. People under that 78, of brain injuries tracing to his kidnappings—a life sacrificed age would get a new deal. When they retire, they would be to the exposure of a tyrant. R.I.P. allowed to choose among health-care plans, with the government
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If the political risks are big, though, so are the potential rewards for the country. We have reservations about the Ryan budget, as is only to be expected in such a far-ranging docu- ment. We would like to see the details of the tax-reform plan that emerges from the Ways and Means Committee before making a final judgment. But on the whole, the Ryan plan puts the Republican party on record for a government that is more modest in its goals, more able to match means to ends, and more respectful of the initiative of the citizens it serves. The last two years have been a forced march toward European social democracy. Ryan is pointing the way back toward a republic, and we are pleased to join his advance.
THE BUDGET II Cut Now, Cut Later
n April 8, when Republicans and Democrats an - nounced a deal to keep the government open through O the end of September, our initial reaction was to hail it as a modest victory. True, the announced $38 billion in cuts fell short of the $61 billion House Republicans had earlier voted for. Yes, the deal did not include all of the policy “rid- ers” we wanted to see, such as a funding cutoff for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s biggest abortionist. But the deal in - cluded a ban on the funding of abortion in the nation’s capital, renewed the school-choice program there, and reversed the pitching in to help them make their premiums. no longer would sharp upward trajectory of federal spending in the preceding the federal government attempt to micromanage the price years. The political risks a shutdown posed to the conservative of medical services; no longer would it encourage providers to cause, the relative puniness of the figures involved compared perform more procedures regardless of patient outcomes. with the size of the overall budget, and the limits imposed by The Ryan budget fixes the budgetary incentives in Medi - the Democratic Senate and White House all inclined us to give caid, too. At the moment, the power to make funding promises Speaker John Boehner the benefit of the doubt. is divorced from the responsibility to pay for them: The states As details emerged, the doubts began to dissolve, and not to set eligibility and benefit levels, and the federal government Boehner’s benefit. It appears that roughly half the cuts aren’t foots half the bill. Republicans would instead give the states a true cuts in discretionary spending, the rest being one-time fixed amount of money to spend on the medical needs of the savings and gimmickry. Even the best deals have some fakery. poor. By itself this reform would not make Medicaid a less We were not born yesterday. But this much? In the new Tea crummy program for its beneficiaries. (The program’s patient Party–infused Congress? Republican congressmen were put in outcomes are indistinguishable from those of people with no a very difficult situation. If they voted no, the costs of a shut- insurance at all.) But it would at least enable state-level down would be magnified by the public perception that they reforms and stop the fiscal bleeding. had reneged on a deal. If they voted yes, they would be ratify- The fights over the continuing resolutions to fund the gov- ing the business-as-usual that many of them had campaigned ernment through the end of September were just skirmishes. against. Republican leaders responded to the turmoil by con- Ryan’s budget begins a battle that will continue through the tinuing to trumpet the “historic” nature of the deal. Just three 2012 elections. The lines of attack on the Ryan plan are as pre- months into his speakership, Boehner has put a black mark on dictable as they are spurious. We will hear ad nauseam that his record. Republicans are savaging the poor and the middle class for the Conservatives should demand that Republicans do much fun of it—as though the spiraling interest rates, currency crash, better in their next test: the vote on raising the federal debt ceil- and slower growth that are the real alternative would advance ing. Any congressman or senator who has not proposed a plan the interests of the bulk of the population. We will be told to bring the deficit to zero immediately this spring has, we simultaneously that the Medicare proposal is heartless and that think, a responsibility to vote yes. But it would be irresponsi- Republicans will never follow up on it. The pro-growth tax ble not to couple that increase in the debt limit with reforms to reforms contemplated in the bill will come in for attack for put us on a sounder course. An updated version of the Gramm- favoring the rich. Rudman spending caps that worked until Congress eliminated AP
/ Demagoguery isn’t the only obstacle. Americans do not them; a cap on Medicaid spending; an end to the practice of know much about the federal budget, overestimating how automatically increasing discretionary spending every year: much of it goes to foreign aid and how easily waste and fraud Republicans should push for these reforms, and more. And can be rooted out from it. The fiscal crisis Ryan means to while they may not get all they ask for, they should not settle SCOTT APPLEWHITE . J preempt is not, for most people, a palpable reality. for fake reforms—or fake leadership.
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hands clasping the top of the wooden frame. “Seven weeks ago, this looked like a very sleepy campaign,” he recalled, al - most wistfully. “This race is now the most significant judicial race in the country.” Prosser had long been expected to coast to another ten-year term on the bench, especially after he won a convincing 55 percent showing in February’s nonparti- san primary, in which candidates of all political stripes competed for two spots on the general-election ballot. Kloppen - burg had placed second, with 25 percent, earning herself a slot; an unknown attor- ney for the state with a few unremarkable academic appointments, she was hardly in a position to surge. Besides, springtime skirmishes are usu- ally sleepy affairs in the Badger State, with turnout on average below 20 percent. Prosser knew that he would have to go through the motions, debating Kloppen - burg and cutting a couple of ads. But a bloody brawl? No way. How Wisconsin Was Won Then Madison erupted. Gov. Scott A close call in a proxy war with the Left Walker, a Republican, began to unveil his budget agenda. He went to the mat against the public-sector unions, pledging to strip BY ROBERT COSTA them of their collective-bargaining power. Democrats, depressed after their poor Appleton, Wis. highway, rain and ice pelted his wind- 2010 showing, suddenly began to exhibit AvID PROSSeR awoke near dawn shield. There was a gnawing sense among alarming signs of life. on Sunday, April 3, stretched the tight-knit team that the obstacles were For the three ensuing weeks, swarms of his 68-year-old muscles, and getting Biblical: First came the unions, protesters, huddled like carolers, screamed D flipped on his cell phone. He then the personal attacks, now the very outside of Walker’s office deep into the frowned. His campaign had booked a heavens. Prosser’s crew arrived safely night; dreadlocked undergraduates glee- bruising 48-hour itinerary of flying and on time at a small hotel on the frozen fully papered the capitol’s marble halls around the state in the election’s last lip of sprawling Big Green Lake, where with anti-Walker messages scrawled on hours. But with an unruly hailstorm fast local Republicans had gathered in a flag- cardboard posters. Prosser, who thought approaching, senior adviser Brian Nemoir draped ballroom for their annual Lincoln he had left partisan politics behind in had nixed the twin-pistoned plan. Day dinner. Mark Slate, a county-judge 1998 when he was appointed to the state Nemoir, a lanky, fast-talking politico, candidate decked out in a stovepipe hat, supreme court by then-governor Tommy had a nightmarish vision