Progressives and progressivism

DEI Destroys CHIPS

Featured image DEI (racial and other quotas) is intrinsically evil. At The Hill, Matt Cole and Chris Nicholson reveal a shocking, practical downside to DEI hysteria: “DEI killed the CHIPS Act.” The issue is critical because Taiwan now produces 90% of the world’s advanced microchips, and China has indicated its intention to annex Taiwan in the near future. So the CHIPS Act sought to incentivize chip production in the U.S. Unfortunately, that »

Uncancel Woodrow Wilson? How About Hell No

Featured image “Uncancel Woodrow Wilson” is the case David Frum attempts in the new issue of The Atlantic. Frum thinks well of Wilsonian internationalism, and thinks Wilson’s progressive reformism was . . . pretty good too. Where to begin? Frum is a skilled polemicist and writer, but his case for Wilson is unconvincing. Frum affects a both-sidesism, trying to scold lefties who hate Wilson for his open and vicious racism, and trying »

The Face of Repulsive Leftism

Featured image Last week we enjoyed some comic relief at the preciousness that is Pete Buttigieg, but in fact these MENSA-mongering types are actually quite horrific people—all would-be tyrants, full stop. Then there is the the smug, presumptuous, condescending, entitled type of progressive who barely bothers to concede his or her will to power over you, like Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (naturally), who was the commencement »

Why Are the “Baddies” So Bad?

Featured image A properly Biden-hating but Trump-critical friend remarked to me lately that “I just don’t know any intelligent, educated people who want to vote for Trump next year.” Well maybe so, but I am reminded of the revealing line from Adlai Stevenson in the 1956 presidential campaign, when an enthusiastic supporter ran up to him and breathlessly exclaimed, “Oh, Governor Stevenson! All educated people are for you!” To which Stevenson responded, »

A Case Study in ‘Progressive Fragility’ & Entitlement

Featured image One of the leading shibboleths on left these days is “white fragility,” but this seems to be another case of what psychologists call “projection.” On top of being fragile, progressives also have a superior sense of entitlement. Check out this item from an advice column in the Chicago Tribune: Ask Amy: We told him not to come to the wedding, but we still wanted his money Dear Amy: Four months »

Man Bites Dog: Gavin Newsom Betrays Progressives!

Featured image There’s long been reason to believe Gov. Gavin Newsom is nearly as dumb as his “frenemy” Kamala Harris, but this week gives some of the best proof yet: he has departed from Progressive orthodoxy in the dumbest way possible. You may have heard that he has proposed a constitutional amendment to allow for “common sense” gun control, such as background checks, bans on so-called “assault weapons,” and waiting periods for »

Recent Elections a Progressive Rope-a-Dope?

Featured image Between the midterm results last November and the Chicago and Wisconsin election results last week, progressives are singing “Happy Days Are Here Again,” thinking that  progressivism is no electoral liability. Full speed ahead with wokery, defunding the police, etc. This is likely to prove a mistake in the fullness of time. I’ll put off a full analysis of the recent and current electoral scene for another time, but note for »

The real fake news

Featured image Earlier this week Axios reported on the Democrats’ real fake news gambit: “Writers for a D.C.-based media operation run by prominent Democratic operatives are behind a sprawling network of ostensible local media outlets churning out Democrat-aligned news content in midterm battleground states[.]” It’s an interesting and well-researched story written up in the dumbed down Axios form by Lachlan Markay and Thomas Wheatley. They found that David Brock was a key »

A newer science of politics

Featured image In Modern Liberty and Its Discontents, the French political philosopher Pierre Manent praises the comprehensive understanding advanced by Aristotle in his Politics: Aristotle’s Politics gives a description and analysis of political life that in a certain way is exhaustive—in any case more complete and subtle than any subsequent description or analysis. The bringing to light of the elements of the city, the critical and impartial analysis of the claims of »

Heading Toward the Abyss

Featured image In this bracing essay, David Horowitz calls out the Left for what it is–criminal, racist, and sometimes fascist. David argues that conservatives need to understand the utter bad faith with which the Left conducts itself, and stand up bravely to defend our country from the ravages of the Left. The crisis currently facing our nation is a crisis of faith – faith in the Constitution that has shaped our destiny, »

The Banality of Liberal Rhetoric

Featured image One way to tell that progressivism is a weary, used-up creed, sustained only by raw power, resentment, and dreamy grasp of reality, is to listen to their increasingly banal cliches. Yesterday Rick Caruso ran ten points ahead of his pre-election polls to finish  about six points ahead of leftist Karen Bass to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. (Pre-election polls had Bass around 36-37 percent, and Caruso around 32. »

Progressive Ideology Is a Lie

Featured image David Horowitz throws a cold dash of reality onto the shibboleths of progressive dogma. Are progressives crazy? No, David says, the truth is worse than that. Perhaps the most common conservative reaction to progressive ideas is one of bewilderment. They’re from a different planet, inhabit an alternate universe; they’re insane! Even moderates employ these phrases to express their inability to understand the progressive mentality. And this is so even in »

A Dry Run for Tyranny

Featured image The proto-fascists among us have delighted in issuing “emergency” orders relating to the coronavirus. These have included, among others, shutdowns and mask and vaccine mandates. The Governor of Minnesota went so far as to issue an “emergency” order prohibiting all residents of the state from leaving their houses without his permission. Many have speculated that statists’ overreaction to covid has been a dry run for more “emergencies” to come. Indeed »

Americans Are Voting With Their Feet—Against Blue States

Featured image The Census Bureau has just released the latest statistics on domestic migration and population change, and it is no surprise that the exodus from high-tax/high-crime blue states is becoming a stampede in the last year. Here are the charts: It’s one thing for people in cold climates in the northern and midwestern states to leave for the warmer south, but no one leaves California in search of better weather. It »

Our Scientific Overlords

Featured image • Headline, from Nature magazine this week: Money quote: “Politicians who are not trained in science should not meddle in our day-to-day business, or tell scientists what’s right or wrong.” This is exactly how we got Fauci funding “gain of function” research in China, and (apparently) experimenting in a gruesome fashion on dogs. • Reminder, from President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address: The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal »

Does Woke Advertising Work?

Featured image Corporate America has largely aligned itself with the Left, a choice that is often reflected in advertising. “Get woke, go broke” is a nice sentiment, but unfortunately it isn’t always–or, perhaps, usually–true. Nike, to name just one example, has profited greatly by being anti-American. Some of this probably has to do with catering to a non-American customer base, but sadly there is also no shortage of Americans who respond to »

Wheels Coming Off the Progressive Bus

Featured image It’s only Wednesday, but this is shaping up as the week when the Progressive agenda hit the wall. First, there is Eric Adams’s showing in the New York City mayor’s race. And as Scott noted earlier in the week, the University of Minnesota did a complete about-face on utilizing the Minneapolis police to keep the campus safe. Then there’s this in today’s Wall Street Journal: Biden to Say Cities Can »