Too much Coolidge, Obama

I am all for doing nothing. I personally live up to the Second Foundation maxim of "Never act  unless you must. And then -- hesitate." Then a friend sent me this article. It's a Jonah Goldberg piece, incidentally. I actually hope we never get that time machine. I shudder to think what would happen if Obama…

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Are Republicans Interested In A Libertarian Candidate?

Rand Paul thinks so.  If Rand Paul wants to be a serious libertarian candidate (rather than a grandstander or clown), I'm all for it.  Even if I end up preferring another candidate in 2016, I want there to be a thoughtful, libertarian-minded candidate on stage at debates, keeping the other candidates honest and pulling off…

Searching For The 47%

James Pethokoukis notes that Republicans really need to get back into urban areas.  To some extent, there's brand damage, but to an even larger extent, there's a lack of brand awareness.  Ask your typical urban type what the Republican Party stands for and you'll get a fairly inaccurate stereotype (at best). The solution for Republicans is…

Revising President Grant’s Reputation

President Grant was better than many people have learned in history classes.  This is yet another Ohio President who has gotten a bad rap unfairly.

Baby Steps

Yesterday, I pointed out that there are two large structural problems for conservatives and Republicans at this point in time.  Those are multi-decade problems which require multi-decade solutions.  In the meantime, here are some ideas for the next few years that conservatives should debate. First, conservatives need to explain their ideas.  We have some interesting…

Scooped By 40 Years

So apparently, Ronald Reagan beat me to the punch.  By 35 years.  His message is salient; its importance is as a meta-message:  don't look necessarily at the specific policies Ronald Reagan espoused, for those were tied to his particular point in time.  Instead, look at the unchanging ideals and apply those ideals to problems of…

Where To Go After 2012?

There has been a lot of back-and-forth in Republican and conservative circles after the 2012 election.  I consider this a good thing and hope it goes on for a while yet because there's a lot to talk about. First, the bad news:  this is not an easy fix.  The problem was not Mitt Romney.  Nor…

Paul Ryan

Mitt Romney has chosen Paul Ryan to be his Vice Presidential candidate.  This will make the VP debate hilarious, with Joe Biden's handler throwing in the towel by the third question. Ryan would not have been my primary choice:  he's a huge asset in the House and there are a few governors who would have…

The Kids Are Alright

Nobody out-curmudgeons this Millennialer (Millennialist sounds like a movement strongly against which I would find myself), but I'm slightly less pessimistic with the outcome of my generation, given that at least they aren't a bunch of baby boomer idiots.  Horray for lowered expectations!

The Passing Of Breitbart And Wilson

Andrew Breitbart and James Q. Wilson passed away over the past couple of days.  Two completely different types of men, both of whom will be missed.  Wilson was a favorite topic of mine, and learning that his thesis advisor was Edward Banfield makes me like him even more.