Hope, Taupe Ones—In the White House Press Office
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2010_10_04A_cover61404-postal.qxd 9/14/2010 7:43 PM Page 1 October 4, 2010 49145 $3.95 H HOOPPEE 11..00 $3.95 HOW WE AVOIDED EUROSOCIALISM IN THE 1970S , 40 AND WHY WE WILL AGAIN by James C. Bennett 0 74851 08155 6 www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 9/14/2010 11:23 AM Page 1 I was born in New Orleans. My family still lives here. We have to restore the Gulf communities for the shrimpers, fishermen, hotel and restaurant owners who live and work here. - Iris Cross, BP Community Outreach Making This Right No oil has flowed into the Gulf for weeks. But we know this is just the beginning of our work. BP has taken full responsibility for the cleanup in the Gulf and that includes Beaches keeping you informed. Claims Restoring Gulf Communities Cleanup We can’t undo this tragedy. But we can help people get back on their feet. We have been Economic Investment working with impacted communities since day one. Environmental Partnering with local governments and community organizations, my job is to listen to people’s needs and frustrations and find ways to help. We have 19 community centers Restoration and teams in four states, listening and helping. Health and Safety Restoring The Economy Wildlife BP is here in Gulf communities with shrimpers, fishermen, hotel and restaurant owners, helping to make them whole. More than 120,000 claim payments totaling over $375 million have already gone to people affected by the spill. We have committed a $20 billion independent fund to pay all legitimate claims, including lost incomes until people impacted can go back to work. And none of this will be paid by taxpayers. BP has also given grants of $87 million to the states to help tourism recover and bring people back to the Gulf beaches. Restoring The Environment We’re going to keep looking for oil and cleaning it up if we find it. Teams will remain in place for as long as it takes to restore the Gulf Coast. And we’ve dedicated $500 million to work with local and national scientific experts on the For general information visit: bp.com impact of the spill and to restore environmental damage. For help or information: (866) 448-5816 Thousands of BP employees have their roots in the Gulf. We support over 10,000 jobs in the region and people here are our neighbors. We know we haven’t always been restorethegulf.gov perfect, but we will be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal. We will do everything we can to make this right. Facebook: BP America Twitter: @BP_America YouTube: BP For claims information visit: bp.com/claims © 2010 BP, E&P toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 9/15/2010 1:03 PM Page 1 Ramesh Ponnuru on Spending Cuts Contents p. 13 OCTOBER 4, 2010 | VOLUME LXII, NO. 18 | www.nationalreview.com COVER STORY Page 28 The Great U-Turn BOOKS, ARTS For decades, America had been on a course toward a more centralized & MANNERS society. But 1980—with the arrival of 42 BLISS WAS IT . Reagan and the departure of Carter— John Derbyshire reviews The High Tide of American marked the point at which the nation Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, reversed course. Thenceforth it would be and the 1924 Election, headed in the opposite direction, toward a by Garland S. Tucker III. new vision of individualism and 44 MOOT CAUSES decentralism. James C. Bennett Roger Clegg reviews Acting White: The Ironic Legacy of Desegregation, by Stuart Buck. COVER: LUBA KOLOMYTSEVA 47 LAWS OF THOUGHT ARTICLES Ryan T. Anderson reviews Constitutional Illusions and 13 TO LEVEL A MOUNTAIN WITH A SHOVEL by Ramesh Ponnuru Anchoring Truths: The Apparently that is the GOP approach to deficit reduction. Touchstone of the Natural Law, by Hadley Arkes. 14 BANK OF AMERICA by Kevin D. Williamson Obama’s $50 billion infrastructure folly is not without precedent. 48 FATHER BROWN AT 100 James E. Person Jr. celebrates G. K. Chesterton’s immortal THE SOURCE OF THEIR RAGE by Nina Shea & Paul Marshall 18 crime-solver. It isn’t kooks like Pastor Jones. 50 FILM: TOTAL IMMERSION 22 BEYOND SANCTIONS by Juan C. Zarate Ross Douthat reviews Multiple lines of pressure must be brought to bear on Iran. The American. 24 DIM IDEA by Rob Long 51 CITY DESK: AND ALL Why must officialdom declare war on my bathroom? THAT MIGHTY HEART IS LYING STILL The Brookhisers stroll an empty FEATURES metropolis. 28 THE GREAT U-TURN by James C. Bennett How demographic shifts and regulatory arbitrage turned the United States SECTIONS away from European socialism. 2 Letters to the Editor 35 OBAMA’S U.N. RECORD by John Bolton 4 The Week Surprise: It’s not what it was supposed to be. 40 The Bent Pin . Florence King 41 The Long View . Rob Long 38 ‘BLOOD WAS EVERY COLOR’ by Jonah Goldberg 43 Poetry . Chester L. Wolford Tribal morality, Tuesdays at 10 P.M. 52 Athwart . James Lileks 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., 2010. 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. letters -- ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 9/15/2010 1:02 PM Page 2 Letters OCTOBER 4 ISSUE; PRINTED SEPTEMBER 16 Ayn Rand, Christian Soldier? EDITOR “The Greatly Ghastly Rand” (August 30), by Jason Lee Steorts, analyzes Ayn Richard Lowry Rand and her writings accurately and not altogether without sympathy. Allow Senior Editors Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger me to add my own sympathetic note. Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts At age 16, when I ran across Atlas Shrugged, I was always trying to stretch Literary Editor Michael Potemra Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy myself. I fell in love with Rand immediately. I wouldn’t put the book down, and National Correspondent John J. Miller Staff Reporter Stephen Spruiell had soon plowed through the rest of her novels, convinced that her “Objectivist” Political Reporter Robert Costa Art Director Luba Kolomytseva philosophy was perfectly rational and declaring myself an atheist on its recom- Deputy Managing Editors Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson mendation. Associate Editors Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen It didn’t last. Rand’s belief in absolutism defeated her in me, for it became Research Director Katherine Connell clear that no “objective” standard could be the product of an individual’s mind. Research Manager Dorothy McCartney Executive Secretary Frances Bronson Of course, it didn’t help that a Lutheran pastor had given me a copy of Mere Assistant to the Editor Christeleny Frangos Contributing Editors Christianity, by C. S. Lewis. Robert H. Bork / John Derbyshire Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum It took five years for me to become a Christian, and my experience was not Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin too unlike Lewis’s own, as he described it: I was not at all happy to find that the Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi “absolute” Rand referred to was really found only in God. Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne David B. Rivkin Jr. Still, I have much to thank Rand for. In a very real sense, she set me on the NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez right course, though not at all one of which she would have approved. She Managing Editor Edward John Craig Deputy Managing Editor Duncan Currie wouldn’t have admitted it, but the one issue where she is in complete agreement News Editor Daniel Foster with the Almighty is the value of the individual. Web Developer Nathan Goulding Technical Services Russell Jenkins One night, many years ago, I heard her in Sacramento on a 50,000-watt EDITORS- AT- L A RG E clear-channel Los Angeles AM station. Rand could tolerate no challenge to any Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan of her views. I smiled at that then and do so now, while hoping George Contributors Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell MacDonald was right in his apparent belief in the ultimate redemption of James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier everyone. Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman After all, Ayn Rand was instrumental in lead- James Gardner / David Gelernter George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart ing at least one person to Christ. For that, I will Kevin A.