The Democratic Party is exactly where it has been intending to go for the last several decades and, considering that, it performed very well on Election Night.
Author: Paul Gottfried (Paul Gottfried)
Deserved Desertions
The recent mass defection from the GOP of careerists and neocons is hardly surprising or disappointing. Good riddance!
The Penitential History of Vichy France
Accepted scholarship on Vichy France has evolved as Anti-fascist sentiment penetrates historiography like never before. Penitential historiography has arrived.
What’s In a Name?
Commentators and politicians on both the left and the right engage in sloppy and imprecise usage of the terms “fascist” and “Communist.”
Russia, Russia, Russia Again
The Trump-Russia collusion play is hardly legitimate, but it is strategically savvy. Democrats have their reasons for playing this card once more.
Remembering Joseph R. McCarthy
Joe McCarthy was perfectly justified in using his political position to pursue an investigation of Communist subversion. There was nothing sinister about fighting communism as an ideology or resisting Soviet imperialism.
Schadenfreude for National Review’s ‘Canceled’ Editor-in-Chief
It is difficult to summon sympathy for Rich Lowry, who has engaged in exactly the kind of willful canceling of others as is happening to him now.
Abortion Is Not Really the Issue
There is something completely irrational about the United States’ perpetually aggrieved female voters. Trying to appease this demographic is an exercise in futility.
Trump, Vance, and FDR
Trump and his movement are following the path blazed by the Democrats before they became the party of woke: The old FDR playbook.
Impractical Separation
An interesting debate on the right concerning the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution neglects to consider that the founder’s Constitution may no longer be our framework of government.
Josh Shapiro Has Nothing to Lose on a Harris Ticket
Though he presents himself as a competent moderate, the Pennsylvania governor won’t skip a beat in dancing to Kamala Harris’s radical tune.
What ‘Black’ Really Means to the Left
Kamala Harris’s ancestry matters less to the left in defining her than does Harris’s consistently woke politics which, for them, is part and parcel of black identity.
I’m Not Rejoicing
The secret is the Dems don’t have moderates. They march in lockstep and follow orders from the top.
Do We Have Real Political Choices, or Is It All a ‘Uniparty’?
Claiming that all established political parties are essentially the same and that all apparent differences are fake makes it impossible to take advantage of opportunities to slow down the left.
Immigration Restriction Then and Now
A new book offers some important insights on the enduring and legitimate reasons for immigration restriction even as it proposes some less compelling ones.
Missed Opportunities of the Great Debate
With few exceptions, Trump did not engage the queries that he should have answered and missed several opportunities to land blows to his opponent.
Dishonest Coverage of the Battle in the Bronx
Conservative media covering a Democratic primary in New York portray the contest as between leftist “goons” and a political moderate. It is actually about which candidate is more agreeable to the Israel lobby.
VDARE Case Another Example of New York’s Weaponization of the Law
What is happening to Peter and Lydia Brimelow exemplifies the kind of lawfare that the same cast of characters are now waging against Trump. New York voters, ultimately, are the ones to blame.
Wrongthink About Israel Is America’s Thought-Crime
Although Israel has been forced into asymmetrical warfare with Hamas in Gaza, labeling Americans who question U.S. involvement in this affair “anti-Semitic” is an overreach of equally asymmetric proportions.
Learning From the Fate of the American Indian
The plight of American Indians provides a cautionary tale on what happens when you can’t or won’t stop those who have come to replace you. Middle Americans and conservatives should take notice.
The Anti-White Sentiment Underlying Left-Wing Anti-Semitism
The anti-white left views the struggle of Hamas as a continuation of the war against Western colonialism. They are never going to make common cause with Jews who defend the West.
Buckley Revisited, Again
William F. Buckley, for all his strengths, left behind a deeply flawed magazine and movement, which was very much to his demerit.
The Anti-White Totalitarians
The end game for the anti-white elites is to maintain control, marginalize and, if necessary, wreak destruction upon those who challenge their sway.
MTG’s Admirable Pugnacity Needs a Reality Check
Republicans should hammer the border issue but otherwise keep a low profile right now and wait to see if they can pull out a November win.
Worse Is Worse: Why We Shouldn’t Root for the Demise of the Establishment Right
The truly right-wing may wish for the demise of establishment conservative parties so that a real opposition to the left may emerge. They are fooling themselves and underestimating the danger of an unopposed left.
