New Year's Financial Resolution
Fr. James V. Schall on Political Philosophy
Last December, the Claremont Institute's Ken Masugi interviewed Fr. James V. Schall at length about faith and reason. They picked up the conversation again, earlier this month, on the question of politics and philosophy.Support America and Support the Claremont Institute
A Very Claremont Christmas 2003
Last minute ideas for all of your Christmas shopping needs, by Ben Boychuk, Bruce Fingerhut, Steven F. Hayward, Ken Masugi, and Thomas G. West.Walter Mondale Loses It
After September 11, 2001, most Americans instinctively understand the common sense supporting the refusal to await further attacks on American soil before undertaking defensive action. Common sense, however, is a quality in short supply among those who, like Walter Mondale, can't see past their hatred of a president whose leadership casts them in his shadow, write John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson.Daisy, Dulcinea, and American Democracy
Gatsby and the Pursuit of Happiness
Learning to Love the Federalists
Jefferson's opponents were awkward but indispensible, writes Allen C. Guelzo in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Mastery of Nature
"Master and Commander" comes across as an enjoyable movie about courage and above all the classical virtue of prudence. Beyond that, we see how those virtues enable us to rediscover the meaning of nature and the unending need to master her, writes Ken Masugi.America Loses Its Greatest Living Director
Today artists on Elia Kazan's exalted level are found only in legend, writes Spencer Warren.The Party's Not Over
In a 50-50 country, Scott Johnson wonders if the fight has gone out of third-party movements in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Homosexual Unions
A selection from The Broken Hearth, by Washington Fellow William J. Bennett.Tailgunner Ann
There is a lot of fun and shrewdness in Ann Coulter's book, but there is also mischief, which of course can be fun. Especially mischief about the other guy, writes William F. Buckley, Jr., in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Economic Muse
Economists would do well to consider using The Literary Book of Economics in their classes—it might help make their theoretical points come alive for their students. But the book would be more useful to English professors, writes Paul A. Cantor in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Debt & Taxes
Though most historians' eyes glaze over at the mention of financial matters, all could profit from reading two recent books on private debt and public finance, writes Forrest McDonald in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.In the Looking Glass
It's hard to find any echo of "majesty" in Sandra Day O'Connor's rambling reflections. A more accurate title for her latest book might have been The Triteness of Law or even, I'm OK, the Law's OK, writes Jeremy Rabkin in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.No Victory, No Peace
No one should declare war without being clear against whom it is being declared. Nothing less than the bloody demise of the most egregious anti-American regimes will convince others not to foster terrorism. Only this will give us peace, writes Angelo Codevilla in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Thanksgiving and the Original Intent of the Constitution
The Bible and Philosophy
The attempts by Leon Kass and Thomas Pangle to grapple with the philosophers' perennial sparring partner, the Bible, reveal something of the thought of their own teacher, Leo Strauss, argues Albert Keith Whitaker in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Bipartisan Dreams
Politicians and citizens alike might take more seriously the responsibility to choose between partisan opinions of the common good, because no one else, least of all the elusive bipartisans, is going to do it for them, writes Charles R. Kesler in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Red-Baiting
One shudders at what Michael Lind and his fellow blue-state "modernists," given half the chance, would do to our country, writes Douglas A. Jeffrey in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Utopia's Victims
The problem is not that we should take lightly the 3,000 Chileans commonly said to have been killed by the Pinochet regime (we shouldn't). The problem is that the Soviet regime killed that many people, inside the camps alone, in 1942 alone, on average every three days. Gerard Alexander reviews three recent books on the gulag in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Breaking the Perfect Tie
Constructing a theoretical majority by assembling on paper the requisite building blocks is easy. But making it a reality in the voting booth is something altogether different, writes Andrew E. Busch in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The True Story of Marbury v. Madison
On the 200th anniversary of the case that "established" judicial review, David Forte explains why Justice John Marshall was not a judicial activist in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
Politics can be deadly serious, as it concerns the important questions in life. But sometimes, John Kienker writes, it's fun to take a break and listen to some stories of life's little vanities and foolishness—and laugh.Schwarzenegger's Moment
Arnold could do a great service to conservatism—even unwittingly—by sticking with his theme that the state's political structure is broken, and pursuing the bold reforms necessary to begin fixing it. And oddly enough, the recall itself provides an almost perfect occasion for doing so, writes Glenn Ellmers in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Nothing Sweeter
