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Oct. 13, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Happiness Quotient
Jonathan Rosenblum: Ignore the Grandchildren
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Lebanon on the brink --- and why it matters
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Oct. 7, 2008
Gary Rosenblatt: Of politics and prayer
Caroline B. Glick: The ironies of the West's collusion with the Arabs and Iran
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Jonathan Tobin: Ahmadinejad Isn't Too Impressed
Oct. 3, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The 'living dead' are all around us
Caroline B. Glick:
Olmert's parting blows
Oct. 2, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Often customers looking for our competitor accidentally enter our store. Can we just serve them without comment?
Jonathan Tobin: Jewish pundit quiz on next year's news
Sept. 29, 2008
Rabbi Eli Gewirtz: Lehman Brothers and the Day of Judgment
Rabbi Leiby Burnham: Apples, Honey and You
Sept. 26, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The shofar and the Echo of Sinai
Caroline B. Glick: A road paved on reality
Sept. 24, 2008
Greg Crosby: Home for the Holy Days
Ethel G. Hofman: Rosh Hashanah Favorites: Old-fashioned taste, reduced calories
Sept. 23, 2008
Caroline Glick: Liberalism or lives!?
Michael Ledeen: Dear President Ahmadinejad
Sept. 22, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I gave a check to a local merchant, but it hasn't been cashed in months. Probably they lost it. Do I have to tell them?
Diana West: We are losing Europe to Islam
Sept. 19, 2008
Rabbi Berel Wein: On harvesting success
Caroline B. Glick: It is time to act
Sept. 18, 2008
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Is camping the panacea to save Jewry from self-destruction?
Craig Gordon: Was SNL hilarity too much for Hillary?
Sept. 17, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: The Whole World Is Watching
The Kosher Gourmet
By Linda Gassenheimer: East meets Southwest in this quick meal: MEXICAN-ASIAN TOSTADOS
Sept. 16, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. : Into the fire
Everything's Relative : Your Official Jewish Guide to the 2008 USA Presidential Election
Sept. 15, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Enabling risky behavior
Diana West:
A day that will live in ... accommodating Islam
Sept. 11, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The skeleton in my closet
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein: Persecution and systematic destruction of Christians in the Middle East must be stopped
Sept. 10, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: There's Something About Sarah
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: Who needs Chili's when you have these? Recipes for Mexican that taste great and are dietetic!
Our commitment to freedom
Sept. 9, 2008
Daniel Pipes: Must counterinsurgency wars fail?
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.:
Sept. 8, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: How far must one go to help somebody out of a contract?
Barry Rubin: Waiting For Something
Sept. 8, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : How far must one go to help somebody out of a contract?
Barry Rubin: Waiting For Something
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
April 10, 2008
/ 5 Nissan 5768
Crab-Antics Conservatives
By
Bob Tyrrell
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The other day, I was beholding Fox News' beauteous Martha MacCallum on her TV salon, "The Live Desk," when a smudge darkened my otherwise sunny afternoon.
Linda Chavez, that perennial conservative talking head, was being interviewed about American politics, when, all of a sudden, she did something quite jarring. She referred to conservative activist Grover Norquist in chill terms, suggesting that this grover norquist is an obscure figure somewhere out on the margins of politics. Her condescension further suggested that Chavez does not approve of this fellow, norquist. Frankly, I was embarrassed for her. Does Chavez not realize that GROVER NORQUIST is a major player in American politics and one of the giants of contemporary American conservatism? My guess is that the beauteous Martha knows as much. So do the politically knowledgeable members of "The Live Desk's" audience.
Whatever is this conservative talking head's problem? It appears she is another of those ambitious conservatives who suffer an anthropological condition known by those who study marginalized or emerging Third World communities as "crab antics." The term is used in certain Caribbean societies where high achievers are always in danger of being pulled back by their less successful neighbors. They suffer the trials of the lead crab attempting to escape from a bucket of crabs that is tipping over. There are still many conservatives who attempt to pull back high-achieving conservatives in the hope that this will win them favor with liberals. Thus, we see the likes of Chavez attempting to diminish the likes of Norquist.
Yet Norquist's achievements cannot be diminished easily. His Americans for Tax Reform has helped to make tax cutting a major element in modern American politics, and tax cutting has engendered nearly three decades of pretty steady economic growth. Since the middle of the 19th century, the longest period of economic expansion had been 57 months. Then came Ronald Reagan with an expansion of 92 months, then Bill Clinton with 102 months, and now George W. Bush with an expansion in the mid-70s somewhere. Norquist's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," with which he besieges candidates and elected officials, has kept tax cutting a winning issue for Republicans.
Now two former Bush speechwriters, David Frum and Michael Gerson, have come along and prescribed Big Government for what supposedly ails modern American conservatism. Norquist has a better idea, namely keeping the conservative movement the dominant political force since the Reagan administration true to its principles, foremost of which is limited government. He knows that Big Government is an inefficient tool for reform and a threat to personal liberty. What is more, Big Government still is viewed with suspicion by a majority of Americans.
In a terrific new book, Norquist explains how conservatism can remain dominant. He identifies the voting blocs that have made conservatism a powerful and salutary force in modern politics: anti-tax activists, gun-rights defenders, home-schoolers, religious conservatives, and members of the investor class. He calls them members of the Leave Us Alone Coalition and names his book "Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives." Contrary to Frum and Gerson, who believe Americans have tired of opposing limited government, Norquist cites trends that suggest this coalition has a long life ahead.
He notes that the investor class is growing, as is the number of conservative people of faith. Red states are becoming more populous, while blue states are losing population. The home-schooling movement is growing, and thanks to conservative organizers on campus, ever-larger numbers of well-trained conservative activists are graduating from college and continuing their political activism after graduation. He thinks the conservative young are more effective than their liberal peers. He believes public policies in our growing economy are expanding the size of the investor class, one policy being the growing number of individual retirement accounts. Finally, Norquist believes that the liberals, who he says compose the Takings Coalition, have few policies that are attractive to the American majority or capable of solving the problems they supposedly address.
To those who think the conservative moment has passed, may I introduce Grover Norquist?
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Bob Tyrrell is editor in chief of The American Spectator. Comment by clicking here.
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