2012_2_6 postall_cover61404-postal.qxd 1/17/2012 8:30 PM Page 1 February 6, 2012 $4.99 CHARLES COMINGMURRAY’S APART WILLIAMSON on MSNBC LONG on Colbert The Virtue of WHY THEDestruction ECONOMY CAN’T GROW WITHOUT ‘DESTROYING JOBS’ REIHANREIHAN SALAMSALAM $4.99 06 0 74820 08155 6 www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 1/17/2012 2:58 PM Page 2 Gutter : 2400 G base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 1/17/2012 2:59 PM Page 3 Human Space Flight Satellites Services Advanced Systems www.boeing.com/space TODAYTOMORROWBEYOND D BLK 9 45˚ 105˚ 75˚ toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 1/18/2012 2:06 PM Page 2 Contents FEBRUARY 6, 2012 | VOLUME LXIV, NO. 2 | www.nationalreview.com COVER STORY Page 28 Matt Kibbe on Ron Paul Let Us Now Praise Private Equity p. 18 Every presidential candidate has to BOOKS, ARTS defend himself against accusations & MANNERS of wrongdoing—an affair, abuse of office, campaign-finance impropriety, and so 43 THE VIRTUE DEFICIT Ron Haskins reviews Coming forth. Mitt Rom ney finds himself in a Apart: The State of White predictable defensive crouch, too, but the America, 1960–2010, by Charles Murray. allegation against him is extraordinary: He stands accused of doing his job 44 THE VICE OF MODERATION Henry Olsen reviews Rule and too well. Reihan Salam Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the COVER: STEVE BRONSTEIN/STONE/GETTY Destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the ARTICLES Tea Party, by Geoffrey Kabaservice. THE YOUTH CANDIDATE 18 by Matt Kibbe 47 ACID TEST Why Ron Paul appeals to the millennial generation. John J. Miller reviews Ambrose Bierce: The Devil’s LEAN LEFT 20 by Kevin D. Williamson Dictionary, Tales, & Memoirs, MSNBC drops the mask. edited by S. T. Joshi. GRADE SCHOOL 23 by Andrew Stuttaford 49 THE WRITER’S LIFE Rating agencies certify the euro zone’s parlous state. Mark Falcoff reviews But What Do You Actually Do?: A Literary SPEAKING IN TONGUES 24 by Jay Nordlinger Vagabondage, by Alistair Horne. Candidates, Americans, and their foreign languages. 50 FILM: MUTE POINT 26 HA. HA. HA. by Rob Long Ross Douthat reviews The Artist. Stephen Colbert’s NPR LOL. 51 THE STRAGGLER: THE HIGHER SILLINESS FEATURES John Derbyshire tours the Guggenheim. 28 LET US NOW PRAISE PRIVATE EQUITY by Reihan Salam To create new jobs, you must destroy old ones. SECTIONS 34 ROMNEY VS. OBAMACARE by Yuval Levin & Ramesh Ponnuru What the presumptive nominee should say. 4 Letters to the Editor 6 The Week 36 THE PRESIDENT’S DEPRESSING STATISTICS by Scott Winship 40 The Bent Pin . Florence King Obama is simply wrong about economic mobility. 41 Athwart . James Lileks 42 The Long View . Rob Long 38 DAN QUAYLE’S SECOND ACT by John J. Miller 48 Poetry . William Baer He’s out of politics, but full of political wisdom. 52 Happy Warrior . Mark Steyn NATiONAL RevieW (iSSN: 0028-0038) is published bi-weekly, except for the first issue in January, by NATiONAL RevieW, inc., at 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. 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(All payments in U.S. currency.) The editors cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork unless return postage or, better, a stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 1/17/2012 2:32 PM Page 1 The Everyday Guide to Spirits and Cocktails: IM Tastes and Traditions ED T E O IT FF E Taught by Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan IM R L FREE SHIPPING 1. Vodka and Gin—The Cocktail Spirits O R 6 D L 2. Whiskey—The Complex Spirit E RI R BY AP 3. Rum—The Versatile Spirit 4. Tequila and Mezcal— The Ancient Spirits 5. Brandy—The Luxury Spirit 6. Liqueurs and Cordials— The Flavored Spirits 1. The Mixology Toolkit and Classic Recipes 2. 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Since 1990, ../3 over 10 million courses have been sold. letters--ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 1/18/2012 1:27 PM Page 4 Letters Lincoln’s Constitution and Ours FEBRUARY 6 ISSUE; PRINTED JANUARY 19 Fred Schwarz made my blood boil in his review EDITOR Richard Lowry of Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation (“Lin - Senior Editors coln’s Constitution,” January 23). Does the ex - Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones pression “The ends justify the means” sound Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts better when conservatives dress it up, as Mr. Literary Editor Michael Potemra Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy Schwarz does in his final paragraph, than when National Correspondent John J. Miller Political Reporter Robert Costa totalitarians and their apologists use it nakedly? Art Director Luba Kolomytseva “Fiddling with the Constitution must occur only Deputy Managing Editors Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson in response to a great emergency or a severe Associate Editors Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen long-term problem where every other avenue has Research Director Katherine Connell been exhausted . .” Executive Secretary Frances Bronson Assistant to the Editor Christeleny Frangos Who gets to decide whether an emergency is Contributing Editors “great” or not? Who says whether a problem is Robert H. Bork / Shannen Coffin / John Derbyshire Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum “severe”? The people, imperial presidents, or Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin unaccountable judges? Who says how long is “long-term”? When, in a repub - Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi lic with representatives accountable to voters, is “every other avenue” ever Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne David B. Rivkin Jr. exhausted? NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE If we the people (conservatives especially) do not demand better reasoning Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez Managing Editor Edward John Craig than this from presidents and the judges they appoint, the tyrants will win, and News Editor Daniel Foster Editorial Associates very soon we will have no Constitution to bend. Brian Bolduc / Charles C. W. Cooke Katrina Trinko Web Developer Gareth du Plooy Derek Lane Technical Services Russell Jenkins Clarkrange, Tenn. EDITORS- AT- L A RG E Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan FreD SChWarz repLIeS: If we insist on applying all the usual rules during a war, Contributors Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell when insurrectionists and terrorists lurk at every corner and the central govern- James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier ment needs to act with much greater vigor, or in a situation such as the civil- Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans rights movement, where large groups of citizens had been unable for many Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman James Gardner / David Gelernter decades to exercise their constitutional privileges, then we will no longer have George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler a country and a Constitution to defend. The Founders recognized this and wrote David Klinghoffer / Anthony Lejeune D. Keith Mano / Michael Novak the Constitution with enough vagueness and wiggle room to provide flexibility Alan Reynolds / Tracy Lee Simmons in an emergency. Terry Teachout / Taki Theodoracopulos Vin Weber as for the question of who decides when an emergency is great enough, the Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge final defense against abuse of power in a democracy lies with the people, as the Accounting Manager Galina Veygman Accountant Zofia Baraniak authors of the Federalist Papers pointed out on numerous occasions.