Why Not Huntsman?
Why Not Huntsman?
Huntsman has a record more conservative than his moderate image suggests
He's a responsible, well-spoken adult with a good record in office, a soothing style, bipartisan appeal, and ample knowledge of the world beyond our shores. But Jon Huntsman, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, somehow imagines he can overcome those handicaps.
He's running at 2 percent in the polls, but working in his favor is that his rivals have defined themselves mostly by their lapses, failures, and gaffes. At the moment, Republicans seem doomed to choose between the fraudulent (Mitt Romney) and the incompetent (almost everyone else). One contender after another has risen to challenge Romney, only to self-destruct in the most mortifying possible way.
That leaves an opportunity for someone who can avoid the exploding cigar, as Huntsman has. Besides being a telegenic master of the complete sentence, he was the highly popular governor of the most Republican state in the country, Utah.
He's running at 2 percent in the polls, but working in his favor is that his rivals have defined themselves mostly by their lapses, failures, and gaffes. At the moment, Republicans seem doomed to choose between the fraudulent (Mitt Romney) and the incompetent (almost everyone else). One contender after another has risen to challenge Romney, only to self-destruct in the most mortifying possible way.
That leaves an opportunity for someone who can avoid the exploding cigar, as Huntsman has. Besides being a telegenic master of the complete sentence, he was the highly popular governor of the most Republican state in the country, Utah.
What’s the Matter with Rachel Maddow?
What’s the Matter with Rachel Maddow?
The MSNBC host champions bureaucratic power at the expense of regular people and their rights.
Progressives today say people should come before profits. Now in a privilege-ridden corporate state, that’s a worthy goal, though progressives have no clue how to achieve it. How nice it would be if they were equally committed to putting people before bureaucracy. Here they fall down rather badly because their signature ideas would subordinate regular people to the dictates of the power structure.
Take MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Maddow is intelligent, serious, and well-meaning—which makes her vision all the more unsettling: It has ominous implications not only for individual liberty, but also for its concomitant: authentic spontaneous social cooperation.
Maddow might say that if she had her way, the bureaucracy would reflect the people’s interests, perhaps even consult them from time to time. But the naiveté of that vision is apparent from even a brief reading of political-economic history. When has bureaucracy actually represented—or cared about—plain people rather than being a tool of the power elite she claims to abhor (at least when Republicans hold some branch of government)?
Small Things
Her commercials on MSNBC (said to be shot by Spike Lee) well articulate her bureaucracy-first vision. I’ve taken the liberty of transcribing her words:
Take MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Maddow is intelligent, serious, and well-meaning—which makes her vision all the more unsettling: It has ominous implications not only for individual liberty, but also for its concomitant: authentic spontaneous social cooperation.
Maddow might say that if she had her way, the bureaucracy would reflect the people’s interests, perhaps even consult them from time to time. But the naiveté of that vision is apparent from even a brief reading of political-economic history. When has bureaucracy actually represented—or cared about—plain people rather than being a tool of the power elite she claims to abhor (at least when Republicans hold some branch of government)?
Small Things
Her commercials on MSNBC (said to be shot by Spike Lee) well articulate her bureaucracy-first vision. I’ve taken the liberty of transcribing her words:Two Decades of Peace, Love, and Marijuana
Every August since 1991, Seattle Hempfest has shown what the world will be like when pot is legal.
It takes a while to figure out what’s so different about the crowd of 100,000-plus people basking in the rare Seattle sunshine at Hempfest 2011, which took place August 19 to 21. It’s not the smell of pot everywhere, or the vendors selling bongs and pipes and high-carb munchies, or the familiar leaf imagery slapped on everything from lighters to bandanas to T-shirts, or the uncoordinated hippies playing hacky sack. If you remember the ’70s, or ever went to a Grateful Dead concert, or have visited Amsterdam, you’ve been there, grokked that.