Although different people join the service for different reasons, all are equally subject to long, arduous, and often hazardous duty. Marine platoon leader Mackubin T. Owens pays tribute to America's veterans.Reflections on Veterans Day
No Racism At University of California*
Last week, the Times apparently joined whatever efforts are already underway to obscure the truth about UC admissions.Thinking About Thinking
Saving Western Civilization from the corrosive effects of modern philosophy and the modern liberalism that flows from it is the task before us today. We can begin, argues Thomas Krannawitter, by recalling the older, better way of educating ourselves and our children.How America Can Teach the World About Democracy
Social Compact, Properly Understood
Springtime in Paris
If you think post-war Iraq is bad, have a look at Europe circa 1919. Patrick J. Garrity reviews Margaret MacMillan's account of the Paris Conference in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.A Day at the Book Fair
The people gathered at the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. were a perfect example of what a theologian once called "souls without poetry," writes Mark Gauvreau Judge.The Legend of the Social Liberal-Fiscal Conservative
For the most part, a conservative is a conservative and a liberal is a liberal. This is the hard truth. On which side of the ledger, asks Brian Janiskee, will Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ultimately fall?Disarming America
By rights, John Lott's new book ought to have a powerful effect on the gun control debate in the country. Joseph Bessette fears, though, that the bias is so strong that it is impervious to facts. Reviewed in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Rehnquist's Court and the Living Constitution
The new Supreme Court term gets underway next Monday. To understand how living-constitution theory guides constitutionalism even on the seemingly conservative Rehnquist Court, we need to ask some fundamental questions, writes Eric Claeys in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Grand Strategy: Beyond the War on Terrorism
Angst, American Style
George Cotkin's study of American intellectual history makes a convincing case for the widespread influence of existentialist authors on American thought and culture, writes Thomas Hibbs in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.A Family Crisis
The racy material and the promotional posters depicting two young girls thrusting their bejeweled tongues into the camera won't immediately attract the family-values crowd, but the policy implications of "Thirteen" are largely conservative, or at least too complicated for the standard big government solutions, explains Patrick Roberts.War in the Absence of Strategic Clarity
In between the dreamworlds of paralysis and incompetence lies the seam through which al-Qaeda, uninterested in America's parochialisms, will make its next attack, writes Mark Helprin in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Next Great Awakening?
Too Important To Be Left To The General?
Wesley Clark's approach to the war in Kosovo almost failed against a fifth-rate military power and was just about to unravel when, for reasons that are still unclear, Milosevic threw in the towel. This, Mackubin T. Owens wonders, is why we should take him seriously as a candidate for president?The Truth About the Hollywood Ten
"The theater makes you hungry for the whole truth, no matter how eloquent one side of the story is," says the New York Times. Spencer Warren reviews the films and the facts about Communism and Hollywood to see what is merely eloquent and what is the truth.Two Years Into The War: Remember 9/11
A Rake's Progress
Richard Brookhiser gives us a portrait of a man who is somewhat too ironic and too worldly to be approached as a hero, yet not so world-weary that we can be cynical, writes J. Jackson Barlow in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Philadelphia Horror Story
The just-opened National Constitution Center museum has as its ambition that one "Enter as a visitor," but "Leave as a citizen." Unfortunately, the approach taken by its creators denies such a worthy ambition.Reading Up on Islam
Of the writing of books on Islam there is no end. Several hundred have appeared in the U.S. in the last two years. Paul Marshall reviews an armful of them in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Long War Against Islamist Terror
The Ideologue And The Pragmatist
Whatever else these two books expose, the American conservative movement has, since 1945, been rich with competing beliefs. Telling the history of conservatism not only reminds conservatives of the concrete historical sources of contemporary ideas but also exposes the power of ideas to form, deform, or reform the world we inhabit, writes Ted V. McAllister in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Hamilton And The Historians
The Lonely Scold
New Vintage, Same Sour Grapes
The War To End All Politics
Calling Liberalism's Bluff
Being Earnest
Crushing One's Enemies
Michelangelo's Catechism
The Long View: Democracy And Strategy In Iraq
That the war in Iraq accrued strategic advantage to the United States is certain. Whether the advantage is to endure depends not just on the run of politics within the United States but also on the ability of hostile countries, like Syria or Iran, to exploit the issue of American intervention.Writing Straight With Crooked Lines
A Readable Kant
Extremists All!
