Category: Reflections

Andrew Sullivan writes that the war on terrorism has “discombobulated” libertarians. He has a point. Do defenders of liberty side with the state, because it …

Randolph Bourne famously observed that “war is the health of the state.” The present undeclared war against the Taliban government of Afghanistan and the stateless …

There is very little more annoying than a telemarketing call. I earn my way in this world by telling jokes, and I eagerly anticipate every …

Friday, Oct. 19: My wife and I are on the Jersey Turnpike heading into the Holland Tunnel, a frequently mentioned target of Islamic terrorists, a …

Weekly Standard for Nov. 5, David Brooks observes that “the next few years will be defined by conflict. . . . We will destroy innocent …

Often we hear people wondering what it is that holds Americans together. We are so diverse ethnically, religiously, politically, and philosophically; many worry that we …

A little-noticed news item in The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 9) reports that the extremely virulent form of anthrax – the Ames strain – was …

I went to a talk early in November by a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Walter Russell Mead. With regard to foreign …

“After great pain a formal feeling comes.” That’s about where we are now, those of us who didn’t lose anyone we loved on Sept. 11. …

People are being asked to spend, spend, spend – out of patriotism and to forestall economic depression. But spending in itself does not prosperity make. …