Free Cities: The Vision
Free Cities: The Vision
It is the year 2060 and most human beings live in highly autonomous Free Cities of all sizes, enjoying previously unimaginable levels of prosperity, peace, health, and happiness. Most of the world’s innovation and production is taking place in Free Cities, as the creativity of billions of human beings on all continents is liberated for the first time in history. Free Cities — with their increasingly sophisticated water, sewage, and energy systems — have urbanized the world, and millions of acres of land have returned to wilderness. Free City residents communicate and trade freely with one another in a golden era of worldwide cooperation and collaboration.
In a 21st century revival of the medieval Hanseatic League, global governance is strongly influenced by this network. Traditional nation-states continue to exist, but they no longer serve as the main mode of governance for national territories or the global commons. Instead, legal system creation and maintenance has become one of the most innovative industries on the planet, with customized solutions available for a dizzying array of cultures, industries, and personal preferences.
In a 21st century revival of the medieval Hanseatic League, global governance is strongly influenced by this network. Traditional nation-states continue to exist, but they no longer serve as the main mode of governance for national territories or the global commons. Instead, legal system creation and maintenance has become one of the most innovative industries on the planet, with customized solutions available for a dizzying array of cultures, industries, and personal preferences.
AEI Debate Prep: Charting the right course in Afghanistan
President Obama is to be given credit for increasing the size of the American military deployment to Afghanistan. Within the first two months of his presidency, the president announced that he would be sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan to meet the increasingly unstable situation there. Then, in October 2009, the administration announced an additional 13,000 support troops would be headed to the theater. And, finally, in early December of that year, the president announced a third set of deployments. This December “surge”—tied to a more comprehensive counterinsurgency (COIN) effort designed by the new American commander on the ground there, General Stan McChrystal—would add another 30,000 troops. With these deployments President Obama more than doubled American ground forces in Afghanistan.
Gary Schmitt Counterterrorism in America and the Jose Pimentel case
This past Sunday, New York City’s Police Department arrested 27-year-old Jose Pimentel on state charges of plotting a bomb attack. According to the NYPD and the prosecuting Manhattan district attorney, Pimentel maintained a jihadist website, published materials on how to make bombs, tried to reach out to Anwar al-Awlaki (the American-Yemini terrorist leader whom the United States recently killed with a drone strike), talked about killing American marines and soldiers and bombing sites around New York, and was nearing completion of making at least three pipe bombs.
Over the past few days, a number of stories, from the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times to the New York Daily News, have run in the press “explaining” why federal prosecutors and the FBI declined to take over the case, including doubts about the NYPD’s use of a particular confidential informant and, according to one official, “The FBI also had doubts over whether Pimentel would be capable of carrying out a terror plot on his own, because they believed he had mental problems.”
I suppose it’s inevitable that the press would ask why the feds had not taken the case on given the high priority of countering terrorism these days. But that said, it seems to be extremely bad form for the Bureau to be dumping on the case after the arrest, especially since the FBI is always touting how state and local police have to be their eyes and ears on the streets. Plus, on its face, New York authorities had every reason to arrest Pimentel. The fact that he might have had mental problems or the confidential informant is not clean as a whistle would have been cold comfort if one of those pipe bombs had gone off in a crowded post office this holiday season.
Over the past few days, a number of stories, from the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times to the New York Daily News, have run in the press “explaining” why federal prosecutors and the FBI declined to take over the case, including doubts about the NYPD’s use of a particular confidential informant and, according to one official, “The FBI also had doubts over whether Pimentel would be capable of carrying out a terror plot on his own, because they believed he had mental problems.”
I suppose it’s inevitable that the press would ask why the feds had not taken the case on given the high priority of countering terrorism these days. But that said, it seems to be extremely bad form for the Bureau to be dumping on the case after the arrest, especially since the FBI is always touting how state and local police have to be their eyes and ears on the streets. Plus, on its face, New York authorities had every reason to arrest Pimentel. The fact that he might have had mental problems or the confidential informant is not clean as a whistle would have been cold comfort if one of those pipe bombs had gone off in a crowded post office this holiday season.