Understanding the Shifting Realities of the Right
Historical circumstances make realignments inescapable and attempts to define “conservatism” apart from an understanding of these shifts results in wild mischaracterizations.
Our Grim Postliberal Future
We inhabit a world vastly different from the one in which liberalism flourished. Liberalism, properly understood, is gone and not coming back.
Grounds for Suspicion
Republican voters have every right to assume bad faith from Democrats and their vote-counters, who have unscrupulously tried to increase their party’s power while behaving unethically toward electoral opponents.
Why I’m Not Cheering for AIPAC
It’s not the job of American conservatives to be loudly endorsing the taking down of American politicians who are critical of Israel.
Germany’s Anti-Fascist Hysteria
Germans who protest their government's liberal immigration policy will see the ruling leftist bloc—media included—pull out all stops to silence, smear, and bully them.
In Memoriam: Fred Chappell
Chronicles' Editor-in-chief Paul Gottfried remembers the life of esteemed poet and Chronicles contributor Fred Chappell.
The Trump of Myth and Legend
There is no need to compare Trump to some biblical hero or a mythic savior in order to state one’s agreement with one or more of his stated policies.
Democrats’ Big Gamble on the Border Crashers Will Pay Political Dividends
Even if the Democrats fail to bestow the franchise on illegals immediately, their beneficiaries do offer enormous near-term and long-term uses for the party.
The Winding Passage Back to Plato
In The Narrow Passage, Glenn Ellmers reminds readers of the need for a robust understanding of nature in any well-grounded conservatism.
Books in Brief: February 2024
Short reviews of From Immigrant to Public Intellectual, by Murray Sabrin, and The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics, by Kody Cooper and Justin Dyer.
Nikki’s Lost Cause
The hysterical response to Nikki Haley's Civil War comment simply shows that one is not allowed to contradict the narratives of our media betters or their interpretations of reality.
Why Lenin Is No Longer Relevant
Today’s woke leftists would find the Soviet dictator far too muscular and manly to make room for him in their pantheon of girly government apparatchiks and petty tyrants.
MLK Redivivus
Martin Luther King, Jr. did not bring the races closer together; and the legacy he left behind has been one of erasing more and more of our national heritage whenever it does not fit a progressively more radical leftist agenda.
Fighting Intolerance with More of the Same
It’s a little late in the day to be discovering what cesspools of intolerance American universities have become. Suspending freedom of speech to please those who don’t want to hear anti-Zionist sounds is not the proper response.
Three Conceptions of Conservatism
Editor-in-chief Paul Gottfried offers an examination of three major streams of conservative thought, based on aristocratic tradition, universal principles, and the pragmatic pursuit of power.
Streaming Historical Amnesia: ‘Oppenheimer’ Stews in Old Lies
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” far from offering a careful treatment of a morally complex subject, is instead steeped in the far-left propaganda and clichés of the ’60s.
Collegiate Anti-Semitism Did Not Start Yesterday
As I look at the Johnny-Come-Lately critics of our anti-Semitic universities, I am reminded of the French Communist Party during and after the fall of France. Why should we now celebrate those who contributed to this poisoning of our culture?
Is 18th Century Liberalism to Blame for All Our Problems?
Many conservatives insist that some distant, long-past event supposedly causes all our current woke silliness. I call this the "inverted Whig interpretation of history."
What Accounts for the ‘Traditional Democrat’ Lovefest on the Right?
According to the centrist, hawkish wing of the GOP, even far-left Democrats are “traditional” pseudo-conservatives as long as they are pro-Israel.
Calls for a New Constitutional Convention are Beside the Point
Leftist control of all our power structures, not defects in our charter, are at the heart of our current woes. Application of muscle from the top should be our top priority in trying to restore an American republic.
American Jews Can’t Have It Both Ways
Many of those who are now screaming loudest about how badly the left is behaving, have the least right to complain.
Books in Brief: November 2023
Short reviews of The Disputed Legacy of Sidney Hook, by Gary Bullert, and The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture, by Gabor Maté.
The Administrative State’s Digital Currency Ruse
The government’s digital currency issued through central banks will concentrate financial activity in the hands of the state and stifle the economic freedom of normal Americans.
Remembering Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt boldly addressed the most pressing political questions at a time of deep social and ideological division. His thought continues fascinating young scholars.
The Conservative Double Standard for Collective Responsibility
Conservatives who condemn the Palestinians for voting Hamas into power don’t apply the same standard to American minorities who vote for Democrats.