Unfinished Testament
The Libertarian Dodge
Better Off Blindfolded
Why Males Rule
Of the 1,941 chief executive rulers in the 20th century, only 27 were women. How can this be explained? asks Larry Arnhart in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Life, Liberty, And The Defense of Human Nature
Winning One For The Gipper
Natural Rights And Natural History
Although some political theorists claim to have discovered inside the biological realm principles that support healthyconstitutional politics, it is unwise to hold political foundations to shifting developments and speculations in this field, writes James Ceaser in the Winter 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.
Uncivil Liberties
The Limits Of Freedom
Terrorist Or Madman?
Containing Multitudes:The Politics of the "Library of America"
The Library of America may aspire to contain multitudes, but the extras brought in to swell the Cecil B. De Mille crowd scenes seem more and more chosen to please the sensibilities of the Left. Peter Wood elaborates in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Christian Socrates
The first words of Ernest Fortin's book are these: "This modest work does not pretend to be exhaustive." When you read it you will see that there are other ways to be ambitious than by being exhaustive, namely: essential, magisterial, and path-breaking, writes Harvey C. Mansfield in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Word is Nigh
Just as science has been unable to discover the highest mysteries of creation, the moral law will always be shrouded in mystery. This makes the prophetic voice all the more imperative, writes Steven J. Menashi in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Nothing to Declare
When the saints go marching in, Alan Dershowitz will be among the simplest believers in the most naïve, fundamentalist academic faith of his time, which would replace God, reason, nature, human nature, natural right, and abstract truths about right and wrong with the latest Zeitgeist, writes Christopher Flannery in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Mr. Dershowitz's Pious Conventionality
Recalling Political Science
Don't be lulled into thinking that the recall of Governor Gray Davis is merely an eruption of left-coast weirdness or Hollywood hype. The recall is a test of a theory, an experimental application of populist and Progressive notions concerning human nature and government, writes Charles R. Kesler in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Hillary's Makeover
As dreadful as Living History and The Clinton Wars are in a literary sense, they are politically instructive, even though in a manner not intended by their authors, writes Steven Hayward in the Fall 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Good Westerns and Where to Find Them
The decline of the Western is due in no small measure to the nihilistic moral outlook that pervades so much of our culture. Spencer Warren offers an antidote.The Open City
For all its pretensions, Kevin Costner's new movie only resembles a western, writes Ken Masugi.Progress, Science and Nature
A Parody of Self-Loathing
The Blame-America-First crowd thinks it's September 10.The Latest Democratic Tax Plan is Boldest Yet
Key California Democrats want to raise both the tobacco and income taxes before the Oct. 7 recall. These tax hikes, they argue, would require only a simple majority vote of each chamber of the Legislature. Nonsense, says Brian Janiskee. And unconstitutional nonsense at that.Recall Ruling Creates More Confusion
A federal court decision that may have the largest impact on the October 7 election came and went with scarcely a whimper of protest from the major players in the recall drama. The silence is deafening. John Eastman, Edward J. Erler, and Brian Janiskee untangle the legal implications.Eros in Classical Hollywood Movies
The Golden Age of Hollywood filmmaking is in a different league from today's movies and their explicit, vulgar treatment of sex, writes Spencer Warren.Syllabus of Errors
Catholic thought, says H.W. Crocker, is "politically conservative," which means "affirming established authority," "preferring monarchy to democracy," and upholding "the divine right of Catholic kings?as an essential support of the faith"—in short, everything an American conservative properly abhors, writes John B. Kienker.The 'Lost Cause' In Retreat
Given the vast number of books written about the Civil War, one might wonder what remains to be said. But in fact the quality of Civil War publications keeps improving, argues Mackubin T. Owens in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Truth About "Treason"
Ann Coulter may overestimate conservative piety, she does not exaggerate liberal arrogance. That vanity has its source in the rejection of the "laws of nature and of nature's God," explains Ken Masugi.Recall California!