The 1 chart that shows why Germany wants to save the euro … and the 1 chart that show why it might not
Project Euro is about economics, of course, but not just that, as JPMorgan’s Jim Glassman notes:
So why doesn’t Germany get on board with empowering the European Central Bank to start a bond buying program as lender of last resort? This next chart shows another German memory:
Glassman’s conclusion:
Its driving forces have deep historical roots in a century of devastating conflicts (the illustration of war casualties on the following page underscores that trauma) and they are fueled by the enormous economic benefits that come from strengthening economic integration: the efficiencies that members receive when trading with each other by focusing on their comparative advantage; the leverage members gain by locking arms when operating in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.Certainly, Europe doesn’t want a return to this:
So why doesn’t Germany get on board with empowering the European Central Bank to start a bond buying program as lender of last resort? This next chart shows another German memory:
Glassman’s conclusion:
There is no quick and easy way to deal with Europe’s liquidity crisis. The European Central Bank likely will have to step in to be the bridge, at least for a while, to a fundamental improvement in Europe’s unification process. This will be a difficult politically, but there are few viable alternatives. Given the threat of the financial crisis to the economic health of the region, however, and in turn that impact on inflation, the ECB could connect such activities with its inflation mandate. The ECB surely has the tools to deflate the region’s brewing crisis of confidence and liquidity crisis. Stay tuned.
AEI Debate Prep: Neutralizing the Iranian threat in Latin America
This post is part of an ongoing series preparing for the AEI/CNN/Heritage National Security & Foreign Policy GOP presidential debate on November 22. See the rest of the posts here.
Iran is using Venezuela as a platform to project its asymmetrical warfare into the Western Hemisphere and to sustain its illicit nuclear program. According to documents of the regime of anti-American radical Hugo Chávez, Iran has laundered about $30 billion through the Venezuelan economy to evade international sanctions.
Moreover, Iran is seeking to exploit uranium in Venezuela, Ecuador, and elsewhere in the region, with Chávez’s facilitation. It also is working through its terror proxy Hezbollah to cultivate a network of radicalized operatives in a dozen countries in the region, centered in Venezuela but making significant progress in Brazil and Colombia, among others. The recent plot fostered by Iran’s Qods Force to commit a terrorist bombing in the heart of Washington, D.C., is undeniable evidence of Tehran’s determination to strike against U.S. targets in the event of preemptive military action against its illegal nuclear program.
Iran is using Venezuela as a platform to project its asymmetrical warfare into the Western Hemisphere and to sustain its illicit nuclear program. According to documents of the regime of anti-American radical Hugo Chávez, Iran has laundered about $30 billion through the Venezuelan economy to evade international sanctions.
Moreover, Iran is seeking to exploit uranium in Venezuela, Ecuador, and elsewhere in the region, with Chávez’s facilitation. It also is working through its terror proxy Hezbollah to cultivate a network of radicalized operatives in a dozen countries in the region, centered in Venezuela but making significant progress in Brazil and Colombia, among others. The recent plot fostered by Iran’s Qods Force to commit a terrorist bombing in the heart of Washington, D.C., is undeniable evidence of Tehran’s determination to strike against U.S. targets in the event of preemptive military action against its illegal nuclear program.
Botched Cuban care and Chávez’s deceit may have worsened the Venezuelan’s cancer
Fidel Castro’s vastly over-rated healthcare system may finally have achieved something noteworthy: killing Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez. According to an investigative report authored by Leonardo Coutinho and Duda Teixeira that appeared in Brazil’s premier newsmagazine Veja on Saturday (November 19), Cuban doctors at that country’s premier medical facility bungled the initial treatment of Chávez’s prostate cancer and may have rushed him to an early grave.
