A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Conservatism

  • The new new new fusionism?

    I remember those days of–what?–three years ago when the “new fusionism” was supposed to be an alliance of pro-lifers and foreign policy hawks. And then there was “liberaltarianism.” Now it’s an alliance between “neo-Benedictines” and “libertarians.” The idea is that folks who want to live in Alasdair MacIntyre-style local communities heavy on religious identity and Read more

  • Sorry, dad

    Since I’m still getting a lot of hits for “conservatives for Obama” here’s one for you–Christopher Buckley (son of William F. and a well-regarded writer in his own right) endorses. Read more

  • Invasion of the left-wing body snatchers

    I largely agree with John’s take on the whole Obama-as-closet-radical idea being pushed by the (increasingly desperate) McCain campaign and its media fellow travelers. (Be sure to follow the links he provides too.) I have plenty of lefty friends, and they certainly don’t think Obama is a radical lefty. On everything from health care to Read more

  • Come on in, conservatives; the water’s fine

    For whatever reason, this post, A Conservative for Obama, has been getting a lot of traffic recently. Are there still disaffected conservatives out there who haven’t drunk the McPalin kool-aid and are looking for a reason to vote Dem? Here’s a good place to start: conservative historian–and self-described “Obamacon”–Andrew Bacevich on NPR’s Fresh Air. Among Read more

  • Bacevich on “Democracy Now!”

    Starts at about 33 minutes into this stream (thanks, Elliot!). To the extent that I still think of myself as a conservative, it’s in the Bacevich-Reinhold Niebuhr mold. Bacevich gets at what I take to be the heart of this conservatism in the interview: it’s the recognition that world exists prior to us and doesn’t Read more

  • Irony and hunting

    Turns out that Sarah Palin’s RNC speech was written by former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, who also happens to be the author of Dominion, a conservative polemic on behalf of animal rights. (An excerpt from Scully’s book that appeared in the American Conservative several years back actually helped set me on the path to vegetarianism.): Read more

  • Perspective

    I continue to be mystified by the Sarah Palin love-fest and the Sarah Palin hate-fest. Clearly, she’s touched a nerve with the conservative grassroots and set off at least some lefty bloggers and commentators. To my mind this doesn’t change anything. But then, I wasn’t the target audience for this move. McCain is still McCain, Read more

  • Cheap dates

    Reading National Review‘s “The Corner” and some comment threads at Rod Dreher’s place, I was puzzled to see so many conservatives gushing about McCain’s choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. From what little I’ve read she seems to be an admirable lady with strong convictions, but how does this alter the Read more

  • Conservatism 2.0

    Readers should check out Culture11, a new site that has been touted as a conservative version of Slate (which some wags have claimed is redundant), and which is staffed by some of the bright, young lights of eclecticly heterodox conservatism. Looks promising even if, like me, you fear we’re suffering from a politico-cultural commentary glut. Read more

  • Left and Right: the prospects for liberty*

    John is wondering how committed “the Left” is to civil liberties given that Barack Obama is largely getting a free pass on his deviations, while Bob Barr, a genuinely pro-civil liberties candidate, is being ignored. Meanwhile, in reviewing Bill Kauffman’s latest, W. James Antle III seriously questions whether “there is still such a thing as Read more