David Frum's Blog, page 80

Piglet in a Wheelchair

A bit of weird for your afternoon on Washington's birthday:

Applying to Kindergarten

Ayn Rand Against Conservatism

A tip of the hat to Michael Brendan Dougherty for this blistering evisceration of Ayn Rand:

Don't Overestimate Gerrymandering

John Sides and Eric McGee take up the question of whether Republican gerrymandering cost Democrats the House in 2012. It's a complicated post, but I'll attach the muddled conclusions and let you decide. One thing is certain: gerrymandering, while certainly real and effective, mattered less in 2012 than you'd think:

It's Time to Update Reaganomics

Two must read columns on Republican renewal. First, James Pethokoukis who writes at National Review that the GOP must drop the flat tax, balanced budget amendment, and the gold standard as policy objectives. The other is by Ramesh Ponnuru, who writes in the New York Times that Reaganomics must be updated to meet the 21st century.

Obama Needs a 'Plan B' on Guns

My CNN column: two things Obama can, and must, do to curb gun violence.

A Curious Man

The death of 17-year-old Mary Hogarth opened Dickens's eyes to the all-pervading fact of early death in industrializing Britain.

Charles Dickens' Enduring Insights on Human Loss and Suffering

Charles Dicken's TheOld Curiosity Shop inspired the cruelest and most famous of Oscar Wilde's upside-down witticisms: "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing."*

How Do You Defeat an Invisible Army?

Guerrilla warfare, according to author and historian Max Boot, "is the universal war of the weak." Practiced by insurgents from Assyrian-era rebels to Jewish revolutionaries in the 1st century of the common era to contemporary groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, irregular warfare provides ragtag forces the capacity to humble the mightiest of conventional armies.

The End of a 'Catholic Moment,' Ctd.

Rod Dreher responds to Ross Douthat's essay: