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MONDAY, DECEMBER 01, 2008
The U.S. Economy with Peter Thiel: Chapter 1 of 5
Hedge-fund manager Peter Thiel discusses why the U.S. has failed to rise to the heights predicted in The American Challenge, a landmark 1967 book by J. J. Servan-Schreiber.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2008
Shelby Steele on President-Elect Obama: Chapter 5 of 5
Shelby Steele says racism – in the aftermath of the 2008 presidential election — is now located by default in the Republican party. How can the GOP shake this stigma? Steele says the process won’t be easy, and that it may very well lead Republicans to betray the values that have made America great.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2008
Shelby Steele on President-Elect Obama: Chapter 4 of 5
Shelby Steele says no white candidate could have won the 2008 presidential election armed with Barack Obama’s policies.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008
Shelby Steele on President-Elect Obama: Chapter 3 of 5
Shelby Steels says Obama represented an opportunity for white voters to dispel the stigma that this is a racist country. Black voters, by contrast, voted for Obama to dispel the idea that they are inferior. Either way, the November elections revealed how this country is obsessed by race.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2008
Shelby Steele on President-Elect Obama: Chapter 2 of 5
Shelby Steele says we know very little about the content of Barack Obama’s character — although we will come to know it with every decision he makes as president.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2008
Shelby Steele on President-Elect Obama: Chapter 1 of 5
Shelby Steele says Barack Obama won the presidential election by successfully basing his candidacy on race.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2008
Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions: Chapter 5 of 5
Thomas Sowell discusses the dangerous unconstrained vision of Barack Obama and other elites. And what will happen if this vision scores a three-house sweep on Election Day? Sowell says we may have reached “a point of no return.”

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008
Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions: Chapter 4 of 5
Is John McCain’s the constrained vision of the economy, and is Obama’s the unconstrained? According to Sowell, the distinction is sadly not that clear.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008
Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions: Chapter 3 of 5
Speaking of the differing visions of war, Sowell says the constrained vision is never surprised by war, while the unconstrained vision almost always is.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2008
Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions: Chapter 2 of 5
Sowell describes the constrained and unconstrained visions of the law, noting that the former applies to John McCain and the latter to Barrack Obama.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2008
Thomas Sowell and a Conflict of Visions: Chapter 1 of 5
Thomas Sowell describes the critical differences between interests and visions. Interests, he says, are articulated by people who know what their interests are and what they want to do about them. Visions, however, are the implicit assumptions by which people operate. This idea elevates to politics, where visions are either “constrained” or “unconstrained.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2008
Ward Connerly on Race: Chapter 5 of 5
Connerly says Martin Luther King would likely have supported affirmative action back in the 1960s. But if he were alive today, he’d say, “We’re beyond that now.” Would a President Obama agree? Connerly weighs in.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2008
Ward Connerly on Race: Chapter 4 of 5
According to Connerly, the Supreme Court is moving in the right direction on race, which is toward “a Constitution that is colorblind.”

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2008
Ward Connerly on Race: Chapter 3 of 5
A dozen years after the enactment of Proposition 209, Ward Connerly keeps at it, fighting, now, for anti-preference measures on the ballot in Colorado and Nebraska.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2008
Ward Connerly on Race: Chapter 2 of 5
How has Proposition 209 fared since it went into effect in California in 1998? Very well, says Ward Connerly: “Once you remove that artificiality of race preferences,” as Prop. 209 did, “kids are going [to school] where they can compete.”

MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2008
Ward Connerly on Race: Chapter 1 of 5
In discussing the battle to end racial preferences in Colorado and Nebraska, Ward Connerly notes that “the establishment is always at odds with the people on issues involving race.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008
Anything Goes with Chris Buckley: Chapter 5 of 5
Christopher Buckley talks about politics, Republicans, the war, spending, McCain, Obama, and American life.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2008
Anything Goes with Chris Buckley: Chapter 4 of 5
Christopher Buckley reflects on life with WFB, from Friday-night sails to a father’s fear of wasted time.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 08, 2008
Anything Goes with Chris Buckley: Chapter 3 of 5
Christopher Buckley, former presidential speechwriter, rates the speechifying of Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 07, 2008
Anything Goes with Chris Buckley: Chapter 2 of 5
Christopher Buckley discusses POTUS as acronym and erectile dysfunction. He also chimes in on the new media — Wolfe’s “billion-footed beast.”

MONDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2008
Anything Goes with Chris Buckley: Chapter 1 of 5
Christopher Buckley discusses (sort of) his new comic novel, Supreme Courtship. What was his motivation? “I thought, the Supreme Court … why not?” What is his method? “I am a plotter,” says Buckley.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2008
Politics & Catholics with Charles Chaput: Chapter 5 of 5
Archbishop Chaput says Catholic Democrats have an obligation to change their party’s platform on abortion, just as Catholic Republicans are responsible for keeping their party pro-life. Moreover, he says the Catholic position on abortion need not be just a Catholic position, but an American position.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
Politics & Catholics with Charles Chaput: Chapter 4 of 5
Archbishop Chaput has written that “The logic behind abortion makes all human rights politically contingent.” For example, Chaput explains that if our leaders can decide when life begins, they also can make determinations about when life should end. Overall, Chaput describes what is a coarsening of the value of life in the Western world.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008
Politics & Catholics with Charles Chaput: Chapter 3 of 5
Archbishop Chaput describes the relationship between Jesus and Caesar, or between Catholics and the state: First, Jesus acknowledged his responsibilities to Caesar. Second, Jesus demoted Caesar, making clear that “God is God and Caesar is not.” Third, Jesus remained silent about what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God, allowing for individual determinations on the duties of citizens.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
Politics & Catholics with Charles Chaput: Chapter 2 of 5
Archbishop Chaput describes Vatican II as the “primary grace of God to the Catholic Church in the 20th century.” And yet, since Vatican II, the Catholic Church in America has suffered greatly. In particular, the numbers of Catholic seminarians, priests, and nuns have plummeted. Chaput explains why this is, and is not, a dilemma.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008
Politics & Catholics with Charles Chaput: Chapter 1 of 5
Archbishop Charles Chaput corrects House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has said the Catholic Church’s teachings on abortion aren’t clear. On the contrary, Chaput says the Church has long held that abortion is always and in all circumstances wrong. He also says Sen. Joe Biden’s position on abortion — that people should not impose their beliefs on the subject on others — is highly flawed.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008
The Word According to Andrew Klavan: Chapter 5 of 5
Andrew Klavan defends his idea that George W. Bush and Batman (as portrayed in The Dark Knight) are very much alike in that they “sacrificed their popularity to do the right thing,” while the Left, with its lack of substantive argument, can only stoop to ridicule as a way of turning the populace against the president.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
The Word According to Andrew Klavan: Chapter 4 of 5
While Andrew Klavan is proud to say that several of his books have been turned into feature films, he is ashamed to be associated with the film industry, and for very specific reasons. We are at war, he says, and an important war at that. And for Hollywood to produce what are propaganda films for the enemy in a time of war is nothing short of wicked.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
The Word According to Andrew Klavan: Chapter 3 of 5
Andrew Klavan gives a tour of his life in — and out of — faith. Early on, he was raised in the Jewish faith, but as he says “without faith”; then as a young man he rejected God and faith entirely; finally, in what he calls “the atmosphere of unknown,” he “made the decision to believe.”

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 09, 2008
The Word According to Andrew Klavan: Chapter 2 of 5
Andrew Klavan says the Left has long argued that Western civilization — from its embrace of capitalism to its foundations in Judeo-Christian doctrine to its traditions of personal liberty — is in error and needs to go. But Klavan says “that argument has failed spectacularly, in every way,” and that when you do not relinquish a failed argument all you have left is insult and ridicule.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2008
The Word According to Andrew Klavan: Chapter 1 of 5
Andrew Klavan discusses his latest novel, Empire of Lies — a thriller that diverges from its genre by way of its explicitly Christian hero, Jason Harrow. Klavan explains that while thrillers are founded on the thrill, writers in the genre also can ask larger questions about the nature of man and society.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2008
The Great Depression with Amity Shlaes: Chapter 5 of 5
Will we ever be able to put the New Deal and its great social legacies behind us? Shlaes has an optimistic response. “Only a permanent Katrina,” says Shlaes, or a permanent national economic disaster, “can make the New Deal vision hold forever.”