The recall is one of the Progressives' sharpest instruments. By turning its edge against the liberal establishment at its most spendthrift, the present recall effort could prompt a new debate about the limits of government, writes Glenn Ellmers. This article originally appeared in the The Weekly Standard.NYT: 'North Korea Has Nukes: Do Something! No...Wait!'
Soccer as Metaphor
The popular import of the British film "Bend It Like Beckham" teaches us more about how to tame ethnic differences than Sandra Day O'Connor's attempts in her recent court opinions, writes Ken Masugi.Escape the Tentacles of the Administrative State
The Ugly Politics of the Boxes
If Gov. Bill Owens and some bold legislators succeed in eliminating racial preferences from university admissions in Colorado, Americans of all colors will be in their debt, writes Institute Vice President Thomas Krannawitter.The Affirmative Action Fight Continues
Katharine Hepburn, 1907-2003
Katharine Hepburn was—and is—an actor movie audiences looked up to: a symbol, an icon, an ideal, in some respects resembling a mythic figure from ancient literature whose timeless adventures we follow in her movies, writes Spencer Warren.No Persistence Here
A Real American Remembers California
In Mexifornia Victor Davis Hanson, a real American, portrays how sophisticated intellectuals, cynical growers, craven political leaders, and ambitious Mexicans have brought about a crisis in which neither immigrant nor native-born show interest in thinking and acting like Americans, writes Ken Masugi.God and Man at the Multiplex
There is no question that "Star Wars" celebrates a kind of romantic affirmation of feeling over reason and a dualistic conception of a cosmic battle between good and evil. Yet is it right to call its politics fascist? Thomas S. Hibbs explores the "myth of the American Superhero" in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Machines Vs. Man
If nothing else, "Terminator 3" is worth seeing for the pleasure in imagining how Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would terminate the budget crisis in Sacramento. But there are other good reasons to see this movie, explains Ken Masugi.Affirmative Action and King Arthur's Court
Ellmers on the Recall Drive in The Weekly Standard
Lifting Us Up
Beyond his jabs at current and passing critical fads, Harold Bloom responds to a far more serious charge against democratic culture itself, explains Ricardo J. Quinones in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of BooksAristotle and Us II
The Serious Business of Making Citizens
California's Coming 100-Year Political Storm
Today, according to the statistics, even with California's bountiful resources and the most equitable climate in the entire continent, people are finding a better place to live and work out in the desolation of the Arizona and Nevada deserts. No conceivable act of God could wreak such devastation upon the Golden State. It takes a government to do that. And it has, says State Senator Tom McClintock.Aristotle and Us
2003 Publius Fellows
The Book of Vices
Despite Dan Savage's wishful thinking, if the author of the Declaration were to return today, upon seeing this supposed "love letter to Thomas Jefferson" he would send it back stamped "return to sender," writes John Kienker in the new Claremont Review of Books.Commander-In-Chief
When President Bush said "It is impossible in war to get everything perfect," he was perhaps echoing Churchill's wartime maxim, "'Nothing avails but perfection' may be spelt shorter, 'Paralysis,'" writes Steven Hayward in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Republican Triumphs
When the Romans celebrated a Triumph, they did it in style. General Tommy Franks won't even get a tickertape parade. And don't expect to see Saddam's wives or Tariq Aziz being led in chains down Pennsylvania Avenue anytime soon. America is, thank God, a very different kind of republic.No Limbaughs on the Left
This weekend, Air America, the liberal talk-radio network, filed for bankruptcy. It has lost nearly $41 million since its launch in March 2004. Months before that launch, Christopher Flannery explained in the pages of the Claremont Review of Books why the prospects for left-wing radio are grim: it's just "not much fun listening to liberals." Apparently liberals agree. Have some fun, and read the rest.Where Have You Gone Joe Judge?
