The Other Half of History Daily Blog
Thoughts on modern politics from a historical perspective.
History Shows Conservatives Make the Best Nominees
“Moderation is OK, in moderation.” Ronald Reagan
As the presidential primaries roll on we here the usual debate about what gives a Republican presidential candidate “electability.” One school of thought is that a more moderate candidate gives the party its best chance of winning in a nationwide general election. Another school of thought is that a principled conservative, like Reagan, can attract more voters through the power of his obvious convictions.
If history is any guide, nominating a squishy moderate might be the wrong thing not only for the Republican Party, but for the nation as a whole.
History of Promises from Politicians
President Obama’s recent flip-flop on “super-PAC” funding was so dramatic that even his supporters are commenting on it. MSNBC’s analysis is that “last night’s announcement looks hypocritical no matter how you try and rationalize it.”
Hypocritical as it might be, the President’s duplicity on the issue of super-pac funding shouldn’t surprise anyone who studies the history of this country, or any democracy, for that matter. Politicians make promises for political reasons, and when the time comes to keep or break the promise, that decision is made politically too.
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Is Health Care a Right? History Says No
As this presidential election year rolls along, we’re sure to hear lots of talk about the proper role of the federal government in health care. Liberals like President Obama, in arguing for a government take-over of the industry, make a claim that sounds logical as long as you don’t think too hard about it; that good health care is a “fundamental human right.”
As compelling as that idea sounds at first blush, it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
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Do Economies Need Blueprints?
“We even owned a nightclub in Mexico City. It was probably the only nightclub in the world losing money.” Jesus Silva Herzog, on all the money-losing state-owned companies he had to privatize as Mexico’s finance minister in the 1980’s.
I’ve just been reading an excellent 1998 book about the results of government meddling in the economies of various nations. In The Commanding Heights, authors Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw profile the results of government economic policies in over a dozen different countries, and what they found casts a very negative pall on President Obama’s stated intention to sit in the nation’s capital and draw up a “blueprint for the economy.”
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Global Warming Hits Rome
If this global warming gets any worse we may all die of heat stroke.
Or maybe not. Significant snow is falling in Rome for the first time since 1986. That was about the time that left wing “scientists” stopped telling us that we needed a more-powerful goverment to save us from man-made global cooling, and started warning us that we needed a more-powerful goverment to save us from man-made global warming.
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