of the headline: welcomed Prosser at the door. Heavyset Thompson, found himself smack in the “Supreme Court Justice Prosser, Others town officials milled nearby, making middle of a proxy war. vanish over Wisconsin.” As he reminded good use of the cash bar. Once Walker’s budget bill passed in me, a scheduled passenger on those skip- Prosser, a former GOP legislator who mid-March, after much wrangling and hop flights, “No one wants to be the briefly served as speaker of the state lefty hysterics, progressives decided to ‘others’ in that story.” assembly, turned on the charm, moving make toppling Prosser their cause célèbre. Prosser donned his on-the-trail uni- from the county chair to the handful of Tripping up Walker’s legislation in the form—dark suit, starched white shirt, and Young Republicans, thanking them for courts was their only option with the Reagan-era spectacles, the thin-rimmed their support. everyone was kind to the GOP holding both legislative chambers. type with a metal top-bar between the gray-haired judge—patting him on the So comrades in the Dane County govern- frames—then jumped into a car, making shoulder, exchanging quips—but anxiety ment promptly filed suit, claiming that the his way south toward Green Lake, a fish- hung in the air. bill’s passage procedure violated the ing town. On the road, he was going to Prosser was locked in a tight reelection state’s open-meeting laws. have to hustle, especially if he wanted to fight, battling JoAnne Kloppenburg, an Their case was weak, not that it mat- make it back north by nightfall to get his environmental lawyer, to keep his seat. tered. All 14 Democratic state senators mug on the evening news in the state’s Green Lake conservatives were nervous had fled to Illinois once Walker unfurled conservative upper swaths. about his chances. Prosser took to the podi- his bill, hoping to postpone a final vote
As he zoomed down an empty rural um for some extemporaneous remarks, his with their absence. But while they were DARREN GYGI
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busy bragging on MSNBC about their GWC’s allegation as an outright lie. In crews. An hour past midnight, as even the great escape, a Senate clerk approved the Green Lake, Prosser lamented how the most ardent backers began to drift away, GOP-only quorum, enabling the bill to race had devolved into union-fueled hor- Kloppenburg emerged from behind a pass. It was an utterly aboveboard maneu- ror. “Sometimes,” he sighed, “I feel like droopy black curtain, in casual garb, to ver, but a county judge sympathetic to the David against the whole empire of the declare . . . nothing. Democrats put the brakes on the law’s Wisconsin Left, and the Left from other “It’s not over yet,” Kloppenburg ex - implementation. parts of the country who are coming into plained softly, wearing a grim smile. “We The Walker administration, appalled, this state to try to determine this race.” just heard from the AP that they’ve said immediately urged a state appeals court to As Election Day neared, Madison the race is too close to call. There are pock- strike down the circuit court’s ruling. But activists and their allies were out in full ets of votes still to be counted around the the appellate panel threw up its hands and force, walking arm-in-arm with Jesse state.” She urged the throng to go home to kicked the bill to the state supreme court. Jackson down State Street, singing union bed. On the other side of the state, at the Since then, pressure has mounted on the ditties and Woody Guthrie songs. Kloppen - Seven Seas restaurant in Hartland, Prosser seven-member high court to weigh in. So burg was closing in on the incumbent. The relayed a similar message. far, the court has resisted. mood among the dreadlocked and the Wednesday morning was another head - Prosser gives judicial conservatives a marching schoolteachers was upbeat, ache for Brian Nemoir, who found him- 4–3 edge on the bench, so liberals target- even jubilant. self a key player not only in a race that had ed the April election as an opportunity to Knowing her base, Kloppenburg swung gone national, but also in an extended flip the court and declare the result a through the capital for a final get-out-the- vote count that was sure to be contentious. career-threatening referendum on Walker. vote rally at the Edgewater Hotel, which “There is no playbook for this,” he told The governor had beaten them at the polls overlooks Lake Mendota. She gave a reporters. and in the legislature. To topple his signa- long-winded oration as dusk settled upon The unofficial tally had Kloppenburg ture law, they needed a black-robed coup. the white granite capitol down the street. up by 204 votes, an astonishingly slim Millions poured in to help the effort. Tall and thin, the 57-year-old promised lead. On Wednesday afternoon, she for- After the most intense month of his career, David Prosser had thought it was over, only to find out, in a shocking reversal, that he had won.
The liberal blogosphere alerted activists a landslide on April 5 as her supporters, mally declared victory. Then Madison across the country. Their brethren in Wis- decked in anti-Walker paraphernalia, erupted, again. A tabulation error in consin began to organize on the ground, roared. Waukesha County, a GOP-heavy region, eager for fresh drama and another excuse Watching from afar, Governor Walker was discovered. Prosser, thought to have to picket Capitol Square. was worried. On Monday night, hours lost a heartbreaker, suddenly netted more The Greater Wisconsin Committee, a before voters headed to the polls, he told than 7,000 additional votes, two days leftist group with deep union ties, fun- me in his capitol office that she could win. after the election, and one day after his neled millions into anti-Prosser advertis- “Two weeks ago, I was extremely worried opponent had thanked him “for his ser- ing, taking relentlessly to the airwaves. about Prosser,” he said. “A little bit less vice.” “They are the Left’s biggest political play- so now. But I know that it all comes back It was almost too much. After the most er in the state,” notes Brett Healy, the to turnout.” Kloppenburg supporters, he intense month of his career, Prosser had president of the MacIver Institute, a acknowledged, “clearly have a real big thought it was over, only to find out, in a Wisconsin-based think tank. “They run motivator: anger.” shocking reversal, that he had won. the ads that no one else wants to run.” Tuesday morning saw Wisconsinites A recount is likely in order, and the Indeed. The GWC first aired ads that turn out in historic numbers: Nearly 1.5 final outcome may not be known for tied Prosser to the budget bill. “Prosser million showed up, approximately 35 per- weeks. In the meantime, stunned Dem o - Equals Walker” was the usual theme. But cent of the electorate. Prosser, wearied by crats, such as U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, those attacks were fluff compared with the onslaught, was blunt about his chances are calling for state and federal investiga- the group’s biggest smear, a dimly lit, as he prepared to watch returns. “Some tions into the Waukesha surprise. Prosser, creepy spot that cast Prosser as soft on people want to send a message—‘Prosser for his part, is keeping a low profile, pedophilia. That ad alleged that Prosser, Equals Walker’ or ‘Stop the Bill.’ But I pleased with the turn of events and ready as an Appleton-area district attorney three think the message to the country, if [Klop - to return to his quiet court life. decades ago, failed to properly prosecute penburg] is elected, will be: Wisconsin has Nemoir, of course, is keeping busy, a Catholic priest accused of molesting gone insane.” tangling with enraged leftists. But as he several boys. After the polls closed, Kloppenburg glances at Prosser’s upcoming sched- Prosser was furious, and the victims supporters mingled at her makeshift head- ule, he doesn’t need to check the fore- in the case rallied to his side, going on quarters in Madison, sipping cocktails cast. It is sunny, with a strong chance of statewide television to denounce the beside the klieg lights of local television victory.
