Posted by
Steve Maloney on Thursday, April 12, 2007 3:55:49 PM
I'm delighted that so many people are visiting my blog -- and responding to the various columns. As I've said before, my goal is to have that "site meter" go up to about 10,000 by the end of 2007. By election day in November, 2008, I'd like to have had 30,000-plus. To achieve that, I need to have you call attention to the site. Send columns to your family, friends, and co-workers and ask them to visit me at http://camp2008victory.townhall.com. In politics and communications, there's no substitute for word-of-mouth.
No later than tomorrow morning (Friday), I'll post my first piece on Harvard/Oxford/Stanford historian Niall Ferguson, author of the best-selling The World of War. I'll get to "World of War" eventually, but I'll focus first on earlier books by Ferguson: Cash Nexus, Empire (about Great Britain), and Colossus (about America).
He's known as a "popular historian," not exactly a term of praise in the academic world. In fact, "popular" in his case means "highly readable." He proposes difficult theses -- such as that the British Empire was a very positive historical force -- and proves them decisively and quickly. As I've observed, his views aren't the type usually uttered at faculty clubs in "famous" (a word that generally means over-rated) universities.
As some careful readers of Townhall will have noted, I believe bright students should resist the temptation to go to universities like Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth. I don't think those institutions have the kind of intellectual diversity or seriousness needed to advance the learning process. Your son or daughter probably will get a bad education at Harvard. Yes, students at such schools will encounter a significant number of Asians and Blacks, but they will find -- if they look beneath the skin -- that such people are generally very close in backgrounds, thinking, and career aspirations to their white counterparts.
You can see this phenomenon satirized in popular culture. Remember the scene when Reese Witherspoon in "Legally Blonde" encounters her fellow students at Harvard Law? In America, some of the most famous universities send out an extremely high proportion of egotists and under-achievers.
I'll also be writing a column soon on Jason Altmire, the Democrat who represents my own congressional district (PA 4th). He defeated a superb conservative, Melissa Hart. He did so, with the help of the national Democrats and various "527s" (in this case, standing for "independent" hate groups) who defamed Rep. Hart 24X7. As a Christian, she turned the other cheek. She got smacked hard on both cheeks.
Atlmire is one of those "new" Democrats often called "Blue Dogs." That refers to people supposedly conservative fiscally, or socially, or both. In fact, I predicted that when Altmire made it to Congress, he would respond in Pavlovian fashion to "his mistress' voice." That was a reference to Nancy Pelosi, who would turn this particular "Blue Dog" into her cuddly lap-puppy. Sadly, all the evidence suggests I was right.
I'm going to attempt to get the Altmire piece published in the "first class" section -- i.e., the featured essays -- in Townhall.com. In any case, it will appear here.
So far, I like just about everything associated with Townhall. I especially like the work done by Dean Barnett, Mary Katharine Ham (a real find), and Mary Grabar, my brilliant essayist friend from Georgia.
What do I like less well about Townhall? First, there's too much reliance on the "usual suspects," conservative writers of yesteryear who now tend to "babble of green fields," as Shakespeare said of Falstaff.
Among this group I'd include one of my favorite people, William F. Buckley, Jr. He recently had a featured piece on the competition for trusteeships at Dartmouth, an issue of great interest to Buckley and perhaps 12 other people. Bill Rusher, a good man well past his argumentative prime, should devote more time to gardening and less to writing. George Will always has been a nominal conservative who mistakes grumpiness for analysis.
Conservativism should not be a poltically philsophy best suited to geriatrics. It's time to highlight the next generation of right-leaning thinkers and writers, people like Mary K. Ham, Mary Grabar, Michelle Malkin, Paul Kengor, and many others.
My second problem -- more of an "irritant" perhaps -- lies with the comments on the essays. Too many of them are of the "I'll-never-vote-for-RudyMcRomney" type. There are some significant differences in backgrounds and views between Giuliani, Romney, and McCain. Those who don't notice haven't been paying attention. No, we don't have a Ronald Reagan out there, but this is the best group of Republican candidates in my lifetime.
Anyway, I tend to keep writing on these subjects and others, and I hope you'll keep reading -- and also, giving me your views.