From Political Affairs, an article on the childhood origins of adult resistance to Marxism. Champions of the Lost Cause: Obsession, defiance, grit: The line between indomitable genius and hopeless holdout is blurred. We all have the capacity to chase unlikely dreams, but for some people, the pursuit becomes its own reward. Should policies nudge people to make certain choices? Economists Mario Rizzo and Richard Thaler to hash it out.
From Forbes, Nassim Nicholas Taleb on how you can't predict who will change the world. Revolt of the CEOs: A massive expansion of the federal government, supported by big business, is on the way. Conservatives couldn't be less prepared. The GOP coddles fat cats: Jonathan Chait on letting stockholders set CEO pay and other communist plots. The Price of Citizenship: When the super-rich use offshore tax havens to avoid paying what they owe in taxes, the consequence ought to be the loss of their U.S. citizenship. A review of Pop! Why Bubbles are Great for the Economy by Daniel Gross. From Financial Times, here's all you need to know about the perils of management fads. Period.
The politics of plenty: How mass affluence shapes American politics and culture. Hollywood Values Save America! From Mel Gibson to Ann Coulter to Don Imus, the backlash against celebrity bigots has rolled eastward. The frayed knot: As the divorce rate plummets at the top of American society and rises at the bottom, the widening “marriage gap” is breeding inequality.
Notwithstanding this ground of common agreement, the differences between liberalism and libertarianism are fundamental and irreconcilable. More on Brian Doherty’s Radicals for Capitalism. Let artists have their overturned chairs, shipping pallets and moaning suitcases (trust me on this one). But in the political realm, don't cede an inch to anarchy. The No. 1 goal of cultural Marxism has been the destruction of Western culture and the Christian religion: An excerpt from The Culture-wise Family: Upholding Christian Values in a Mass Media World by Ted Baehr and Pat Boone. Does God have enemies? An excerpt from The Message of the Old Testament. A review of God on Trial: Dispatches from America's Religious Battlefields by Peter Irons.
An excerpt from Al Gore's The Assault on Reason (and a review). A review of Urban Meltdown: Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual by Clive Doucet. How to Win the Energy War: The basic elements of a responsible energy policy are not complicated, but the politics are horrendous. There finally seems to be some momentum to improve U.S. agricultural policy. But will it be enough to fix the farm bill? End It, Don't Mend It: How to get rid of farm subsidies once and for all.
The $3-a-day diet: Can a vegetarian who wants to eat healthy subsist only on government food stamps? Death by Veganism: You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants. A review of Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande and Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality by Pauline W. Chen. From Nerve, an interview with Eric Schaeffer, author of Can't Believe I'm Still Single, in which he insists he's not every single woman's worst nightmare; and going gentile into that good night: Why are non-Jews flocking to Jdate.com? And One Night Only: Why some women prefer one-night stands to dating
