The Problem of Equality: An excerpt from The Commercial Society: Foundations and Challenges in a Global Age by Samuel Gregg. Virginia Postrel reviews Pop! Why Bubbles Are Great for the Economy by Daniel Gross. What’s Behind the Superstar CEO Curse? Executives apparently suffer from the corporate equivalent of the Sports Illustrated curse, which supposedly destroys star athletes’ performance once they appear on the magazine’s cover. A review of Richistan: a Journey Through the 21st-Century Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich by Robert Frank. An article on the curse of inheritance: Do wealthy dynasties always make for happy heirs? A review of The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America by Daniel Brook.
Consent of the Governed: The election of gay officials isn't about promoting agenda; it's about electing the most qualified individuals. What God didn't give them, ebay will: Drag queens are coming out of their closets as Glasgow’s cross-dressing cabaret scene takes off for the first time in a decade. Paul Dalgarno discovers that when it comes to big dance routines and lung-busting diva anthems, you can’t keep a good woman down. Girl/Boy Interrupted: A new treatment for transgender kids puts puberty on hold so that they won't develop into their biological sex. A review of The Decency Wars: Campaign to Cleanse American Culture by Frederick S. Lane.
From Counterpunch, an article on the Christian Right, sexual scandal and the sexual pleasures of the Courtesan. The Curious Morality of Leadership: Much can be learned from the wobbly, ongoing fall of Sen. David Vitter. The indiscretions of former GOP "family values" poster boy Sen. David Vitter are the latest examples of Republican sexual and moral hypocrisy stretching from Congress to the presidential campaigns. Does the religious majority rule? With church-state issues, the answer is often yes. In six communities where public religiosity was contested in court, an unfortunate theme emerged: Insiders who crossed the majority view quickly became outsiders. The Origins of the God Gap: Only 30 years ago, the party of Jimmy Carter had religious voters locked up. How it lost this crucial bloc is a story of fear, ignorance and political deafness. Ovid the poet would go off like a stink bomb in Ovid the town: And that gives Sam Jordison a warm glow. What better indication of the continuing relevance of one of his favourite poets than his ability to shock Baptist America to its humourless core?
From Prospect, Roger Scruton on the sacred and the human: Today's atheist polemics ignore the main insight of the anthropology of religion—that religion is not primarily about God, but about the human need for the sacred. As René Girard argues, religion is not the cause of violence, but the solution to it. From Taki's Top Drawer, an essay on Hitchens’ Hubris. From The Atlantic Monthly, an interview with Christopher Hitchens on God Is Not Great. From Jewcy, what the angry atheists get wrong: Religion doesn’t require a belief in God.