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what enables public-employee unions to live, also saw lower-than-average drops, obtain their generous compensation ranging from 19 to 29 percent. A Victory— packages and pensions, collective bar- These figures suggest that the fight gaining is essentially a state-level ver- over collective-bargaining repeal ener- And a sion of an entitlement. gized liberal voters but did not excite the In selling his plan, Walker argued that marginal voters who turned out in force Wisconsin’s def i cit crisis was too large for Re pub li cans in 2010. This indicates Warning to ignore and could be faced only by that the GOP’s 2010 turnout advantage, cutting spending. He pointed out that which may have added a couple of points Some worrisome trends are evident collective bargaining was the biggest to its nationwide margin, will likely not in Judge Prosser’s reelection dri ver of spending, and that public- persist if liberal Democrats believe enti- sector workers would still retain signifi- tlements are seriously endangered. BY HENRY OLSEN cant protection. His spending reforms, The decline in conservative support in he asserted, would boost economic the west and center of the state is more ONSeRVATIVeS are right to growth and bring jobs to Wisconsinites. ominous. This area of Wisconsin, along cheer Wisconsin supreme- The good news for conservatives is that with the southern county of Ke n o sha, court justice David Prosser’s the voters didn’t flinch when asked to en- has traditionally been a bastion of white C apparent reelection, but it’s dorse this version of entitlement reform. working-class Democrats. In 2010, such worth looking closely at the results. Throughout the state, most voters who Democrats nationwide shifted dramati- While his victory was encouraging, backed Walker in November backed cally toward the Re pub li cans. This hap- Pros ser won only because turnout among Prosser in April, and they turned out in pened in Wisconsin, too. Fourteen of the Milwaukee’s black voters was signifi- large enough numbers to carry the day. 27 counties that voted for John Kerry in cantly lower than the statewide average, The vote was especially encouraging the very close 2004 election voted for and because his percent of the minority in the state’s Republican heartland. The Scott Walker in 2010. If one removes vote was nearly three times as high as suburban Milwaukee counties of Wauke - four liberal or minority-dominated Gov. Scott Walker’s was in 2010. Two sha, Ozaukee, and Washington regularly Dem o crat ic counties from this list, 14 of other 2010 GOP advantages—higher- deliver 65 to 70 percent of their votes the 23 white working-class Democratic than-normal GOP turnout and strong to competitive GOP candidates. They counties switched sides. support from white working-class Dem - gave nearly 74 percent of their vote to Last week, 11 of these 14 counties ocrats—were absent. These facts should Prosser. Staunch GOP counties to the switched back. Furthermore, virtually concern conservatives who think the pub - north of Milwaukee, up the shore of every other county in this area voted sig- lic is already prepared to embrace wide- Lake Michigan, and in the Green Bay nificantly less strongly for Prosser than it scale entitlement reform. region also gave Prosser higher percent- did for Walker, suggesting that the white Normally, results in Wis con sin judi- ages than they gave Walker. working-class Democrats in those coun- cial races do not closely follow parti- Yet one reason the election was so close ties reverted to their normal voting pat- san voting patterns, but this one did. was that turnout in most staunchly Dem - terns. Ac cord ing to Bert Kritzer, a University ocratic counties was higher (relative to As I wrote in NATIONAL ReVIeW last of Minnesota law professor, there was a historic levels) than that in Re publi can year (“Blue Collars, Red Voters,” No- 90 percent correlation between a coun- counties. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel re - vem ber 29), white working-class voters, ty’s voting results for governor in 2010 porter Craig Gilbert notes that in 2010, particularly in the North and Mid west, and its results from last week, the highest the reverse was true: Turnout in GOP are the primary group that switches par- correlation in Wis con sin history. Con - counties was higher than normal, while ties in Republican wave years. While servatives and liberals are do ing battle that in Democratic counties was lower they oppose progressive liberalism, they nationally over whether entitlement than normal, chief ly because Republi - are motivated as much by their fear of programs should be reformed to re - cans were enthusiastic about voting, economic loss as by their hope of eco- duce the federal debt, and Prosser and while Democrats were not, and the nomic gain. This makes them particu - Kloppen burg were the vehicles by which Repub licans attracted most independent larly sensitive to policies that seem to those groups could register their opin- voters. threaten the lifetime stability that they ions on the same question at the state Statewide turnout in the judicial race believe entitlements like Social Security level. was 32 percent low er than in 2010, but and Medi care provide. If their reaction in In a recent speech at the American the decline was not uniform: In most the supreme-court race is any indication enterprise Institute, New Jersey gov - Republican counties, the decline was a of how they will view proposals to ernor Chris Christie said that public- couple of percentage points more than reform federal entitlements, conserva- employee pay and benefits are to states that, while in staunch Democratic coun- tive Re pub li cans will have a much hard- what entitlements are to the federal gov- ties, it was a few points less. For instance, er time winning in 2012. ernment. Since collective bargaining is liberal Dane County, home to the state It would be unwise to dismiss these capital (Madison) and the University of data simply because Prosser won. Mr. Olsen is a vice president of the American Wis con sin, saw only an 18 percent drop, Prosser was able to overcome adverse Enterprise Institute and the director of its National and surrounding counties, where many trends only because of unusual returns Research Initiative. government and university employees from minority-dominated Milwaukee