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008
The Great Depression with Amity Shlaes: Chapter 4 of 5
Shlaes describes how the New Dealers of the 1920s and 1930s were greatly influenced by the Soviet Union and Mussolini’s Italy. She says they were deeply inspired by the ambition of the collectivists, all while believing there was something intrinsically wrong with the United States.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2008
The Great Depression with Amity Shlaes: Chapter 3 of 5
Was FDR’s progressivism, as evident in the New Deal, really all that new, or was it a step along a progressive continuum that already had been established? Shlaes answers that while the impulse of progressivism was strong in America in the 1930s, FDR’s progressivism was radically more advanced. In addition, Shlaes says the FDR administration “used the excuse of the emergency of the Great Depression” to advance its progressive agenda.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2008
The Great Depression with Amity Shlaes: Chapter 2 of 5
How much blame does Herbert Hoover deserve for the Great Depression? Shlaes says a good amount since he both misjudged the Wall Street crash and failed in his reaction to it. There also was the depression-inducing Smoot-Hawley tariff, which Hoover — an internationalist by nature — knew better than to sign into law.

MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2008
The Great Depression with Amity Shlaes: Chapter 1 of 5
Amity Shlaes challenges the received wisdom that the Great Depression occurred because capitalism broke, and that it ended because FDR, and government in general, came to the rescue. According to Shlaes, it was the government that made the Great Depression worse.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2008
The Founders and Us: Chapter 5 of 5
Brookhiser says the Founders would have approved of today’s political culture of “attack ads, spinning, and mindless partisanship.” In fact, they would have said it’s better than what they had back in the 18th century, when the politics was much more mean-spirited. Of course, that’s not to say today’s politicians are somehow superior to yesterday’s.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008
The Founders and Us: Chapter 4 of 5
Did the Founders want a republic or an empire? Brookhiser leans toward the latter, noting that Jefferson desired Canada and Cuba — assets that would make us an “empire for liberty” — and that Washington regularly used the phrase “this rising empire.” And how would the Founders have judged the invasion of Iraq? Brookhiser says they’d have been for it if they believed an un-invaded Iraq posed a threat to this nation.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008
The Founders and Us: Chapter 3 of 5
Brookhiser says the Founders saw America as a religious nation, and not necessarily a Christian nation. Washington, for example, while not overtly passionate about a specific church or religious denomination, often spoke about how providence played an active role in the whole founding experience. His phrase was the “astonishing interpositions of Providence.”

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2008
The Founders and Us: Chapter 2 of 5
Founders Madison and Hamilton clashed over the constitutionality of a national bank, while Founders Washington and Madison had a constitutional dispute over the power to make treaties. Does the existence of these disagreements undercut the arguments of present-day “originalists” who believe the meaning of the Constitution is fixed and immutable? Not at all, says Brookhiser, although he says today’s originalists must be accommodative to those disagreements.

MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2008
The Founders and Us: Chapter 1 of 5
Should we care what the Founders would say about modern-day America? Richard Brookhiser says yes, reasoning that the Founders started a system more than 200 years ago that lasts till this day; that they lived at a time of war and so do we; and, finally, that human nature simply doesn’t change all that much over time.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 01, 2008
In Defense of WWII: Chapter 5 of 5
Buchanan describes the emergence of a “Churchill cult” in America post-9/11, whereby the liberation of Iraq from Saddam was erroneously equated with the liberation of Europe from Hitler. Hanson and Hitchens contend that this diagram is, in fact, correct.

THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008
In Defense of WWII: Chapter 4 of 5
Niall Ferguson, author of The War of the World, describes the Allies in WWII as just as brutal as the German and Japanese opposition. In rebuttal, Hitchens makes the point that Germany and Japan were nurtured back to health following defeat, something that never would have happened to Russia or Britain under German occupation. Hanson adds that any atrocities committed by the Allies were incidental, not premeditated.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008
In Defense of WWII: Chapter 3 of 5
Hanson and Hitchens take on Buchanan’s argument that Germany invaded Russia only because Britain under Churchill was determined to partner with Russia against Germany. According to Buchanan, had Churchill not refused a negotiated peace with Germany, Germany may never have invaded Russia and prolonged the bloody war for another four years.

TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2008
In Defense of WWII: Chapter 2 of 5
Buchanan describes the Holocaust as a consequence of WWII; without that war, it may not have occurred. Hanson counters that the mechanisms of the Holocaust could not have been envisioned and organized just because of a war scenario. Hitchens reminds that Hitler’s program for genocide, Mein Kampf, came out in the 1920s.