It may be hard to recall a franchise that worked so hard to earn the moniker "First in war, first in peace, last in the American League," but for a brief time from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, the Washington Senators were among the best teams in baseball. Philip Michaels reviews Mark Gauvreau Judge's tribute, Damn Senators.The Game of Statistics
How did one of the poorest teams in baseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games? The answer, it turns out, involves a lot of statistics, writes Sean Nelson in a review of Moneyball, by Michael Lewis.Spinning with the Times
Why major newspapers should get back to "Just the facts, please."The Use and Abuse of Just-War Theory
A just-war teaching that is incapable of dealing effectively and decisively with the likes of Saddam Hussein is a teaching that will not long command the attention of serious statesmen interested in preserving peace, writes Michael M. Uhlmann in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Little Tyrant
"Why do so many western intellectuals excuse thuggery and whitewash the crimes of megalomaniacs?" wonders Victor Davis Hanson in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Making Democracy Safe for the World
More than anything else, our leaders need lessons in that art, which requires knowing what is and is not essential to republican government. One hopes that Fareed Zakaria's very smart book will spur thinking in that direction, writes Richard Samuelson in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.When the Cheering Stops
In a nutshell: President Bush ended up making war on Iraq more or less correctly only after having courted political and diplomatic disaster. But after winning the battle, he resumed the policies that had forestalled military success, writes Angelo M. Codevilla in the Summer 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Meroney on The Lives of the Party
John Meroney reviews The Red and the Blacklist: The Intimate Memoir of a Hollywood Expatriate, by Norma BarzmanWho Was Joaquin? No Hero, To Be Sure
Winning the war for Western Civilization will require the wisdom of the classics. Classicist Bruce Thornton has produced an engaging and admirable example of the application of high standards to track down a villain of the American West and reveal the folly of his admirers, writes Ken Masugi.In Defense of Cowboy Culture
The United States is unique among modern nations in its heroic popular culture. But the effects of this culture are not confined to Americans alone, explains Thomas S. Engeman in the Spring 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books."American Cowboy? Oui!"
