California Abandons History for Melodrama

by Bruce S. Thornton

Advancing a Free Society

Just when you think California can’t get any wackier, the state legislature steps up and proves you wrong. Continue reading “California Abandons History for Melodrama”

The Razor’s Edge

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

California in the Balance

We calibrate California’s decline by its myriad of paradoxes. The nation’s highest bundle of gas, sales, and income taxes cannot close the nation’s largest annual deficit at $25 billion. Continue reading “The Razor’s Edge”

A Man-Made Energy Crisis

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Gas is well over $4 a gallon in most places in California — and soaring elsewhere as well. But are such high energy prices good or bad? Continue reading “A Man-Made Energy Crisis”

The Fragility of Complex Societies

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Thoughts on Japan

There is no more ordered, successful and humane urban society than found in Japan. Continue reading “The Fragility of Complex Societies”

Jerry Brown, Modern Sisyphus

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

California Gov. Jerry Brown must rapidly close a $25 billion budgetary shortfall. But right now it seems almost a hopeless task since the state’s disastrous budget is a symptom, not the cause, of California’s much larger nightmare. Continue reading “Jerry Brown, Modern Sisyphus”

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

The 2008 financial crash originated with a housing bubble. Not long ago, the cheap-money policies of the Federal Reserve, the infusion of trillions of dollars in new foreign investment, and the misguided policies of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae all conspired to extend to millions of Americans lots of easy credit for houses whose inflated prices they could hardly afford. Continue reading “Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere”

The Bloomberg Syndrome

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

After the recent Tucson, Ariz., shootings, Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik, a Democrat, almost immediately and without evidence claimed that conservative anti-government speech had set off alleged killer Jared Lee Loughner. Continue reading “The Bloomberg Syndrome”

The New Sophists

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

In classical Athens, public life became dominated by clever and smart-sounding sophists. These mellifluous “really wise guys” made money and gained influence by their rhetorical boasts to “prove” the most amazing “thinkery” that belied common sense. Continue reading “The New Sophists”

Raging Against “Them”

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

It’s All Greek to Us

In very un-Icelandic fashion, last week protestors in Athens tried to blow up a downtown courthouse. Continue reading “Raging Against “Them””