MONDAY, JULY 28, 2008
In Defense of WWII: Chapter 1 of 5
Victor Davis Hanson and Christopher Hitchens take on the WWII revisionists, centering on Patrick J. Buchanan, the author, most recently, of Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War. In terms of the origins of the conflict, Buchanan says essentially that Britain’s guarantee to protect Poland in the event of a German invasion made the war inevitable. Hanson counters that Germany’s invasion of Poland was not an isolated act. Hitchens says Buchanan is “consciously trying to deceive us.”

FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2008
Law & Jihad with Andrew McCarthy: Chapter 5 of 5
Is there a way to balance war and the “rule of law”? McCarthy says simply that those we capture must be given “enough” justice — in particular so we can continue to maintain the cooperation of our allies — while the idea must be to win the war. And how well has the Bush administration performed at both administrating the law and prosecuting the war? McCarthy hands out some grades.

THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008
Law & Jihad with Andrew McCarthy: Chapter 4 of 5
Andy McCarthy illustrates some of the differences between law enforcement and national security. Citizens of the U.S., of course, are presumed innocent until proven guilty; in this country we would rather see the guilty go free than the innocent wrongly convicted. Yet in terms of national security, government cannot be permitted to fail. Hence, we cannot have a system where we presume the innocence of accused terrorists.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2008
Law & Jihad with Andrew McCarthy: Chapter 3 of 5
Andy McCarthy discusses jihad in America, underscoring the fact that “jihadists are very adept at exploiting the freedoms that are available to them in Western democracies.” Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, in fact, found it easier to operate here in the U.S. than in his home country of Egypt.

TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008
Law & Jihad with Andrew McCarthy: Chapter 2 of 5
Andy McCarthy discusses the “chasm between the Islam of Western fantasy and the Islam that actually exists.” For one, the Islamic ideology of jihad, or holy war, is not a modern, incidental phenomenon; rather, it is fourteen centuries old and commands the allegiance of hundreds of millions of people. For another, jihad will not simply “go away.”

MONDAY, JULY 14, 2008
Law & Jihad with Andrew McCarthy: Chapter 1 of 5
Andrew McCarthy discusses his role in the prosecution of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is now serving time for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. McCarthy says justice was served in the trial. In terms of national security, however, McCarthy fears the protracted trial only emboldened the enemy.

FRIDAY, JULY 04, 2008
War & Terror with Philip Bobbitt: Chapter 5 of 5
Bobbitt says the U.S. cannot possibly hope to defeat the terrorists without allies, particularly in Europe. Alliances cannot be an aspiration; they are a necessity.

THURSDAY, JULY 03, 2008
War & Terror with Philip Bobbitt: Chapter 4 of 5
We tend to believe the people have more power than the government when the times are tranquil, and that the government asserts more power than the people in times of emergency. Bobbitt says this is a misleading paradigm. Just because a government’s power increases during times of emergency does not mean the people must surrender either rights or power.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 02, 2008
War & Terror with Philip Bobbitt: Chapter 3 of 5
During the 20th century it was important that the law and the Allied war strategy were separate. According to Bobbitt, “We won the war and then the law followed.” In the current century, however, Bobbitt says our challenge is to unite the two: Law and war strategy must meet since we are now fighting to protect what free people have a lawful right to do.

TUESDAY, JULY 01, 2008
War & Terror with Philip Bobbitt: Chapter 2 of 5
Philip Bobbitt says we think we know terrorism because we know 20th century terrorism — the PLO, the FLN, the IRA, etc. But terror and terrorism are forever changing as the times change, becoming symptoms or phenomena of the established constitutional order. Today, nation states have globalized and privatized; are integrated and networked; and will outsource and insource to achieve the right mix of labor. The exact same can be said of terrorism in the 21st century.

MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008
War & Terror with Philip Bobbitt: Chapter 1 of 5
Professor Philip Bobbitt describes the “wars of the 21st Century” as wars against terror — against modern market-state terrorism, against the distribution and assimilation of weapons of mass destruction, and against the forces that create human catastrophes, such as genocide and ethnic cleansing. Where many today portray “terror” as the method and not the enemy, Bobbitt says terror is, in fact, an enemy, and one that must be vanquished.

FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008
War Policy with Douglas Feith: Chapter 5 of 5
Is the U.S. equipped to deal with national-security problems around the world? Feith says no, pointing out the antiquated organization of our entire security community as well as the ineffective mess that is the CIA. Of course, our national security ultimately depends on the people in charge. Feith rates a few of the bigger names.

THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2008
War Policy with Douglas Feith: Chapter 4 of 5
Feith describes how WMD in Iraq — or the lack thereof — changed everything. Despite the fact that the WMD threat was but one of several dangers posed by Saddam’s regime, the failure to discover the WMD stockpiles prompted the Bush administration to shift its rhetoric away from past threats and toward Iraq’s future. In doing so the administration only empowered its critics.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008
War Policy with Douglas Feith: Chapter 3 of 5
Why was the CIA’s pre-war intelligence about Iraq so faulty? Simple, says Feith. According to a congressional report, “the CIA did not have . . . a single agent dedicated to the WMD issue in Iraq before the war. Not one.” Making matters worse, the CIA neither offered the president alternatives to his Iraq policy, nor did it wholeheartedly support that policy once it was implemented.

TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2008
War Policy with Douglas Feith: Chapter 2 of 5
Feith discusses the war blunders. First, the failure to provide adequate security forces after the fall of Saddam. Feith describes how this grew out of a sense that a build-up of U.S. forces would play to enemy propaganda. Second, the decision to maintain an occupation government in Iraq for over a year. Feith says this came counter to the idea of “liberation, not occupation.”

MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2008
War Policy with Douglas Feith: Chapter 1 of 5
Critics argue that U.S. officials manipulated intelligence in order to boost public support for the war. There mantra is “Bush lied, people died.” Not true, says Douglas Feith. Bush believed the same intelligence information that Clinton believed. Saddam, meanwhile, was corrupting that intelligence, leading the world to believe the WMD stockpiles were there.

FRIDAY, JUNE 06, 2008
The Middle East with Daniel Pipes: Chapter 5 of 5
Daniel Pipes talks the odds. The chance that immigrant Muslims and indigenous Europeans find a way to live in harmony? Five percent, says Pipes. The chance that Europe becomes Eurabian, part of the Muslim world? Forty-seven-and-a-half percent. The chance that Europeans reassert control over the continent? Forty-seven-and-a-half percent, once more — and Pipes says it won’t be pretty.

THURSDAY, JUNE 05, 2008
The Middle East with Daniel Pipes: Chapter 4 of 5
The Bush administration this year requested $2.5 billion in aid for Israel. Pipes calls such a high level of aid “a mistake.” It costs Israelis on several levels — for starters, in terms of public opinion of Israel in the United States. That said, a strong U.S.-Israel bond benefits both countries, and contrary to mainstream opinion does not spoil U.S.-Arab relations.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 04, 2008
The Middle East with Daniel Pipes: Chapter 3 of 5
What to do with Iran — or more specifically, an Iran with nuclear weapons? Daniel Pipes takes a tough stance. He says the U.S. must make it clear that if Iran continues down the nuclear path, the consequences will be dire. That said, there is no reason for the U.S. to involve Israel in the matter. The Israelis, in the estimation of Pipes, are quite capable on their own of standing up to a nuclear Iran.

TUESDAY, JUNE 03, 2008
The Middle East with Daniel Pipes: Chapter 2 of 5
Israel: a “noble mistake”? There are those in the mainstream media who attempt to spread this notion, emphasizing that the now 60-year-old nation was a flawed concept from the beginning. Daniel Pipes firmly disagrees. He says Israel is a tremendous success in every quantifiable area, from its economy to its freedoms to its scientific advancements to its cultural uniqueness. “The trouble Israel has,” says Pipes, “is that its neighbors don’t accept it.”

MONDAY, JUNE 02, 2008
The Middle East with Daniel Pipes: Chapter 1 of 5
Is Islam a religion of peace? Daniel Pipes, a leading Islamic scholar, says yes and no. If Islam prevails, becoming the world’s pervasive religion, the answer is yes; and since it will require war for Islam to prevail, for the time being the answer is no. But to begin to understand Islam, Pipes says it should be viewed in its several forms: traditional, radical, and modern, the last of which is only in the act of becoming.

FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2008
The Rise and Fall of Liberalism: Chapter 5 of 5
Piereson says conservatives were not at all surprised that a communist killed Kennedy, and thus had no need to recast any of their assumptions about America in the aftermath of the event. Liberals, on the other hand, lost an honest sense of themselves, their history, and America following the assassination. In short, they cracked — a condition that endures to this day.

THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2008
The Rise and Fall of Liberalism: Chapter 4 of 5
Jackie Kennedy was the first to make the association between her late husband and the legend of Camelot. In so doing, says Piereson, she introduced a false sense of nostalgia into liberal thought — the idea that the best of times were in the past.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2008
The Rise and Fall of Liberalism: Chapter 3 of 5
Liberals in the 1960s attempted to place John F. Kennedy, following his death, on a pedestal with Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated a century earlier. The notion was that each president was a martyr for the cause of civil rights. According to James Piereson, this only added confusion to an already confused event.

TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2008
The Rise and Fall of Liberalism: Chapter 2 of 5
Americans in 1963 would immediately blame the assassination of JFK on right-wing extremists — on anti-communists or white supremacists. Piereson says this was understandable, since violence in American life had at the time been perpetrated by fringe groups on the right. In truth, however, the assassination was performed by a dedicated communist — by a member of the far left — making JFK a causality of the Cold War.

MONDAY, MAY 19, 2008
The Rise and Fall of Liberalism: Chapter 1 of 5
James Piereson describes the liberalism that came out of the New Deal as being very optimistic about the future, the role of the U.S. in the world, and the function of the federal government in perfecting our democracy. These were liberalism’s golden years, with successes including the end of the Great Depression, the defeat of Hitler, the establishment of the federal highway system, and, ultimately, the election of John F. Kennedy.

FRIDAY, MAY 09, 2008
The Word According to Tom Wolfe: Chapter 5 of 5
Tom Wolfe and America? He loves the place, a position that puts him at odds with much of the charming aristocracy. He’s also an optimist about America — and American greatness. “The biggest problem,” says Wolfe, “is all the people who see a problem.”

THURSDAY, MAY 08, 2008
The Word According to Tom Wolfe: Chapter 4 of 5
Tom Wolfe says evolution ended when man learned to speak — with the dawn of homo loquax. Where status for the beast of the field is determined by power, for man it is determined in innumerable ways because of language. And it is language that gives us rational thought. Wolfe asks, “Have you ever see an animal shrug?”

WEDNESDAY, MAY 07, 2008
The Word According to Tom Wolfe: Chapter 3 of 5
Darwin, Marx, Freud, (E.O.) Wilson? Tom Wolfe says the common thread there is the power of the word — of ideas that change human history in large and obvious ways.

TUESDAY, MAY 06, 2008
The Word According to Tom Wolfe: Chapter 2 of 5
Tom Wolfe says the ideas for his novels grow out of conversation — from what’s really happening. His critics have pounced on this, calling his novels more journalism than literature. But Wolfe shrugs this off: He says he doesn’t write for the “charming aristocracy” — the aristocracy of taste that believes the novelist must aspire to things the masses cannot understand.

MONDAY, MAY 05, 2008
The Word According to Tom Wolfe: Chapter 1 of 5
Tom Wolfe begins by discussing the written word, in its popular forms. The master novelist and journalist says the novel is dying a horrible death, although non-fiction work will continue and the memoir will never die. He then talks about the subject of his latest novel (still in progress): immigration.

FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2008
Kissinger on War & More: Chapter 5 of 5
War and the media — the two have not partnered so well since Vietnam. But in the days of the Internet, conservative talk radio, and Fox News, has the dynamic changed? Kissinger says only a bit, and that the media remain heavily biased against military action. Additionally, the 1960s concept that the U.S. government is somehow an evil enterprise is alive and well. In this environment, Kissinger says our leaders need to present a clearer and more educated vision of the American role in the world.

THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008
Kissinger on War & More: Chapter 4 of 5
Kissinger has partnered with George Shultz and others in the noble cause of a nuclear-free world. But what, in fact, are the risks should the U.S. dismantle its nuclear arsenal? And what are the prospects of eradicating all nuclear weapons, without having a few “fall through the cracks”? Kissinger is realistic. The process will not be perfect, nor will it be complete. Yet it must be done undertaken.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008
Kissinger on War & More: Chapter 3 of 5
Kissinger says the rise of India and China is an immensely significant event. He describes these nations as “conglomerates of cultures” that are much larger and potentially more powerful than European nation states ever will be. Looking to each, Kissinger says it is sensible to think of India as a de facto ally, while China and the U.S. have the chance to form a lasting relationship to the benefit of the world.

TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2008
Kissinger on War & More: Chapter 2 of 5
Kissinger says Europe is suspended between its past and its future. The European integration that began after World War II has delivered something undesirable. Meanwhile, Muslim birthrates are soaring while indigenous European birthrates are foundering. This is no longer the Europe we have known. And what of a NATO where the U.S. far and away commits the most on the battlefield? Kissinger concludes that Europe’s interests must become compatible with ours.

MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2008
Kissinger on War & More: Chapter 1 of 5
Henry Kissinger explains how the war in Iraq is not specifically about Iraq. Rather, it is a war on radical Islam, which will stop at nothing in its assault on the West. America thus cannot afford to become exhausted with the conflict. If we do so — if we conform to political pressure from the left and the apparent anti-war sentiment of the electorate — jihad will only spread.

FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008
The Free-Market Case for Green: Chapter 5 of 5
T. J. Rodgers discusses the promise and pitfalls of the most popular alternative-energy sources (other than solar). Ethanol? Rodgers says it’s a “total waste.” However, bioengineering and genetic engineering that address the entire corn plant, rather than just the fruit, hold promise. Wind power? Rodgers says it produces high energy volume while remaining cheaper per kilowatt hour than solar. Nuclear? Not only is it cheap and efficient — it’s safe.

THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2008
The Free-Market Case for Green: Chapter 4 of 5
In the cause of dealing with global warming, Al Gore proposes replacing payroll taxes with pollution taxes on CO2; Barack Obama supports “cap-and-trade,” in which businesses can emit CO2 to a certain level, after which they will need credits to do so; and John McCain leans toward cap-and-trade, but with an emphasis on subsidies for nuclear energy. T. J. Rodgers has strong opinions on each plan, and stresses overall that government should get out of the energy business.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 09, 2008
The Free-Market Case for Green: Chapter 3 of 5
Does solar power “pay,” in the capitalist sense of the word? Almost. According to T. J. Rodgers, solar power is on the edge of ROI — of generating a worthwhile return on investment. And while there’s a learning curve involved in the process of efficiently capturing solar energy, it is neither steep nor prolonged.

TUESDAY, APRIL 08, 2008
The Free-Market Case for Green: Chapter 2 of 5
T. J. Rodgers separates climate science from global-warming fiction: Do greenhouse gasses elevate temperatures? Probably true. Are some global-warming scientists spreading false alarms? Probably true, again. Is there more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than, say, 100 years ago? Probably true. Is this catastrophic? Probably not. In sum: Rodgers says it’s simply not clear that global warming is a catastrophe.

MONDAY, APRIL 07, 2008
The Free-Market Case for Green: Chapter 1 of 5
Can a dedicated, unabashed, free-market capitalist also be a “green” environmentalist? In T. J. Rodgers we have the answer. Rodgers, the CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. — which owns solar-power manufacturer SunPower — believes that “green is green,” that it’s a money-maker and a winner for business. Says Rodgers, “You serve people by making things people want.” And if people want pollution-free power, the free-market can deliver it.

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2008
Shultz on Nukes — Then & Now: Chapter 5 of 5
How can a U.S. administration sustain political support for anti-terrorist activities about which the public must be kept in the dark? Shultz says the U.S. can indicate the discovery of threat while avoiding the particulars. Can the global proliferation of fissile material be halted? Shultz says it can. Can the U.N. help in this and other efforts to halt the emergence of nuclear-armed terrorists? Shultz offers a solid yes.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008
Shultz on Nukes — Then & Now: Chapter 4 of 5
Can the world live with a nuclear Iran, or must that nation be stopped from attaining nuclear weapons at all costs. Shultz takes the latter position, although he believes empty threats toward that end are unwelcome.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008
Shultz on Nukes — Then & Now: Chapter 3 of 5
North Korea will refuse any international effort to purge the world of nuclear weapons. But Shultz reasons that the U.S. and its closest allies can lean on China and Japan to keep North Korea in check. “Keep the pressure on,” says Shultz.

TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2008
Shultz on Nukes — Then & Now: Chapter 2 of 5
A quarter century after the Cold War has ended, the U.S. still stockpiles thousands of nuclear weapons. Warranted? Shultz reasons that if one warhead can incinerate Manhattan, what conceivable use can there be for thousands? Yet rather than unilateral disarmament, Shultz says the U.S. should aspire to an international effort to pare down these stockpiles.

MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008
Shultz on Nukes — Then & Now: Chapter 1 of 5