Conservatism
Peter Berkowitz reviews Patrick Allitt’s The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History in the latest Policy Review. Berkowitz explains that Allitt helps explain the “paradoxes that constitute conservatism in America.” The questions that guide his study are straightforward: “Where did conservatism come from, what are its intellectual sources, and why is it internally divided?”…
National Review Online has published the short speech that Neal Freeman gave on short notice at the Portsmouth Institute‘s conference on William F. Buckley, Jr.: I was introduced to the woman who would become my Catholic wife, of course, by Bill Buckley. It was part of his indefatigable campaign to enlist me in the legions…
Conservative. Conservation. Fish Ladders. For years, a consortium of government agencies and advocacy groups has struggled for funding to knock down dams and build fish ladders to help restore local fish migrations. That work was jump-started on Tuesday when the federal government came forward with $3 million in stimulus money for six projects on the…
The final session of the Portsmouth Institute’s conference on “The Catholic William F. Buckley, Jr.” could be considered fated in the fashion of those humorous suspicions that something is cursed. First slated to be filled by the subject’s son, Christopher, the slot was handed within the past few weeks to Reagan speechwriter Anthony Dolan. A…
In summarizing the first three speakers at the Portsmouth Institute’s WFB conference, I observed their different styles. Among subsequent speakers, I’d say that, truly, E.J. Dionne and K.J. Lopez spoke much as columnists. They offered facts and quotations, giving their own opinions, and building overall arguments. None who’ve read their work would be very surprised…
The first thing to note about Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne’s after-dinner speech at the Portsmouth Institute’s conference on William F. Buckley’s conservatism is his mention of something that struck me for the duration of the event: namely, that religious life does not preclude real life, much less intellectual life. Stream, download (52 sec). Experience…
A second conversation in which sufficient articulation proved difficult on Friday night’s all–Anchor Rising Violent Roundtable on the Matt Allen Show related to Matt’s statement that the Catholic Church is in some respects an anti-American institution. Having such a strong statement catch one off guard doesn’t make measured extemporaneous response an easy accomplishment, but upon…
Last night’s Violent Roundtable on the Matt Allen Show was the most difficult public appearance/talk show that I’ve done yet. Probably because Matt correctly assessed that an hour of harmony wouldn’t have been very interesting, his questions touched on a number of weighty subjects on which expressing comprehensive thoughts on the spot is not easy.…
It isn’t until one attempts to score people’s influence and power that it becomes clear what separates the tiers — and what an opportunity and responsibility having the spotlight can be. By virtue of their offices, our top 2 are well ahead of the rest of the pack, and unless conservatives (or otherwise right-of-center players)…
Our ranking continues with a battle of the media, in a sense, the old media and the… well… young adult media. Among the interesting factors that are likely to affect this list by its next iteration will be trends in how people consume their news and commentary. For the time being, though, that folded paper…