The Brazilian report, which quotes several of that country’s cancer specialists and urologists, delivers a damning assessment of the Cuban care:
The Brazilian report, which quotes several of that country’s cancer specialists and urologists, delivers a damning assessment of the Cuban care:
It’s Europe’s Economic Growth, Stupid
European policymakers are clinging to the forlorn hope that the eurozone crisis can readily be defused by putting in place national unity governments in Greece and Italy.
Handicapping ObamaCare’s Day in Court
An older, exiled vintage of the Constitution may make an encore appearance
After dozens of lawsuits, at least half a dozen significant federal district court decisions all over the constitutional law map, and four federal appellate court rulings pointing in different directions, it’s time for the Supreme Court to at least try to resolve several thorny constitutional issues. The most important one involves whether any legal principles remain that might limit the power of Congress to mandate the purchase of health insurance under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
‘It Is a New Day for My Sons’
As it begins its post-election path, Tunisia can be the historic lever that changes the Arab world forever.
This will not be the end of the story of a renewed Tunisia living in freedom. It may not even be the end of the beginning. But this vote is very consequential for Tunisia, the broader Arab world, and the March of Freedom.
U.S. Stocks Resume Decline
By STEVEN RUSSOLILLO
NEW YORK—U.S. stocks dropped as a downward revision of domestic economic growth and rising European bond yields weighed on investor sentiment.
Markets reporter Brendan Conway joins the News Hub to outline factors impacting the markets on Tuesday, including ratings agencies saying a U.S. credit decline is off the table. AP Photo.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index dropped 8 points, or 0.7%, to 1185 late morning. The technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite lost 17 points, or 0.7%, to 2505.
Why the Super Committee Failed
By JEB HENSARLING
All now know that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction has failed to reach an agreement. While there will still be $1.2 trillion of spending cuts as guaranteed under the Budget Control Act, we regrettably missed a historic opportunity to lift the burden of debt and help spur economic growth and job creation. Americans deserve an explanation.President Obama summed up our debt crisis best when he told Republican members of the House in January 2010 that "The major driver of our long-term liabilities . . . is Medicare and Medicaid and our health-care spending." A few months later, however, Mr. Obama and his party's leaders in Congress added trillions of dollars in new health-care spending to the government's balance sheet.
Democrats on the committee made it clear that the new spending called for in the president's health law was off the table. Still, committee Republicans offered to negotiate a plan on the other two health-care entitlements—Medicare and Medicaid—based upon the reforms included in the budget the House passed earlier this year.
Thank You, Grover Norquist
So it's all Grover Norquist's fault. Democrats and the media are singing in unison that the reason Congress's antideficit super committee has failed is because of the conservative activist's magical antitax spell over Republicans.
Not to enhance this Beltway fable, but thank you, Mr. Norquist. By reminding Republicans of their antitax promises, he has helped to expose the real reason for the super committee's failure: the two parties disagree profoundly on a vision of government.
Democrats don't believe they need to do more than tinker around the edges of the entitlement state while raising taxes on the rich. Republicans think the growth of government is unsustainable and can't be financed no matter how much taxes are raised.
Sounds like we need an election.
Of course it would have been preferable if the two sides had come together now to cut spending, reform the tax code and remake Medicare. Preferable, but implausible. That would have required President Obama to have shown more respect for the will of the voters when they revoked his credit card by giving Republicans control of the House in 2010. Or for the President to have honored the findings of his own Bowles-Simpson deficit commission by using it as a basis for negotiation. Instead, he ignored them.
Not to enhance this Beltway fable, but thank you, Mr. Norquist. By reminding Republicans of their antitax promises, he has helped to expose the real reason for the super committee's failure: the two parties disagree profoundly on a vision of government.
Democrats don't believe they need to do more than tinker around the edges of the entitlement state while raising taxes on the rich. Republicans think the growth of government is unsustainable and can't be financed no matter how much taxes are raised.
Sounds like we need an election.
WSJ Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot appears on OJ Live to discuss why the super committee couldn't reach an agreement. Plus, a discussion of the recent passing of business leader Ted Forstmann.
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