The single greatest threat facing the United States is probably not what you think. In the Cold War, the greatest threat was that of an all-out nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Most people today would probably say the risk is a terrorist attack involving WMDs. In our worst nightmares, we tend to picture a [...]

Redstate has a post by Pejman Yousefzadeh, Barack Obama: That Burkean Chicagoan, that I found very interesting and right on the money. I think Obama’s association with the University of Chicago has somehow been widely interpreted as a signal that he is actually somewhat conservative, or at least moderate, in a somewhat Burkean sense. This [...]

I think this puts it clearly.

Economics professor Greg Mankiw shares some interesting thoughts, citing Paul Krugman, on why Bush’s tax cuts may result in smaller government in the next administration than we would get otherwise. This is likely true, no matter which candidate wins. Krugman, however, calls this a “poison pill,” a way of sabotaging a takeover or transfer of [...]

Thankfully, the Republican party, for all its failings in the last few years, has still some concept of fundamental principles of economics. The Senate blocked a windfall profits tax on oil companies, a tax much like many of the taxes that prolonged the Great Depression in America long past its end elsewhere. Thank goodness for [...]

Obama and others have, of course, been saying to any who will listen that a McCain presidency would be the equivalent of a Bush third term. I dispute that on the merits; neither man is perfect, but there are very big differences in their political views and attitudes. A more amusing rebuttal came to light, [...]

There has been a huge amount of blogging on Burkean conservatism, especially as it relates to John McCain, over the last couple of weeks. I have relatively little to add to the mix, except to say that it’s important to distinguish between Burkean conservatism and other forms of politics called conservative. Burkeans favor change, but [...]

I am, I admit, a paleocapitalist and (mostly a) paleoconservative. That said, I do not think oil company executives – or any other corporate executives – should have to defend their company’s profits, unless illegally gained. For that reason, this meddling strikes me as ridiculous. Lest we forget, oil is among the most volatile and [...]

See Arthur C. Brooks on Charitable Giving & Barack Obama on National Review Online (yes, my title pun was intended).

Power Line has a good post on a new Gallup poll. The upshot of it is that huge numbers of Democrats say they will defect and vote for Senator McCain if the Democratic nominee is not their pick between Senators Obama and Clinton. Of Clinton supporters, 28% say they would sooner vote for McCain than [...]