2011_10_03 postal_cover61404-postal.qxd 9/13/2011 9:21 PM Page 1 October 3, 2011 49145 $4.99 JAMES LILEKS on ‘the Perry Approach’ thethe eNDeND ofof thethe futurefuture PETER THIEL PLUS: TIMOTHY B. LEE: Patent Absurdity ALLISON SCHRAGER: In Defense of Financial Innovation ROB LONG: A Farewell to Steve Jobs $4.99 40 0 74820 08155 6 www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 9/12/2011 2:50 PM Page 2 base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 9/12/2011 2:50 PM Page 3 toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 9/14/2011 2:10 PM Page 2 Contents OCTOBER 3, 2011 | VOLUME LXIII, NO. 18 | www.nationalreview.com COVER STORY Page 28 Ramesh Ponnuru on Social Security Swift Blind p. 18 Horseman? BOOKS, ARTS There is no law that the & MANNERS exceptional rise of the West 40 THE MISSING MAN must continue. So we could do Matthew Continetti reviews Keeping worse than to inquire into the the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans, widely held opinion that America by Mitch Daniels. is on the wrong track, to wonder 42 BLESS THE BEASTS whether Progress is not doing Claire Berlinski reviews The Bond: as well as advertised, and Our Kinship with Animals, perhaps to take exceptional Our Call to Defend Them, by Wayne Pacelle. measures to arrest and reverse any decline. Peter Thiel 47 A LONG RED SUNSET Harvey Klehr reviews American Dreamers: How the Left COVER: K.J. HISTORICAL/CORBIS Changed a Nation, by Michael Kazin. ARTICLES 49 BUSH RECONSIDERED 18 SOCIAL SECURITY ALERT by Ramesh Ponnuru Quin Hillyer reviews The Man in Perry and Romney debate a program in need of reform. the Middle: An Inside Account of Faith and Politics in the 20 DEAD LETTER by Robert VerBruggen George W. Bush Era, Tough unions, weak management doom USPS. by Timothy S. Goeglein. 24 CRIME, PUNISHMENT, AND REHABILITATION by Mitch Pearlstein 50 FILM: GOING VIRAL When they’ve done the time, expunge the crime. Ross Douthat reviews Contagion. 26 THE RIGHT KIND OF TYRANT by Rob Long 51 THE STRAGGLER: What Steve Jobs gave the world. CATALOG SHOPPER John Derbyshire gears up. NR INNOVATION SPECIAL SECTIONS 28 SWIFT BLIND HORSEMAN? by Peter Thiel Look, listen—proceed. 4 Letters to the Editor 8 The Week PATENTLY ABSURD by Timothy B. Lee 32 37 The Bent Pin . Florence King Copyright law can meet the needs of software developers. 38 The Long View . Rob Long 39 Athwart James Lileks 34 INNOVATIONS AND LIMITATIONS by Allison Schrager . 41 Poetry Jennifer Reeser Where financial innovation went wrong, and how to set it right. 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 9/9/2011 3:20 PM Page 1 Someone’s Going to Lose This Race—Don’t Let It be You! ext summer, the Olympic Torch will arrive in London colorful official display folder which bears a hologram seal and an to open the 2012 Olympic Summer Games. But for individually registered serial number. Ncollectors, the race has already begun! ree: Most Limited Coin of the Series. Announcing the official London 2012 Olympic Countdown is London 2012 Countdown 1 coin has the most limited Coin—the first-ever Olympic Games countdown series! mintage of the entire Brilliant Uncirculated series. 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Each coin comes displayed within a Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 www.GovMint.com/Londoncountdown Prices and availability subject to change without notice. Note: GovMint.com is a private distributor of worldwide government coin issues and is not affiliated with the United States government. Facts and figures were deemed accurate as of July 2011. ©GovMint.com, 2011 ® letters--ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 9/14/2011 2:01 PM Page 4 Letters The Ron Paul Movement Rides On OCTOBER 3 ISSUE; PRINTED SEPTEMBER 15 It is not surprising that with the polls ranking him third nationally, Ron Paul atIoNal evIew EDITOR would finally make the cover of N R (“Ron Paul’s last Crusade,” Richard Lowry September 19). It is also not surprising, sadly, that although the accompanying Senior Editors story is sometimes humorous, it is generally negative toward Paul. Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger Kevin D. williamson has many things to say about the 2012 Republican Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts presidential candidate, and he does not hesitate to lampoon everyone—Paul, his Literary Editor Michael Potemra senator son, the campaign staff, and, of course, Paul’s army of enthusiastic sup- Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy National Correspondent John J. Miller porters. But perhaps williamson’s truest sentence can be found in the first para- Political Reporter Robert Costa Art Director Luba Kolomytseva graph. williamson writes of Paul: “He is, for better and for worse, a man of Deputy Managing Editors ideas—maybe the last true man of ideas in american politics.” Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson Associate Editors But what are those ideas? williamson notes of Paul, “He wants to talk about Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen fiat money, the american empire, the Fed.” williamson then portrays those who Research Director Katherine Connell Executive Secretary Frances Bronson support Paul’s ideas in an unflattering light, to say the least. Assistant to the Editor Christeleny Frangos It is a well-established trick of the left to attempt to marginalize opposition Contributing Editors Robert H. Bork / Shannen Coffin / John Derbyshire by focusing on the eccentric rather than centric. For example, last summer, Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum many liberal pundits were far more concerned with the theology of Michele Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin Bachmann’s church than with explaining why she is popular with many in the Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi grassroots. liberals are even prone to imply that her theology is really what Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne David B. Rivkin Jr. attracts people to Bachmann. NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE In his repeated attempts to portray Paul and his campaign as beyond the pale, Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez williamson takes aim at Paul’s Iowa campaign chairman, Drew Ivers, noting Managing Editor Edward John Craig News Editor Daniel Foster that Mr. Ivers also worked for Pat Robertson in 1988, Pat Buchanan in 1996 and Editorial Associates 2000, and some third-party candidates. But williamson conveniently fails to Brian Bolduc / Charles C. W. Cooke Brian Stewart / Katrina Trinko mention that Ivers was also a county chairman in Iowa for Ronald Reagan’s Web Developer Gareth du Plooy Technical Services Russell Jenkins presidential campaigns in 1976 and 1980. obviously, Reagan rose to power aided and abetted by “fringe” and “extreme” elements in the Republican party. EDITORS- AT- L A RG E this type of marginalization is what the left does best.