Clash Warfare
Ross Kaminsky, The American Spectator
Are “nationalism” and a fervent quest for “dignity” motivating the revolts across the Arab world? New York Times columnist David Brooks thinks so, suggesting that current turmoil across North Africa and the Middle East disproves the late Samuel Huntington's thesis of a “Clash of Civilizations.”In his seminal 1993 article, Huntington argued that Muslims generally and Arabs specifically are motivated by religion rather than nationalism, that they do — and we should — view their relationship with the West as much more than competition; it is a…
Huckabee Pushes Bigger-Isn’t-Better Theme
Caroline May, Daily Caller
Former Arkansas governor and current Fox News personality Mike Huckabee continues to tip toe around speculation that he will run for president again in 2012.In Huckabee’s first run for president in 2008, he did far better than many analysts predicted, winning the Iowa caucuses and coming in second in the delegate count behind eventual Republican nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain. (Huckabee came in third in the popular primary vote behind McCain and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.)
The Season of the Political Sting
Gordon Crovitz, Wall Street Journal
Until recently, it was enough to double-check that an email would not be too embarrassing if it ended up on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Now video and audio also spread in real time. We're in an age of radical transparency, for better and worse.Technology has transformed every business lunch and phone call into potential violations of what people until recently considered their privacy. At the same time, these are also so many potential opportunities for unintended truth.The big sting last week was aimed at National Public Radio. Conservative prankster James O'Keefe…
GOP Cries Foul Over Duke Energy Credit Line at DNC 2012
Japan Has Us Walking on Broken Glass
Art Carden, Economic Imagination
Can we avoid natural disasters? Probably not. Can we avoid disastrous economic ignorance? Yes. The disaster in Japan provides yet another tragic illustration of how fallacies permeate the public conversation.First, destruction is not production. It never is, and society isn’t better off because of it. To claim otherwise is to fall victim to the Broken Window Fallacy, a fallacy that was exploded by Frederic Bastiat almost two centuries ago.
