A few weeks ago, I was delighted to see an author writing in the pages of The American Spectator and referring with approval to Aristotle’s principle of the Golden Mean. The great Greek philosopher observed nature’s pursuit of balance and…
Against the Tide: The Best of Roger Scruton’s Columns, Commentaries, and Criticism By Roger Scruton (Bloomsbury Continuum, 256 pages, $28) Nearly everything in this collection originally appeared in a newspaper or a magazine, among these the one you are holding…
In 1999, Norman Podhoretz, who edited Commentary magazine for 35 years, wrote a book titled Ex-Friends, in which he explored the reasons for his falling out with former friends and colleagues in the intellectual and literary world. He primarily blamed…
A principle of reference in every political performance and in every marital argument: having your reasons does not necessarily mean you are being reasonable. Of course, Republicans have reason enough to go to war with Disney, but war against the…
Sometimes it’s exhausting being a conservative. It’s other conservatives who are exhausting. Perhaps it’s the legacy of the founders of the movement. William F. Buckley, for example, was an incurable pessimist who often found himself dumbfounded at the successful progression…
I’ve listened to Tucker Carlson on the issue of crotch tanning, and now I walk around like a cowboy who’s lost his horse, wear no clothes at home, and write while sitting on a block of ice. Yes, I’ve been…
I was in New Haven this past week for a couple of events at Yale, one of which was a William F. Buckley, Jr. Program debate for a primarily college-age audience on “common good conservatism.” During the debate, I argued…
With inflation, crime, and social discord surging at home and tyrannies such as China and Russia resurgent abroad, Americans face tremendous challenges. Recent polls show we’re dissatisfied with our country’s present and worried about its future. We have good reason…
Washington — I see that President Calvin Coolidge is in the news, along with his sidekick Warren Gamaliel Harding. Warren was a mediocrity’s mediocrity and was long held to be the worst president of modern times. That was until Jimmy…
