Dear Democrats: I Have Seen Your Bernie Bro Future

Feature Article by , May 1, 2019

I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter recently about Democrats being uncomfortable with Bernie Sanders now that he is emerging as the front runner early in the primaries. In the New York Times, Thomas Edsall quotes one center-left economist declaring that Sanders’ “economists don’t understand basic economics. They are not just dangerous, they are clueless.” […]

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Salon of the Refused, Episode 13

Announcement by , April 25, 2019

Episode 13 of my video and podcast series, Salon of the Refused, is now available. I offer a brief overview of how Ayn Rand offered a rational, secular basis for morality, in contrast both to the religious arguments of the conservatives and to the subjectivism of secular intellectuals. Topics covered include: how to explain Ayn […]

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An Objectivist LARP

Feature Article by , April 23, 2019

Spoiler Alert: You do not need a reader’s guide to Atlas Shrugged—at least not for your first reading. Ayn Rand’s novel is clear, compelling, eminently readable, and perfectly comprehensible on its own terms. Yet Atlas is also a rich and complex novel, with an intricate plot in which dozens of moving parts mesh together and […]

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“I Never Had a Lawyer Who Took Notes”

Commentary by , April 20, 2019

What We’ve Learned About Trump from the Mueller Report Among the political media and Twitter obsessives—but I repeat myself—Thursday was dubbed “Mueller Day,” because it was the day when the mostly unredacted report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller was due to be released to the public. I was not among the obsessives, having been skeptical […]

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The Search for Sanity, Part 1

Feature Article by , April 17, 2019

A Partial Guide to the 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates Yes, I know the 2020 presidential election is a long way away. But it is probably less than a year before the Democratic Party will choose its nominee, and since Democrats have to winnow that down from a current total of 18 or more candidates—the New […]

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How Politics Works

Commentary by , April 13, 2019

Five Things You Need to Read Today Editor’s Note: I was very pleased to see my recent article, “Why I Don’t ‘Believe’ in Science,” picked up by Judith Curry, a distinguished atmospheric scientist who is skeptical of global warming—exactly the sort of person to whom I want to offer this kind of intellectual ammunition. Her […]

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“We” Are All Socialists Now

Commentary by , April 2, 2019

It’s a little disconcerting how quickly the “libertarian moment” of the Tea Party era gave way to today’s socialist moment. The dissipation of that supposed “libertarian populism,” which has turned out to be more “populist” than “libertarian,” is certainly disappointing, but at least this history provides some hope that the socialist moment will prove just […]

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The “Charlottesville Hoax” Hoax

Feature Article by , March 31, 2019

I recently lamented in The Bulwark that the Democratic Party’s embrace of antisemitism was helping Donald Trump get off the hook for referring to white nationalists rioting in Charlottesville as “very fine people.” I expected, and received, furious replies from Trump supporters who deny that the president ever said any such thing. This has become […]

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Don’t Feed the Trolls

Commentary by , March 29, 2019

I have taken my time writing about the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, in part because I don’t think it’s a good idea to be panicked by rare and unusual events, particularly mass shootings, which are often intended precisely for the purpose of gaining publicity for the shooter’s poorly thought out pet cause. But the […]

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Why I Don’t “Believe” in Science

Feature Article by , March 26, 2019

For some years now, one of the left’s favorite tropes has been the phrase “I believe in science.” Elizabeth Warren stated it recently in a pretty typical form: “I believe in science. And anyone who doesn’t has no business making decisions about our environment.” This was in response to news that scientists who are skeptical […]

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