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precincts that are unlikely to be replicat- injured. Who bears the responsibility for ed in a presidential year. Mil waukee’s these deaths? minority populations turned out in sig- Trial by Fire That the Reverend Jones had a legal nificantly lower numbers and gave right to burn the Koran seems indisputable Prosser a significantly higher percentage The world reacts to a Koran-burning (give or take the objections of the Gaines - of the vote than would normally be the ville fire department’s regulations, which BY ANTHONY DANIELS case in a partisan election. In the core prohibited him from burning it outdoors). African-American-dominated precincts, But in a free society, obedience to the law turnout was down 43 percent from 2010, HE greatest advocate of book- does not constitute the whole of morality; compared with a 32 percent drop state - burning in history was probably an act that is legally permissible may not wide. Scott Walker received only 4.2 per- the skeptical philosopher David be permissible in any other sense. cent of the vote there in 2010, but David T Hume. In his Enquiry Concern - Generally speaking, a man may be said Prosser received 17 percent in 2011. ing Human Understanding, he wrote: “If to have willed the harmful consequences Other minority-dominated precincts we take in our hand any volume; of divin- of his actions if they were reasonably fore- behaved similarly. In those, turnout was ity or school metaphysics, for instance; let seeable by him. But the fact that he willed down by 40.6 percent, and Prosser re - us ask, Does it contain any abstract rea- the foreseeable consequences does not ceived 22.9 percent versus Walker’s 13.3 soning concerning quantity or number? absolve those who brought them about of percent. Had turnout in these black No. Does it contain any experimental rea- their own responsibility. and minority-dominated precincts been soning concerning matter of fact and exis- Did Jones incite or provoke? Legally equal to the statewide average, and had tence? No. Commit it then to the flames: speaking, he did not. He did not incite, Prosser done only as well as Walker, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and because he did not call on or encourage Kloppenburg would have increased her illusion.” people to harm anybody else or to destroy lead there by over 19,000 votes, more Hume was employing his famous and property. He did not provoke, because than enough to erase Pross er’s current habitual irony, of course: He did not really provocation by definition is an act to 7,700-vote lead. expect people to set fire to whole libraries which any reasonable person might react Barack Obama’s presence at the top of as a result of reading his words, nor did by doing something illegal and out of the ticket should ensure that blacks turn he want his own book committed to the character. Moreover, provocation, even out at a much higher rate in 2012. Re - flames, as it would have been if anyone where it exists, is not a legal excuse; it is publican candidates are also unlikely to had been literal-minded enough to carry only a partial defense or mitigation. A man receive levels of support anywhere close out his injunction. Indeed, were anybody who kills when provoked is not innocent to those Prosser obtained. The supreme- to burn books of school metaphysics or of all crime; he is merely guilty of a lesser court race was non par tisan; neither can- divinity after reading Hume we should crime than murder. didate was identi fied on the ballot as consider him a humorless dolt. It is there- But who is a reasonable person? This belonging to one party or the other. In fore to be hoped that the Rev. Terry Jones, is said to vary according to culture and to 2012 the ballot will clearly label which of Gainesville, Fla., never gets round to the prevailing mores of society. More - candidates are Dem ocrats and which are reading Hume. over, the orthodoxy of one age becomes Republicans. The Wis con sin data suggest Since Heine first suggested (in 1821) the heresy of the next, and vice versa. that black voters who turn out only in that where they burn books they will end But in this case it hardly matters, because years with high-profile races are strongly up burning people, the world has devel- even in Afghan istan there were people partisan people who primarily vote the oped and become more technologically who regarded the killings as indefen - party line. sophisticated. Heine thought that the sible, and therefore as not the acts of Wisconsin’s results do not mean con- same people, or the same kind of people, reasonable but provoked men. Even if servatives should abandon entitlement would burn both books and people, President Karzai was not entirely sincere reform, but they should expect an ener- which turned out to be the case in Nazi in his denunciation of the killings, which gized Democratic base that will fight Germany. But the Internet has changed is highly likely, his words of reprehen- with all its might. They will need to talk all that: The causal connection between sion were sufficient to deprive the perpe- persuasively about what entitlement re - the burning of books (or of a single trators of any defense of provocation. form means. It is not simply a way to book) and the burning of people has Moreover, the rioters were a mi nority, reduce the debt and grow the economy; become more tenuous and convoluted, even in their own towns; therefore they they should stress that it is absolutely and the conflagration of people can now chose to react murderously, and you can- necessary to preserve the lifetime secur - take place thousands of miles away from not choose to be provoked. ity that entitlements provide. the conflagration of books, at the end of Emerson said that every book that was For decades, conservatives have been a complex chain of causation. Such is burned illuminated the world, and Pastor wrongly tagged as caring only about the progress. Jones’s incinerated Koran has certainly rich. The fight over entitlement reform The Reverend Jones was fully aware done that, though what has been revealed and our nation’s fiscal future requires us that his action might result in violence, as by its light is not at all reassuring. His to confront and defeat this bogeyman indeed it did: at least 20 dead and others primitive criticism has called forth an even once and for all. Wisconsin’s results sug- more primitive rebuttal; there are still gest a way to do that, and also show us Mr. Daniels is the author of Utopias Elsewhere people in the world who are prepared to what could happen if we fail. and other books. defend to the death (mostly other people’s
