Here is a link to the review, in the latest issue of the Claremont Review of Books. Scott Johnson of Powerline has a brief comment on/summary of the review here. As a reminder, if you are interested in reading the book but don’t want to buy it University of Chicago Press is offering a 30-day […]
Author Archive | David Bernstein
Reason TV: Rehabilitating Lochner
Neoconservatism and Government Competence
There was a time, way back in the mid-1980s, that I considered myself a libertarian on domestic policy and a Commentary-style neoconservative on foreign policy. The latter meant that I supported U.S. efforts to “export liberal democracy.” At some point, however, a contradiction became apparent: if I didn’t trust the government to competently run, say, […]
Brilliant Man, Dumb Choice
Times: In his last years, Steven P. Jobs veered from exotic diets to cutting-edge treatments as he fought the cancer that ultimately took his life, according to a new biography to be published on Monday. His early decision to put off surgery and rely instead on fruit juices, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments — […]
“Occupier” Provides a Succinct Argument against Anarchism
As the communal sleeping bag argument between Lauren Digion and Sage Roberts threatened to get out of hand, a facilitator in a red hat walked by, brow furrowed. “Remember? You’re not allowed to do any more interviews,” he said to Digion. She nodded and went back to work. But when Roberts shouted, “Don’t tell me […]
Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind from Burke to Palin
This book is getting a fair amount of attention, including this scathing review in the New York Times. In 2010, I wrote about a ridiculous piece on Ayn Rand published by Robin, and it’s worth reposting now. I just came across this essay in The Nation by one Corey Robin about Ayn Rand. I think […]
Krauthammer versus Kristof
Their recent columns on Israel provide about as clear and succinct examples of diametrically opposed views on who is to blame for the current Israeli-Palestinian impasse as you are likely to find. Here’s Krauthammer, blaming the Palestinians. Here’s Kristof, blaming the Israelis. You won’t be surprised to learn that I think Krauthammer is much closer […]
Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
Prompted by the controversy over Mearsheimer and Atzmon, Bob from Brockley has a good post on anti-Semitism, including this discussion of non-anti-Semitic anti-Zionism, with my added emphases: Anti-Zionism that also takes a consistent opposition to all nationalisms (including Palestinian nationalism) is not antisemitic; Jewish religious anti-Zionism such as that of the Satmer Hasidim is not […]
John Mearsheimer and Gilad Atzmon Update
A few days ago, I sent John Mearsheimer an email with my post inviting him to use the Volokh Conspiracy to defend some specific (and obviously anti-Semitic) quotations from Gilad Atzmon, given Mearsheimer’s insistence that Atzmon is not anti-Semitic. I have not heard back from Mearsheimer. Meanwhile, Harry’s Place and Pejman Yousefzadeh have further documented […]
Bleg: Bogota and Lima
If any of our readers have recently lived in either Bogota, Colombia, or Lima, Peru and would be willing to chat for a few minutes, please email me at deliotb [at] aol [dot] com.
A Challenge to John Mearsheimer
John Mearsheimer has written a lengthy and somewhat rambling response on Stephen Walt’s blog to criticism of him, especially by Jeffrey Goldberg for endorsing an anti-Semitic book by a kooky fringe anti-Semite, Gilad Atzmon. One could go blow by blow through all the overwrought distortions in Mearsheimer’s post, but I’m going to focus on one. […]
Lochner and Constitutional Continuity
That’s the title of my new article in the Journal of Supreme Court History. For those without on-line access to the Journal, you can read the unformatted version here. The abstract: Lochner v. New York and the liberty of contract doctrine enunciated in that case have been denounced by legal scholars from all points of […]
Why Leveraged Short Funds are a Poor Long-Term Investment
I alluded to this in a post about shorting the Euro, and the comments by readers had misinformation, so I thought I’d clarify. As I understand it, I typical leveraged short ETF fund is structured so that its return is based on the percentage daily increase or decrease in the price of the underlying securities. […]
A Critical Review of Gilbert Achcar, The Arabs and the Holocaust
Writing a good book review of a bad book is always a challenge, and I always admire those who do so successfully. So here is a very well-done review by Matthias Kuntzel and Colin Reade of “The Arabs and the Holocaust.” One quick excerpt: Achcar even manages to find excuses for the dissemination [in the […]
John Mearsheimer Update
Lots of folks couldn’t believe that John Mearsheimer, distinguished international relations professor at the University of Chicago, would endorse an anti-Semitic book by fringe kook anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon. Perhaps he was misquoted, or simply blurbed the book without realizing what he was doing? Surely he would retract once a public controversy erupted? Nope. Blogger Adam […]