Chuck DeVore’s Quixotic Attempt to Twitter and Parody-Video His Way Into the U.S. Senate “‘They say the Internet is forever and things I write could be used against me in the future. If Alexander Hamilton and Lincoln lived today, would they be using their technology to get their message across? Yes,’ DeVore declares. ‘What are the Federalist Papers but the technological equivalent in the 1700s of the blogs?’”
In Defense of Distraction. Sam Anderson asks if it’s possible to retain our focus in a distraction-filled modern world–and does it matter? For what it’s worth, this took three sittings to get through.
Not Helping. This Facebook group makes out Republicans or conservatives as sore losers.
Spending Restraint? Never! “The New York Times says tax increases, not fiscal restraint, are the route out of recession. Their reasoning? Government will spend your money better than you will.”
Words of Warning from 1940. Herbert Hoover: “Directly or indirectly they politically controlled credit, prices, production or industry, farmer and laborer. They devalued, pump-primed and deflated. They controlled private business by government competition, by regulation and by taxes. They met every failure with demands for more and more power and control.”
E.J. Dionne on Obama’s Goals. Can President Obama create a new “centrist” alliance? And can a program really be called centrist if its principal aims are to make everyone more dependent on government?
The next conservative leadership? “If Republicans are looking to get back their conservative groove, they could do worse than study Minnesota’s budget brawl. Mr. Pawlenty deftly (and amusingly) outmaneuvered his Democratic opposition, not only saving his state from huge tax increases but clearing the way to cut government spending.”
So much for national sovereignty. “Eighteen “phantom” MEPs will be elected on full pay and perks next month despite not being able to start work for up to two years due to Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.”
Thomas Frank on the Gangs of D.C. “What the Gangs of D.C. nearly always represent — and what distinguishes them from a mere troupe, squad or faction — is power, glorious power. Gangs are but a handful and yet they control our fate; they divert the streams of history; and they do so secretly, away from public view.”