Magazine

IN THE April 18, 2011, ISSUE

War Without Strategy

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Pres. Barack Obama’s reluctant military intervention in Libya followed from a number of logical considerations. First, his administration had been widely criticized for much of 2011 for his contradictory and ...

Also In This Issue

Articles
Politics & Policy

Replacement Plan

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On health care, Republicans have unified behind a slogan rather than a policy. The slogan, “repeal and replace,” describes what they want to do to the Democrats’ health-care law, also ...

Features
Politics & Policy

Tocqueville and the Tube

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Television makes us fat, lazy, inattentive, unsociable, mistrustful, materialistic — and unhappy about all of that. It cheapens political discourse, weakens family ties, prevents face-to-face socializing, and exposes kids to ...
Politics & Policy

Irresponsible

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President Obama’s use of military force in Libya has come under intense criticism across the American political spectrum. There is widespread disagreement over what U.S. objectives should be, and many ...

Books, Arts & Manners
Politics & Policy

Light of the World

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If the Vatican Observatory were to begin broadcasting Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence–style signals into space, and the Catholic Church went looking for a single story capable of introducing to an ...
The Straggler

Decline and Fall

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There is a school of psychology called Situationism that pooh-poohs the notion of individual character. This line of thought began with some experiments by Stanley Milgram of Yale in the ...
Politics & Policy

The Parent Trap

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When Andrew Ferguson attended Occidental College in the 1970s, colleges were already moving away from fussy old requirements like American history, English composition, and foreign languages, and towards the anything-goes ...
Politics & Policy

TR’s Goal-Line Stand

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Baseball may still try to market itself as our national pastime, but there’s little doubt that football is our national passion. By any measurement, the popularity of college and professional ...

Sections

Politics & Policy

Letters

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Who Will Review the Judicial Reviewers? In his reply to Pamela K. Grow’s letter concerning nullification, Allen C. Guelzo states, correctly, “If the founders had wanted to grant nullifying power — ...
Politics & Policy

The Week

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‐ To be fair, Obama is right: Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that Congress has to declare kinetic military action. ‐ The Congressional Budget Office released an analysis of ...
The Long View

NSA Document Extract

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NSA Document Extract POTUS Secured Communications 03.24.11 09:33EDT Begin Extract Static. Ringing. Unidentified Male Voice: Hello? POTUS: Mr. President? It’s Barack Obama. UMV: Well hey. Hey! Barack Obama. Lemme just — Barb, can you turn that down? ...
Politics & Policy

Poetry

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WINDOW SHOPPER’S IVORY The grand and opulent curve – the tusk from a beast long gone; now observed held firm, upon its dark, exotic wooden base. At first glance, the surface appears merely uneven; but a ...
Happy Warrior

Esprit de l’Escalier

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Wandering round this great republic predicting the apocalypse, I’m often asked by audience members why it is I’m being quite so overwrought if not an hysterical old queen about the ...
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