Banfield was a clear-eyed, independent-minded political scientist willing to follow the data wherever it led. Beginning his career as an ardent New Dealer, he “switched sides” and later refused to accede to political correctness. This made him a best-selling author but led to pariah status in…
Politics & Economics
John Eastman’s Terrible Travails
Trump Derangement Syndrome and the tyrannical excesses of far-left apparatchiks in the organized bar threaten the longstanding principles of our legal system. The rule of law is at stake. This essay originally appeared in Tom Klingenstein’s blog, Save the American Way of Life, on April 23, …
Government Project: The Eternal Folly of Central Planning
Edward Banfield’s classic case study of a failed New Deal program gets a well-deserved reprinting. It is a timeless parable of the futility of “economic democracy” and centralized control. This essay originally appeared in AIER’s Daily Economy, on April 1, 2024 (here). Thanks to Ace o…
The Perils of (Pure) Populism
Despite the Supreme Court’s recent ban on racial preferences in college admissions, special interests in California seek to gut the non-discrimination protections of Proposition 209. This essay originally appeared in Law & Liberty on April 3, 2024 (here). Thanks to Power Line and Real Clear…
American Refugees
Will the influx of blue state refugees into the heartland ruin the country or save it? This essay originally appeared in the March-April 2024 issue of The American Conservative (here). Thanks to Instapundit (here), Real Clear Policy (here), the Ace of Spades HQ blog (here), and the Tennessee Cons…
The “Insurrectionist” Smear
Is conservativism in America tainted by a long-deceased former general few people have ever heard of? It turns out that liberals regard anyone who disagrees with them as “extremists” and, now, “insurrectionists.” This essay originally appeared in Law & Liberty on Novem…
Defining Tyranny Down
Parroting Michael Harrington’s leftist tract The Other America, and ignoring the extensive apparatus of existing economic regulation, a bleeding-heart “reform conservative” advances democratic socialist rhetoric and policies. No thank you. This essay originally appeared in Law & Liberty…
Draining the Swamp
Unwarranted job security for unaccountable federal bureaucrats emboldens their resistance, enables their agenda, and makes it difficult to implement policies to which they object. This essay originally appeared in Law & Liberty on May 15, 2023 as “A Peek Inside the Undrained Swam…
Manufacturing Myths, Demonizing Dissent
An extended diatribe against the proponents of limited government and free markets perpetuates, rather than debunks, economic myths. Does capitalism really threaten the future of life on Earth? This essay originally appeared in Law & Liberty on April 5, 2023 (here). Thanks to Power Line, Inst…
Right From the Beginning: Remembering M. Stanton Evans
This essay originally appeared in the March 2023 issue of Chronicles as “Stan Evans: Unsung Hero of the Right” (here). In his latest scholarly undertaking, itinerant academic, writer, and blogger Steven Hayward—author of an acclaimed two-volume biography of Ronald Reagan—turns his…