by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online
One of the more curious aspects of the commentary on this war has not been the bias of the mainstream media but the cynical punditry that somehow ends up as the conventional wisdom among our New York and Washington elites. Here is a small sample of misplaced metaphors, allusions, and conventional wisdom of the last three years. Continue reading “Misplaced Metaphors”
by Bruce S. Thornton
Private Papers
The post-Arafat age has begun, and the conventional wisdom about what might or should happen in the Israeli-Arab conflict is quickly hardening into a soothing mantra. Continue reading “Arafat’s Death Changes Nothing”
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online
In September and early October 2001 we were warned that an invasion of Afghanistan was impossible — peaks too high, winter and Ramadan on the way, weak and perfidious allies as bad as the Islamists — and thus that the invasion would result in tens of thousands killed and millions of refugees. Where have all these subversive ankle-biters gone? Apparently into thin air — or to the same refuge of silence as all the Reagan-haters of the 1980s who swore that a nuclear freeze was the only humane policy of dealing with Soviet expansionism. Continue reading “The Real Humanists: Revolution from Afghanistan to Iraq”
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online
Life is pretty good in the United States now. For all the campaign hysteria about a new Ice Age, jobs are being created. We are recovering from the mess after the late 2000 recession, Wall Street meltdown, and $1 trillion hit from September 11. But there are a number of challenges on the horizon that are going to test the United States like never before. Continue reading “The Ironies Ahead: What George W. Bush Faces”
by Bruce S. Thornton
Private Papers
The following was presented in October in Modesto, California as part of the American Heritage Series sponsored by the Modesto Bee. Continue reading “Debating the Patriot Act”
by Bruce S. Thornton
Private Papers
Losing often induces hysteria, particularly in those suffering from arrested development. Continue reading “Jane Smiley, Republican Party Recruiter”
by Victor Davis Hanson
San Francisco Chronicle
Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were the only two Democrats to be elected president since 1976. Continue reading “Election Fallout: Faith in Democracy, Not Government”
by Victor Davis Hanson
New Criterion, November 2004
A review of Ulysses S. Grant, by Josiah Bunting III (Times Books, 2004) Continue reading “A Quintessential General”
by Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online
Tuesday’s election was the greatest turnout in American political history, the first majority vote for a president-elect since 1988, and the largest number of ballots cast for a president in our history. What are we to make of it all, besides the obvious fact that the citizens have spoken clearly and that their voices were recorded fairly and accurately? Continue reading “American Exceptionalism: The Message of Tuesday’s Verdict”
by Bruce S. Thornton
Private Papers
Now that, as Hank Williams might put it, it’s all over but the Democrats’ crying, what are some preliminary conclusions we can draw from this election? Continue reading “Interpreting the Returns of Election ’04”