From Prospect, Sarko the sex dwarf: The collective French desire to be dominated by a strong, libidinous male explains Nicholas Sarkozy’s mysterious power. A look at why war-torn countries prefer masculine leaders. From The Guardian, an editorial on why a new democracy must emerge from this mire; Parliament in crisis: When will MPs start to listen to the people?; and a climate of loathing towards all MPs is bad for democracy. From Miller-McCune, a case for parliamentary systems: One system of democratic government is consistently better, say political scientists John Gerring and Strom C. Thacker, and it's not the one we have in the US; and political economist Johnna Montgomerie argues our high levels of consumer debt derive more from political decisions than from economic conditions. A review of A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books by Alex Beam. More and more on One-Party Classroom by David Horowitz. More on Cruelty: Human Evil and the Human Brain by Kathleen Taylor. A review of Stephen Miller’s The Peculiar Life of Sundays. From CT, James Calvin Schaap on righteous acts, filthy rags, and a mission cemetery (and part 2). Longing for great lost works: From Shakespeare's Cardenio to Ovid's Getic poetry, missing texts hold tantalizing possibilities.
