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Check us out at www.westinghousenuclear.com toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 6/2/2010 1:57 PM Page 1 Contents JUNE 21, 2010 | VOLUME LXII, NO. 11 | www.nationalreview.com COVER STORY Page 28 Jay Nordlinger on Lech Walesa The Other National Debt p. 26 About that $14 trillion national debt: Get ready BOOKS, ARTS to tack some zeroes onto it. That number & MANNERS doesn’t even begin to cover the real 41 ISLAMISM RESURGENT indebtedness of American David Pryce-Jones reviews The governments at the Grand Jihad: How Islam and federal, state, and the Left Sabotage America, by Andrew C. McCarthy. local levels, because governments don’t count 43 THE HAPPINESS OF PURSUIT Matthew Continetti reviews up their liabilities the same The Battle: How the Fight way businesses do. Kevin D. Williamson Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future, COVER: RANDY FARIS/CORBIS by Arthur C. Brooks. ARTICLES 46 WILL AND GRACE S. T. Karnick reviews Bonhoeffer: 16 THE RIGHT’S CIVIL WRONGS by Ramesh Ponnuru Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, On the intellectual roots of a troubled legacy. by Eric Metaxas. USE WHAT YOU GOT 20 by Mark Krikorian 48 SOURCES OF THE CRISIS We already have a national ID-card system; now we should refine it. John Steele Gordon reviews The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy, TO EDUCATE, INNOVATE 22 by Reihan Salam by Richard A. Posner. Student-centric instruction is the key to controlling school costs. 50 FILM: THE CULTURE 26 PRIZEWINNER by Jay Nordlinger MONSTER A chat with Lech Walesa in the home of the Nobel peace prize. Ross Douthat reviews Shrek Forever After. FEATURES 51 THE STRAGGLER: FOLLOW THE FLEET The Derbyshires encounter the THE OTHER NATIONAL DEBT 28 by Kevin D. Williamson USS Iwo Jima. $14 trillion in the red? We should be so lucky. 30 TALKING CURES by James P. Pinkerton To beat the Left, try beating cancer. SECTIONS 33 MEND THE FED by Josh Barro 2 Letters to the Editor We still need the central bank, despite its flaws. 4 The Week 40 The Long View . Rob Long 36 EXCEPTIONAL DOWN TO THE BONE by James C. Bennett 42 Poetry . Daniel Mark Epstein Anatomizing the origins of the American character. 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. 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 6/2/2010 1:58 PM Page 2 Letters JUNE 21 ISSUE; PRINTED JUNE 3 Taking the Supply Side EDITOR Why is Kevin D. Williamson caving in to parochial calculations by accountant Richard Lowry economists of the revenue effects of tax cuts (“Goodbye Supply-Side,” May 3)? Senior Editors Has he no idea of the vast body of data from around the globe showing that low- Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones tax countries increase their government spending three times faster than high- Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts tax countries, because the low-tax countries grow their economies some six Literary Editor Michael Potemra Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy times as fast? Does he have any idea of how silly it is to connect higher tax rates National Correspondent John J. Miller Art Director Luba Kolomytseva with increased revenues at all? Tax rates are prices. A huge body of economic Deputy Managing Editors and management literature shows that low prices, in general, yield more revenue Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson Associate Editors and larger market share (global tax share) over time than high prices do. Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen Spending, on the other hand, is a political matter reflecting the increasing Research Director Katherine Connell Research Manager Dorothy McCartney sway of special interests in our affairs as a result of campaign-finance laws that Executive Secretary Frances Bronson restrict individual contributions to a few thousand dollars but allow millions in Assistant to the Editor Natasha Simons Contributing Editors outlays from PACs. Archer Daniels Midland can buy an ethanol mandate whole- Robert H. Bork / John Derbyshire sale, but world-class chemist Art Robinson in Oregon has to raise money to Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg oppose them in Congress two thousand bucks at a time. Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin The key to rectifying the pension crisis is a major increase in the retirement Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne age. The problem is exacerbated by the scandalous and illegal self-dealings be - David B. Rivkin Jr. tween politicians and public-sector unions extorting unsustainable benefits in NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE exchange for their political support. Focus on that, rather than on grand plans for Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez Managing Editor Edward John Craig a deal with the Democrats that exchanges hypothetical spending cuts for real tax Deputy Managing Editor Duncan Currie hikes that doom the U.S. to Eurosclerosis and disarmament. Staff Reporter Stephen Spruiell News Editor Daniel Foster NATiONAl REviEW should be more skeptical toward leftist economists playing Web Developer Nathan Goulding Technical Services Russell Jenkins to the mainstream political galleries. CHAIRMAN & CEO Thomas L. Rhodes George Gilder EDITORS- AT- L A RG E Via e-mail Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan Contributors Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell KEviN D. WilliAMSON REPliES: Mr. Gilder writes in the great American tra dition James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley of optimism: He is confident that naïve supply-siders, having had more than 40 Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans years to pull a sound fiscal policy out of the magic hat, will get it right this time. Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman James Gardner / David Gelernter Mr. Gilder is a man with many brilliant and original insights, none of which George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart changes the fact that $1 = $1, and that the income side of the national ledger Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler James Jackson Kilpatrick / David Klinghoffer eventually has to match the expense side. There are 130 trillion pieces of evi- Anthony Lejeune / D. Keith Mano dence weighing heavily against Mr. Gilder’s analysis, which i enumerate in part Michael Novak / Alan Reynolds William A. Rusher / Tracy Lee Simmons on page 28. Terry Teachout / Taki Theodoracopulos Mr. Gilder asks why i am “caving in to parochial calculations by accountant Vin Weber Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge economists,” and that’s a fair question. The answer is that the accountants have Accounting Manager Galina Veygman a much better record for getting the numbers right than do those who have Accountant Zofia Baraniak Treasurer Rose Flynn DeMaio