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death, of course) their right to suppress sumption, he called upon the U.S. to pros- opinion. ecute the Reverend Jones. Unfortunately, Jones’s action will only Whatever President Karzai’s true be - Voice of the have reinforced a fetishistic attachment liefs, if he has any, he must be assumed to to a text that, for all those who do not know, better than any foreigner, his own Resistance believe in its divine provenance, seems people’s state of mind, their culture, tastes, irredeemably dull, flawed, and riven by and predispositions. He would know that Dr. Óscar Biscet, in Cuba’s prisons contradiction. Carlyle’s description of it as there were few Voltaireans among them for twelve years, speaks a confused, wearisome jumble that could who believed that truth is most likely to be read by a European only from a sense emerge from the free interplay of oppos- BY JAY NORDLINGER of duty still seems accurate. ing opinion, and that there is a right to But one does not go to the trouble of error and foolishness. On the contrary, in nEEd to get to work,” says dr. ceremonially burning a book that one their political and social philosophy it is Óscar Elías Biscet. Are you fa - deems unimportant. Jones, who in the past the duty of authorities to impose truth in miliar with him? He is perhaps has been accused by his own minuscule ‘I the foremost Cuban democracy the form of orthodoxy and virtue in the church of being a publicity-seeker, ac- form of conformity, and when someone activist, a symbol of the general resistance cused the Koran of responsibility for every within their jurisdiction utters a heresy or to the Castro dictatorship. Has he been kind of crime, thereby himself making a declines from virtue the authorities have neglecting his work? not exactly. For the fetishistic object of it, but an object with an failed, and must resort to restorative pun- past twelve years, essentially, he has been exactly opposite moral valency from that ishment. On this view, the authorities are in prison, suffering the things that the ascribed to it by the Afghani mob. (I wish responsible for everything that goes on regime’s prisoners have always suffered. that he had shot or drowned it, as he had within their jurisdiction, a view that is George W. Bush gave him the Presidential threatened to do, rather than merely implicitly totalitarian. Medal of Freedom in 2007. The recipient burned it: That would have made a You - If Karzai’s view of his own population’s could not accept it in person, of course. Tube video worth watching.) culture and state of mind is correct, he is in But he has now been released from prison. Muslims will easily interpret Jones’s effect admitting that the kind of liberal The day, so long hoped for, by so many of primitive action as fear of the Koran, not democracy in whose name he was brought us, was March 11. I spoke to him three because of its alleged crime-provoking to power and now rules has no social foun- weeks after. properties, but because of the supposed dation whatever in Afghanistan, and in - Biscet was born in 1961 and has a wife, truths that it contains that undermine the deed is in fundamental opposition to the Elsa Morejón Hernández, and two chil- claims of his own Christianity and indeed mores of his society. It is at best a thin crust dren. He became a physician in the mid- of Western civilization as a whole. It is an over a geological formation that, in the cir- 1980s, specializing in internal medicine. A unfortunate fact that people often judge cumstances, combines the properties of a few years later, he embarked on human- the truth of a belief that they hold by the volcano with those of quicksand. rights activism. In 1994, he was charged practical lengths to which other people The problem is not confined to Afghan- with “dangerousness,” a very common are willing to go to oppose it. Geert istan. The Catholic archbishop of Lahore, charge. It means that the individual in Wilders’s call to ban the Koran will Pakistan, Lawrence Saldanha, called upon question will not submit meekly to dic - only have strengthened this impres- the American government to detain Jones tatorial rule. In 1997, he established the sion. Banning and burning books is, “for some time,” and the Pakistani interior Lawton Foundation for Human Rights after all, to pay a backhanded compli- minister called upon Interpol to treat the (“Lawton” being the name of the Havana ment to their power, influence, and impor- burning of the Koran as a “violent crime.” neighborhood in which he lived). The tance. He, and the senators of Pakistan who organization, of course, is banned. In Whatever else it might have illuminat- passed a unanimous motion calling for 1998, he spoke out strongly against abor- ed, the burning Koran lit up an important punishment of Jones, clearly are more tion, particularly late-term abortion: In his and for the moment unbridgeable gulf be - emotionally exercised over the burning work as a doctor, he saw ghastly things. tween pre- and post-Enlightenment politi- of a book than the killing of people, or (to The authorities responded harshly to his cal philosophy. After the book burning and take another example) the condemnation protest. the subsequent killings, President Karzai to death in their own country of a woman After being detained repeatedly—26 (who did much to publicize Jones’s stunt, for having said uncomplimentary things times—Biscet was arrested in 1999 and perhaps in an attempt to boost his Islamic about Mohammed in the course of a thrown in prison for three years. He was and nationalist legitimacy) had to perform quarrel. released on Oct. 31, 2002, and had 36 days a balancing act, appealing to two con- The Rev. Terry Jones is about to test outside of prison. during this time, he stituencies at the same time: first to the America’s commitment to the First worked on his “democratic Principles for United States, without whose support he Amend ment to the maximum. He wants to Cuba” and a civic project called “Club for would soon most likely be hanging from hold a trial of Mohammed for crimes Friends of Human Rights.” He was again the nearest lamp-post, and second to against humanity. To soothe the savage arrested on dec. 6, 2002, and underwent the population of Afghanistan, whose breasts, General Petraeus may then have his ordeal until last March 11. ap proval he must nevertheless continue to do more than call the Koran “the Holy I found it somewhat amazing to hear his to seek. For U.S. consumption, he con- Koran,” as he did when denouncing voice, after reading about him and writing demned the killings; for domestic con- Jones’s essay into fiery biblioclasm. about him for many years. His voice was