Cheers and Boos for Liberals
New York Times Sacrifices its Own to Save Face
What the Jayson Blair incident reveals about the corruption of modern journalism.Strauss at 100
Introduction of Michael Ramirez
Michael Ramirez has a rare gift of genius, and he uses that genius every week in the pages of the Orange County Register—no, wait, it's that other paper, the liberal one…the "Times" I believe they call it —to remind his fellow citizens of the importance of the politics of freedom, and the constitutional government upon which that politics rests.Diversity and Segregation
The liberal fixation about race on college campuses actually undermines the goal of racial integration.Suspense about Expense
Does proposed legislation in the Cal. Senate mean the interests of the unions are going to trump the interests of education?"Democracy Demands Wisdom"
"I've found that the Endowment plays a role in making good citizens," NEH Chairman Bruce Cole tells Joseph Phelan. "We can bring the wisdom of the humanities to our citizens to help them make good judgments, to help them participate in our democracy."Classical Greece and Classical Hollywood
To understand the problem with contemporary Hollywood movies—their uncontrolled, sordid treatment of violence— the Greek myth of Laocoon is an excellent place to begin, writes Spencer Warren.Time for California Republicans to Get Partisan
The Proposition
The Proposition is the Claremont Institute's bimonthly newsletter."Behind Enemy Lines"
The street vendors along Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley looked on in astonishment as the boisterous marchers went past, elated by the sense that they were "behind enemy lines," reports I. Boone.President's Club Meeting
Read Local Liberty
The Stark Facts
When the bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son Connor washed up on the shores of San Francisco Bay late last week, the defenders of women's rights did not see two murders that cried out for justice. They saw one murder and one problem, writes James R. Harrigan.Herbert Croly's Transformation of the American Regime
Fitting All the Bad News to Print
The mainstream media's coverage of the war has led to a virutal meltdown in public trust.Repeal the 16th Amendment
The Internal Revenue Service simply has no proper place in our constitutional system, write Larry P. Arnn and Grover Norquist.The War for Iraq
Think of the war to overthrow the Iraqi dictatorship not just as a means of disarming a virulent regime but as a reconnaissance-in-force to determine who is friend and who is foe, to determine whether the great struggle of the last half of the 20th century is over, writes fellow Harold W. Rood.Conservatives and the War
All Against All
The real issue is not whether there is room for Jews in a proper American conservatism, but whether, as the paleo-cons define it, there is room for America in conservatism, writes Claremont Review of Books Editor Charles R. Kesler."It's Going To Be A Long War"
Ken Masugi and Harold W. Rood discuss the history of pre-emptive warfare, the prospects of conflict in North Korea, and Europe's last, great hope.U.N.ilateralism is Dead
Civil Rights Versus Racial Preferences
The principle of equal treatment under law without regard to race has for 125 years constituted the unvarying goal of antislavery crusaders and civil rights advocates, write Claremont Institute Fellows Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker.The Ghost of Diversity
The Claremont Institute Has Moved
Beyond Multiculturalism
In "Tears of the Sun" we see the first step in increasing American consciousness about their role in the world—to rediscover our founding principle that "all men are created equal," writes Ken Masugi.The War for Iraq
Red and Blue: Housing Costs vs. Regulation
Postmodernism at the Pentagon
The memorial planned for the Pentagon is not dedicated to a group of people sharing a human nature, but to scattered individuals, isolated in death as they were in life, writes Elliott Banfield.A Commonsense Guide to War with Iraq
The persistence of doubt on the eve of war with Iraq leads one to suspect that, by giving Iraq too many opportunities and the U.N. too much credibility, the Bush Administration may have inadvertently conceded legitimacy to the war's critics. Mark C. Clark offers some some responses to a few of those challenges.R.I.P. (Six-Feet) Deep Thinker
Visions and Revisions
Simply stated, history belongs to—and in the deepest sense can be known by—those who make it, writes Herman Belz in the Spring 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.Of the Difference Between Formality and Dandification
Inordinate Fear of Peanuts: Send in the Clowns
The Real Issue Behind the Immigration Debate
Last in Our Museum, but Still First in Our Hearts
Claremont Review of Books Assistant Editor John Kienker discovers he has more portraits of George Washington hanging in his home than the L.A. County Museum of Art has on display at its widely publicized exhibit.Claremont Institute Scholar Offers Legislative Proposal to End Confirmation Stalemate
The Poet Anti-Warriors
Poetic Justice
For all his celebration of human sympathy in the face of death and suffering, Herman Melville was not optimistic about the Civil War's outcome or the possibility of achieving mutual respect, writes Catherine Zuckert in the Spring 2003 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.The Achilles Heel of This American "Iliad"
If the Civil War is the American Iliad, then this part of the Shaara-inspired series has given us the story of the Trojan side and its Hector.
