Archive for January, 2009

From the Archives: Term Limits in Illinois

Pat Quinn, the new governor of Illinois, is a Chronicles contributor. This article first appeared in the November 1994 issue.

“The term limit issue needs to be decided at the ballot box. In losing the right to vote on this referendum Illinois voters are losing ownership of their government. If this ruling is allowed to stand, Illinois . . . will continue to have . . . a government of the incumbents, by the lawyers, and for the lobbyists.”

What Is History? Part 22

Countries continually repeat each other’s mistakes with a time lag. What one people has already endured, appraised, and rejected suddenly emerges among another people as the very latest word. —Solzhenitsyn

A Bibi-Barack Collision?

Weeks of bombarding Beirut turned world opinion against Israel. Defense Minister Sharon was savaged for enabling a massacre in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps. Most critically, as future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin ruefully observed, in invading a quiescent south Lebanon, Israel “let the Shia genie out of the bottle.”

American Cant

Much American public discourse—the larger part—is made up of false impressions and invalid assumptions, what sensible people used to call cant, that are designed to disguise and support the wickedness of power seekers. For instance: Occupying foreign countries is national defense.

Kiss Wall Street Goodbye

Does the public stock market actually serve a purpose? To some free-market zealots, the answer is obvious: The public markets increase liquidity, and this enables fledgling businesses to get off the ground by allowing them access to capital. Moreover, we can all reap the benefits of capitalism’s “creative destruction” and become a nation of investors (as opposed to one of actual producers). For well over a decade, the public bought this line with increasing gullibility.

Rick Warren: America’s Dwight Schrute

At the inauguration, Rick Warren invoked “Almighty God, our father,” which is unsurprising. But very quickly, he turns to the Old Testam—er, Hebrew Scriptures to remind God of the Shema: “The Scripture tells us Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one.” Of course, that One God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Unsurprisingly, Warren doesn’t go on to clarify that. What he does go on to clarify, in the very next sentence, is that the one god he’s referring to is Allah.

The Way We Are Now Goes On

“Forward, gentlemen, and show them the bayonet.” —Stonewall Jackson, born January 21, 1824

Is the GOP Still a National Party?

In the five successive presidential elections, beginning with Clinton’s victory in 1992 and ending with Obama’s in 2008, 18 states and the District of Columbia, with 248 electoral votes among them, voted for the Democratic ticket all five times. John McCain did not come within 10 points of Obama in any of the 18, and he lost D.C. 92-8.

The Comparative Insignificance Of Politics

For keeping the national peace, for building highways, regulating the terms of trade, punishing evildoers, and so forth, hire a politician. He understands the uses and forms of collective power. For the upbuilding of community values, the nurturing and spread of shared norms, the cultivation of the spirit, the training of the heart—apply elsewhere besides the corridors of government. Go to church, get married, or join a club.

Is Ehud’s Poodle Acting Up?

As Israel entered the third week of its Gaza blitz, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regaled a crowd in Ashkelon with an astonishing tale. He had, said Olmert, whistled up George Bush, interrupted him in the middle of a speech and told him to instruct Condi Rice not to vote for a U.N. resolution Condi herself had written. Bush did as told, said Olmert. The crowd loved it. Here is the background.