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low, grave, and resolute. We spoke by this fate. He had international support, too being recognized with the medal. The phone, Biscet in Havana, his questioner in (including multiple nominations for the American people saw in me the suffering New York. Serving as translator between Nobel peace prize). Instead of exiling him, of the entire Cuban nation.” And the medal us was Aramis Perez, of the Directorio the government released him on a kind “helped change the way the world thought Demo crático Cubano in Miami. of parole. Biscet is serving out his prison about Cuba.” One day, Biscet would like Biscet has felt “a kind of ambivalence” term beyond the gates of prison itself. to meet Bush and “thank him for every- in the last few weeks. Those are his words: His continued freedom depends on his thing he has done for Cuba’s freedom.” “a kind of ambivalence.” “I’m happy to be “good conduct.” Why was he so set Why was abortion so important to him, able to return home to my wife, but I’m against exile? “Because I love the people early in his dissidence, and why is it unhappy to see an entire people still with- of Cuba and want them to be free. I want important now? “The fundamental duty of out freedom.” In his view, Cuba as a whole basic human rights to be respected, so that a physician is to defend life.” Biscet also is “the big prison” while El Combinado the Cuban people can develop themselves links abortion to the question of human del Este, where he and so many other dis- and their talents fully.” rights more broadly. What about the Men and women of Biscet’s makeup Cuban health-care system, as a general always resist exile, no matter how terrible proposition? One of the myths of the rev- are the conditions at home. Remember olution is that it has provided health for all. that Solzhenitsyn did not leave the Soviet This is not a myth that works on Biscet, Union voluntarily; he was expelled, a fate who, as a Cuban doctor, knows too much. he considered a tragedy. What about another myth, then—the Somewhat gingerly, I ask what it was myth that Communist rule has been a boon like inside prison. For years, we heard to blacks? Biscet himself is black, as are reports of the torture that Biscet was en - many other leaders of the opposition. His during. He answers me very, very briefly contempt for this myth is unconcealed. (and I don’t press him): “My experience “Completely false,” he answers. “We was very traumatic. I was forced to live know that the Cuban dictatorship is anti- among criminals,” meaning common American, anti-Semitic, and anti-black.” criminals, thugs, not prisoners of con- And if you would like to know what the science, like Biscet himself. And he was dictatorship thinks of black Cubans, “you indeed tortured—“primarily between need only go to Cuban prisons.” 2002 and 2006.” He immediately adds, “I It is natural to ask Biscet what he thinks also gained a lot of wisdom, because I of a contentious issue in the United States: studied a great deal and drew closer to the longstanding sanctions on the Cuban the Biblical God.” Biscet is a devoted regime, known collectively as “the embar- Christian. The authorities allowed him a go.” He says, “The embargo has helped Bible, although he could not share it with the Cuban people both politically and On the day of his release anyone, or pray with anyone. If this hap- morally.” He wishes that all “free and civ- sidents have been confined, is “the little pened, the other prisoner would be pun- ilized countries would boycott Cuba, the prison.” “We who live under this dictator- ished and transferred to another cell. way they did racist South Africa.” The ship look to the sea and know that the sea Biscet is a steadfast advocate of nonvio- world made South Africa a pariah state. is our prison bars.” Biscet further says, lence: a nonviolent struggle for political The American embargo should be lifted, “This great, beautiful island of Cuba has change. We have always heard that his says Biscet, “when the embargo against been converted by the Castro brothers into models are Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Lu- the Cuban people’s human rights,” im - their own personal estate.” ther King, and the Dalai Lama. Is this so? posed by the dictatorship, “is lifted.” Why, in his estimation, did the govern- Yes, says Biscet, but there are others, As he sees it, “civilized countries” have ment choose to release him? “Because coming from the Bible. He cites Moses— given the dictatorship “life” and “oxygen” of the economic crisis, coupled with the “who led the first nonviolent revolution.” for the past 20 years—i.e., since the col- social and moral crisis. The government He then mentions the three Hebrew boys, lapse of the Soviet Union. And when he offers false expectations of democratic Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. says “civilized countries,” does he mean change. They do this so that free countries “When a king tried to force them to bow Western Europe, which has sent so much will give them economic support. My down before an idol, they refused. They cash Havana’s way? “I mean civilized release is part of the effort to create false knew that God would help them—and countries in Europe, Latin America, and expectations.” The government’s over - even if He did not, they would never bow North America” (which is to say, Canada riding goal is “to be financed. They want down to an idol.” While in prison, Biscet and Mexico). more money, even as they impoverish the “kept them close, because they are exam- Recently, Jimmy Carter was in Cuba, Cuban people, and, with money, they will ples of freedom of expression and freedom seeing the Castro brothers and others, GETTYNEWSCOM / remain in power.” of religion.” And they were, of course, including some democracy activists, Bis - AFP / The government intended to exile delivered. cet among them. During his stay, Carter Biscet to Spain, not release him in Cuba. For the Presidential Medal of Freedom, referred to Fidel Castro as an “old friend.” They have exiled many prisoners in recent he will not take any personal credit. “I felt This is appalling to Biscet, as to other
ADALBERTO ROQUE months. But Biscet kicked hard against honored, but I wasn’t the only person democrats. “One can have different ideas,
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andtheyshouldberespected.Buttocalla tyrantafriendistrulyhorrible.”Manyin theworldhavetriedtomakeaheroout President ofCastro.And“weshouldnotencourage thecreationoffalseheroes.” Me ThenwehavethequestionofBiscet’s future:Whatwillhedo?Hesaysthathis Imagining a Trump administration immediatetaskisto“recoverpsycholo- gicallyandphysically”fromhistwelve BY ROB LONG yearsindarknessandhell.“Ihopetobein thebestpossiblecondition,”todothe ere’s howtokeeptrackofthe workhefindsitunavoidabletodo.Does toptwocontenders,according heexpecttoberearrested?“Anythingis toarecentCNNpoll,forthe possible,”buthewillworkwithoutfear. H 2012republicanpresidential Hebelievesthattheisland’sdemocratsare nomination:Onlyoneofthemhashis basically united, although “we do live ownsignaturebrandofchocolates. underatotalitariandictatorshipthatuses Mike Huckabee, the brandless and allofitsresourcestoattempttodestroyus, downscaleformergovernorofArkansas, whichmakesitdifficulttoprogressas can’thelpbutfeeloutclassedwhenhe quicklyaswewouldlike.”Thatisproba- compareshimselfwithhisnearestrival, blytheunderstatementofthehour—the thetornadoofnoiseandhairthatis hourofourtimetogether. DonaldJ.Trump. TheCubanpeopleare“enslaved,” Trumphasitall:atelevisionshow,heli- Biscetsays,“but,hereinCuba,theslaves copters,buildings,bottledwater,resorts,a willrevolt,”astheyhavedoneelsewhere. clothingline,ahome-furnishings collec- HementionsChina,Iran,andLibya.And tion,hotels,casinos,and,oddly,hisown hedescribesagreatchallengeoftheoppo- brandoftea.