Sublime

Make no mistake about it: by the late Clinton-Blair years, both the Right and the mainstream Left had accepted the basic premise adapted from systems theory that the economy was a natural system whose stability depended on the government’s getting out of the way and allowing self-interested people to work toward a dynamic equilibrium. Gone were the

This article of liberal faith—that conservatism is not just wrong but angry, mean and, well, bad—produces one paradox after another.

The last time Saddam Hussein threatened the peace (by invading Kuwait), 7 out of 10 Democrats in Congress voted against authorizing the use of force and in favor of the useless pseudo-solution of sanctions.

As Trump wins Florida and other key states, news outlets report it as if it were a Greek tragedy. Not only does Trump win, but Republicans also end up holding on to a majority in the Senate. And although double-digit gains by Democrats were widely predicted for the House of Representatives, they pick up only six seats; the GOP retains a strong majo

On voit Berlusconi, dont on fit bêtement un attardé alors qu’il était un précurseur, se métastaser à travers l’Occident, de Trump aux États-Unis à Babiš en République tchèque. On voit les GAFA réfléchir aux villes de demain, inventer les nouveaux espaces publics, qui auront la spécificité vertigineuse d’être privés. Au nom du bien-être de chacun, e

“One-pagers” were issued for left-wing pundits so they could fan out on TV network Sunday talk shows with coordinated messages—which explains, in part, the syndrome of news programs devolving into little more than look-alikes, with pundits and experts on both sides forwarding the narratives of paid interests. A Message Matters one-pager issued in M

he’s actually incredibly boring: a fat clown with one protracted trick. His show consists of an hour of screechy, hectoring bullshit: a pudgy middle-aged right-winger sobbing into his shirt about how powerless he feels. It’s an incredible performance, but it belongs in some kind of zoo, not on a news channel. But that’s the Murdoch way.

It’s easy to caricature Jones as a lunatic or a clown. But Jones subtly and consistently preaches several essential New Right ideas. The first is that politics is often a public sideshow, a distraction that grants the illusion of choice when actual decisions are made covertly and secretly without even the pretense of public input. The second is tha

Walter Lippmann, for example, wrote in 1920: “There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.”