In Mandeville’s infamous “Fable of the Bees,” that witty writer makes the case that private vices generate public virtues. Specifically, he argues that the craving for gain, advancement, and luxury drives men to economic activity and fruitful cooperation—which, channeled and organized by the Market, ends by advancing society and enriching the Common Good. Conversely, one could count on general impoverishment if … [Read More]

Back in January I threatened to inflict on Takimag readers a series of articles on how to convince patriotic conservatives that it’s time for America to scale back significantly on the military spending that wastes so vast a portion of our national resources, inflates our deficit (and hence our currency), and gives irresponsible civilians “big ideas” that entail sending Americans to … [Read More]

As Charles Stuart is reported to have said when he returned to England after decades of exile, to restore the British monarchy and reign as Charles II after the Cromwell interregnum, “Hey, y’all! It’s good to be back.” I just went through the editorial equivalent of purgatory: Thanks to a suddenly shortened publishing schedule, I had to carefully edit a 1,000 … [Read More]

I don’t envy Barak Obama. Nor do I pity him. The man should have been more careful what he wished for. As a recent report makes clear, the incoming president’s vision of a warmier, fuzzier country where all life’s sharp edges are cushioned by Other People’s Money has vanished like the porn on a crashed computer. We have run out of … [Read More]

After a year as bad as 2008, trying to imagine what God’s permissive will—or incipient wrath—has in store for us this year seems almost churlish, or masochistic. Should I lay out a series of catastrophic events in our nation’s politics, economy and culture, I might seem like I’m challenging God: “I bet You can’t top this. Go ahead, make my day.” … [Read More]

As we clear away all the wrapping paper and wonder how long to leave up the decorations, the deeper meaning of the season easily eludes us. So it’s good that Friday’s New York Times addressed the question that nags at the back our minds this time each year: Could “over-commercialization spoil Kwanzaa?” It’s best not to read such a sentence with … [Read More]

We’ve had so much grim news since Christmas past, The flourishing of Takimag is one of the few bits of tangible good news to which I can cling as winter sets in. In my capacity as the site’s designated autobiographical humor columnist—every publication has one; NR’s is Ramesh Ponnuru— I give thanks to our noble patron, Taki for his generous … [Read More]

Tough times bring out the best in us, as people like to say.  People say a lot of things.  From my personal experience, mankind responds to catastrophe very unevenly.  That can-do, community spirit that brings folks together to roll up their sleeves and solve a problem can yield a hardy band of men to raise a barn—or form an extremist political … [Read More]

I used to answer friends who told me something I’d said was tasteless (and they were right) with a quip like, “If you can’t joke about terrorism and cancer, what can you joke about?” I was mostly being an ass, but a tiny point nestled inside what I said. Laughter helps diffuse the visceral tension that comes with impending doom, and … [Read More]

In the frantic post-election scramble for a plausible narrative of How Things Went So Wrong, we see the outlines of the future battle for what’s left of the conservative movement, and the party it fitfully influences. The spin could be decisive, as spin often is. The spin that prevailed in Germany after World War I—“We were stabbed in the back”—bore no … [Read More]