(Youdon’tthinkofTrump sition:toshapeatransitiontodemocracy asateadrinker,doyou?)He’sanun- withoutaTiananmensquare.Withouta stoppablelicensingmachine,andhashis massacrebytherulers,whowillnotgive nameonmorethingsthanaCentral uppowersweetly. Asiandictator—hefloodsthezone WhatdoeshewantfromAmerica?He withTrump-thisandTrump-that,untilit wantspeopletorecognizejusthowbad almostdoesn’tmatterwhetherhe’sas theCubandictatorshipis.Andhewants richashesaysheisorasbrilliantatbusi- solidarity.“TheAmericanpeoplecanhelp ness,becauseonceyougettotheTrump theCubanpeoplebydrawingclosetous teaandtheTrumpdining-roomset,it’s inoursuffering.Thoseofyouwholive allsoexhaustingyou’rereadytoaccept infreedomhavetheabilitytodothis.” theTrump version ofTrump without Aboveall,hesays,donotprovidethe debate. regimewiththe“oxygen”itneedstosur- DonaldJ.Trumpisanunembarrassable vive.HeseestheObamaadministration self-lovemachine.Arelentlessname- makingconcessionstotheregime.Andit stamper.Aroaringgluttonforcreditand isincomprehensibletohimwhy“civilized praise.Inotherwords,DonaldJ.Trump anddemocraticcountries”shouldlenda possesses,alongwithhisresortsandhis handtosuchpeople—shouldgiveoxygen chocolates,everythingittakestobe tothepersecutorsofsomany,persecutors presidentoftheUnitedstates. whoareripeforagreatpush. WhateveryoucansayaboutDonaldJ. AfterwehungupwithBiscet,Italked Trump—he’samalignantnarcissist;he’s forawhilewithAramisPerez,whohad aserialfantasist;he’sabadcreditrisk; translated.HowdidhethinkBiscethad he’sashamelessself-promoter—you sounded?“sereneandcollected.Hespoke canalsosayaboutalmosteverysingle outofsuchconvictionthathedidnotneed member of the United states senate. toemphasizehiswords”—theyallhad Whatisthesenate,afterall,buta100- authority.everynowandthen,youfeel membercollectionofTrumpyegos, thatyouhaveencounteredagreatman. Trumpybluster,andTrumpyhairdos? someonewhomakesupforsomemea- AndwhateveryoucansayaboutDon- sureofhumaniniquityandindifference. aldJ.Trump—he’schildishlyneedfulof PerezandIfeltthisaboutBiscet.sowill attention;he’shilariouslyignorantof manyothers,aroundtheworld,iftheyget worldaffairs;he’sawfullyfree-spending toknowhim. whenit’ssomeoneelse’smoney—you
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convinced that Barack Obama was born on American soil. Well, that’s not quite fair. The quin- tessential aspect of most birthers is their total refusal to express an opinion about that one way or another. “I’m just ask- ing—where’s the birth certificate?” they usually say, voices fluttering in disin- genuous bafflement. “I mean, where is it?” “Are you saying that you think Obama’s not constitutionally qualified to be president of the United States?” “I’m not saying that. I’m not saying anything. I’m just saying, where is it? That’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying anything. I’m just saying.” It doesn’t seem like a very Trump-like plank. What you might expect from a Donald J. Trump is a robust denunciation of the Obama Debt. Or a fierce America Firstism. Or, maybe, a tax-cutting cru- sade. Birtherism seems like a low-class neighborhood from which to base the political rise of Donald J. Trump. And yet: There are lots of people in America who do, actually, want to know where the birth certificate is, and, for now, following the strategy of Me Every - where, that’s a great place to start the The maxi-Trump ball rolling. No serious political figure in America is taking up the birther cru- can also say about most of the men who barrassing. Every shred of media atten- sade—it’s tacky, for one thing—but then, have served as president of the United tion gets used to drive a higher price for no serious political figure in America States. some piece of the Trump Universe. On has his own brand of neckties. And that What none of those mini-Trumps had, good days, I guess, it helps him make makes it a perfect issue for Donald J. though, is the maxi-Trump’s instinct for better deals with creditors and share- Trump. The Trump rule is: First, grab the public attention. Trump is a practitioner holders. On less good days, it probably spotlight; then, monetize. of the Me Everywhere school of market- just moves some chocolate. Either way, Donald J. Trump is a man of mystery, ing—the goal of which is to be always in Trump is making money. of course, and we have no way of know- the spotlight, always in the news, and to The sophisticated crowd may be ing whether he’s really running for pres- use that attention as leverage in his appalled at his grasping tackiness, but ident or just trying to sell some home Trump-name licensing deals. Lending Trump knows what they don’t—“tacky” furnishings. I’d submit that he doesn’t his name to a resort development fetches is a word that has no meaning in Amer - know, either, for sure. It may make finan- a higher price if his television show is ica in 2011. In fact, “tacky” may never cial sense, down the line, to actually popular (it is), and his television show’s have meant anything—America, after make a run for it—think of the licensing! popularity helps plump up book sales, all, was built partly by blowhards and think of the Trump Presidential Seal on which in turn gets him media attention, foghorns like Donald J. Trump. What golf towels and pain relievers!—and which drives up his presidential buzz, is unspeakably low-rent on Tuesday— spend some time monetizing the Oval which makes his show more popular and tattoos, illegitimacy, the word “any- Office. On the other hand, it’s a time- his name more valuable, which sells ways”—becomes acceptably normal by consuming and inefficient use of the (presumably) more Trump Vegas condos Thursday. The folks at NPR and The Trump name, which goes so effortlessly and boxes of Trump tea. New Yorker don’t know that. Trump on buildings and men’s suits and gold- In this perfectly efficient system, no does. bar-shaped chocolates. amount of attention or notoriety is ever Which is why the signature issue of They come in three flavors, by the AP / really harmful—not the past financial the Donald J. Trump ’12 campaign way. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and trouble, not the Dairy Queen twist of hair seems to be, for now, the exact location my favorite, deluxe nut. on his head—because all of it can be of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Deluxe nut. Which I think might make used to recharge the batteries of Donald J. Trump, to be blunt, is a “birther”—one a wonderful Secret Service code name,
CHARLES REX ARBOGAST Trump. Nothing is ever shameful or em - of those folks who simply cannot be should it come to that.
