The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad

Modern political discourse often treats democracy as if it were synonymous with liberty. In The Future of Freedom, Fareed Zakaria aims to refute that facile notion and reinvigorate the distinction between the two. As Zakaria puts it, pithily: “The execution of Socrates was democratic but not liberal.” Zakaria’s book is an extended brief against the [...]

Lost Articles

The Constitution says that to be elected to the U.S. Senate, a person has to be 30 or older, a citizen for at least nine years, and a resident of the state from which the candidate is elected. Alas, it says nothing about knowing American history. Good thing for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). He’d have [...]

The Constitution According to George Bush

White House lawyers have reportedly told President George W. Bush that he doesn’t need congressional authority to go to war. For political reasons, the President says he will seek “congressional support for U.S. action” in Iraq. But will he agree to be bound by a no vote? If not, his request is meaningless. The Constitution [...]

Never Enough?

President Bush’s proposed $48 billion military spending increase for next year exceeds what any other nation devotes to the military. In five years the Bush administration would have the government spend $100 billion more annually than was proposed by the Clinton administration. But for some people, no amount will ever be enough. “Neither the administration [...]

Bombing Without End

We bomb, therefore we bomb,” seems to be Washington’s policy towards Iraq. Ten years of sanctions and military strikes have failed to tame or oust Saddam Hussein. Yet the Bush administration thinks only of doing more of the same.

U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf has long been a pernicious muddle. A half-century ago Washington helped install the Shah of Iran, whose thuggery eventually spawned an Islamic revolution that treated America as the “Great Satan.”