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Paul Ryan’s Medicare Fix How to improve health care and shore up the federal budget with one entitlement reform
BY JAMES C. CAPRETTA
F all the sweeping reforms in Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2012 great: a federal budget without crushing tax hikes, and a health- budget, none is more politically charged than the pro- care system that works for patients, not the government. posal to transform Medicare from what it is today— Even the Obama administration agrees that Medicare is at the O an entitlement with no spending bounds—into a heart of the health-care-cost problem. Everything it claims will “defined contribution” program with a fixed and predictable bud- “bend the cost curve” of health care is a change in how Medicare get. “Radical.” “Extreme.” “Cruel.” “The end of Medicare as we works and pays for care. know it.” The ink wasn’t dry on Ryan’s plan before groups in the That’s no small concession. For many years, Democrats were Democratic political orbit began launching their rhetorical in complete denial about Medicare’s cost-raising features. They attacks. And don’t expect the demagoguery to end before likened Medicare to a railcar attached to a runaway freight train: November 2012. The only way to slow down Medicare would be to slow down the Why did Representative Ryan include in his budget plan a whole train—that is, to make health care cheaper for everyone. controversial entitlement reform, giving Democrats something to But now there is widespread recognition on both sides of the aisle exploit for political gain? Certainly Ryan wasn’t unaware of what that Medicare is the train’s engine (or, at a minimum, the most was coming. He grabbed hold of the third rail of Social Security important engine). and Medicare reform more than three years ago, when he pro- American health care has virtues. We have highly skilled posed his precursor to this year’s Republican budget, “A Road - physicians and capital-intensive inpatient institutions, and our map for America’s Future.” Since then, his opponents have system is open to medical innovation in ways that other systems thrown everything—and the kitchen sink—at him. So why is he around the world are not. now asking his Republican colleagues to join him on his lonely But there is no denying that health care in the U.S. is highly crusade? inefficient. The system is characterized by extreme fragmenta- The answer is straightforward: They have no choice. Fixing tion. Physicians, hospitals, clinics, labs, and pharmacies are all the federal budget—the raison d’être of the new Republican autonomous units that are financially independent. They bill sep- House—is impossible without slowing the increase in health- arately from each other when they render services to patients. care costs. And that can’t be done without a thorough restructur- What’s worse, there’s very little coordination of care among ing of Medicare. It’s a daunting challenge, but the reward will be them, which leads to a disastrous level of duplicative services, and often to low-quality care. The bureaucracy is maddening, the Mr. Capretta is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He was an associate paperwork is burdensome and excessive, and there is very little
director at the Office of Management and Budget from 2001 to 2004. regard for the convenience and comfort of patients. DARREN GYGI
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You deserve a factual look at . . . A Most Stalwart and Reliable Ally Is Israel indeed America's unsinkable aircraft carrier?
In previous hasbarah (educating and clarifying) messages, we made clear what a tremendous asset for our country Israel is. We gave many examples of its contribution to American safety in that important area of the world. But there is much more. loathsome Khaddafi. Turkey, once a strong ally, has cast its lot Turmoil in the Middle East. There is upheaval in the Middle with Iran. East. Governments shift, and the future of this vital area is up A stalwart partner. Israel, in contrast, presents a totally in the air. In those dire circumstances, it is a tremendous different picture. Israel’s reliability, capability, credibility and comfort to our country that Israel, a beacon of Western values, stability, are enormous and irreplaceable assets for our country. is its stalwart and unshakable ally. Many prominent military people and elected representatives Unreliable “allies.” Egypt, a long-term “ally” of our country, have recognized this. Gen. John Keegan, a former chief of U.S. is the beneficiary of billions of dollars Air Force Intelligence, determined of American aid. Its dictator, Hosni “What a comfort for our country that Israel’s contribution to U.S. Mubarak has been dethroned. As of intelligence was “equal to five CIA’s.” now, it is unclear who and what will to have stalwart and completely Senator Daniel Inouye, Chairman of be Egypt’s new government. It is the Senate Appropriations widely assumed, however, that it may reliable Israel in its corner...” Committee, said that “The be the Muslim Brotherhood. Far from intelligence received from Israel being a religious organization, as its name would imply, it is exceeds the intelligence received from all NATO countries dominated by fanatical radicals, ardent antagonists of the West, combined. The Soviet military hardware that was transferred obsessed anti-Semites, and sworn enemies of the State of by Israel to the USA tilted the global balance of power in favor Israel. If the Muslim Brotherhood would indeed come to of our country.” power, a bloody war, more violent than anything that has come In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor. While at first before, is likely to ensue. condemned by virtually the whole world – sad to say, including Saudi Arabia, a tyrannical kingdom, is another important the United States – it saved our country a nuclear confrontation “ally” of the U.S. It is the most important source of petroleum, with Iraq. At the present time, US soldiers in Iraq and in the lifeblood of the industrial world. It is, however, totally Afghanistan benefit from Israel’s experience in combating unreliable and hostile to all the values for which the United Improvised Explosive Devices, car bombs and suicide bombers. States stands. The precedent of Iran cannot fail to be on the Israel is the most advanced battle-tested laboratory for U.S. minds of our government. The Shah of Iran was a staunch ally military systems. The F-16 jet fighter, for instance, includes of the U.S. We lavished billions of dollars and huge quantities over 600 Israeli-designed modifications, which saved billions of of our most advanced weapons on him. But, virtually from one dollars and years of research and development. day to the next, the mullahs and the ayatollahs – fanatical But there is more: Israel effectively secures NATO's enemies of our country, of Israel, and of anything Western – southeastern flank. Its superb harbors, its outstanding military came to power. Instead of friends and allies, Iran’s theocratic installations, the air- and sea-lift capabilities, and the trained government became the most virulent enemy of the United manpower to maintain sophisticated equipment are readily at States. Could something like that happen in Saudi Arabia? It is hand in Israel. not at all unlikely! Israel does receive substantial benefits from the United States Other U.S. allies in the region – Jordan, the “new” Iraq, and – a yearly contribution of $3 billion – all of it in military the Gulf emirates – are even weaker and less reliable reeds to assistance, no economic assistance at all. The majority of this lean on. Libya, which once, under King Idris, hosted the contribution must be spent in the US, generating thousands of Wheeler Air Base, became an enemy of the U.S. under the jobs in our defense industries. Israel is indeed America's unsinkable aircraft carrier. If it were not for Israel, thousands of American troops would have to be stationed in the Middle East, at the cost of billions of dollars a year. In contrast to the unreliable friendship of Muslim countries, the friendship and support of Israel are unshakable because they are based on shared values, love of peace and democracy. What a comfort for our country to have stalwart and completely reliable Israel in its corner, especially at a time when in this strategic area turmoil, upheaval and revolution are the order of the day. Yes, Israel is indeed America’s unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Middle East.
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