The Weekly Standard, Volume 20, Number 17, January 5, 2015

2.3 MB·English

by  The Weekly Standard

W ER
NE RD WLER
THME PUS GUOSTINE LA
A AU
C R
PETE
JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015 (cid:129) $4.95
Was
the Civil War
a Second
American
Revolution?
ALLEN C. GUELZO
BY
WEEKLYSTANDARD.COM
THIS IS A COMBINED ISSUE. THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE WEEKLY STANDARD WILL APPEAR IN TWO WEEKS.
Contents
JJanuary 5 / January 12, 2015 (cid:129) Volume 20, Number 17
2 The Scrapbook 1963 and all that, the law is an ape, & more
5 Casual Joseph Bottum counts the days until after Christmas
7 Editorial
The More the Merrier BY WILLIAM KRISTOL
Articles
8 Land of Dynasties
BY JAY COST
Should we be disturbed by another Bush candidacy?
9 The Pipeline and the Damage Done
BY FRED BARNES
Obama’s Keystone Kops routine
8
11 Planes Filled the Sky
BY WARREN KOZAK
Remembering the Battle of the Bulge
13 A Little Bird Told Them
BY GEOFFREY NORMAN
The warbler in evidence
14 Taxi Deregulation Happened Where?
BY ELI LEHRER
A rare, worthy reform, made in Washington
16 The Schiavo Case Revisited
BY WESLEY J. SMITH
Why you may be hearing about it in 2016
17 It Takes a Pirate . . .
BY JOSHUA GELERNTER
Bring back letters of marque and reprisal
Features
19 Democracy and Nobility
BY ALLEN C. GUELZO
Was the Civil War a second American Revolution?
24 Campus Security
BY PETER AUGUSTINE LAWLER
Refl ections on current outrages
19 Books & Arts
28 Gentleman of Letters
BY MARJORIE PERLOFF
The hits and misses of James Laughlin
31 Once and Future Kings
BY TEMMA EHRENFELD
A vertebrate’s tribute to our numerous cohabitants
32 Sword vs. Pen
BY GABRIEL SCHOENFELD
In the Age of Terror, the status of journalists is evolving
34 Learning Curve
BY JONATHAN MARKS
Self-esteem is up while knowledge is down
36 One Writer’s Message
BY JAMES SEATON
‘Any kind of integrity helps in this world, and I have my own kind’
37 The Real Thing
BY AMY HENDERSON
Richard Estes and his photographic vision
39 A Star Is Born
BY JOHN PODHORETZ
By any measure, you won’t forget Gugu Mbatha-Raw
24
40 Parody
North Korean anti-hackers
COVER: GETTY IMAGES / JASON COLSTON
THE SCRAPBOOK
1963 and All That
Philip Larkin began one of his bet- London. It was the Soviet connection and was reportedly the mistress of
ter-known poems with the arrest- that raised red fl ags, as it were. Speak- Viscount Astor, at whose stately home
ing observation that Sexual intercourse ing to the House of Commons, Pro- the various Profumo- Keeler-Ivanov-
began / In nineteen sixty-three / (which fumo denied any “impropriety” in his etc. assignations had taken place.
was rather late for me)— / Between the relationship to Keeler. But his decep- When, as a trial witness, she was told
end of the Chatterley ban / And the Bea- tion was exposed a few months later, that Lord Astor had denied their
tles’ fi rst LP. Larkin was born in 1922, and he resigned in disgrace: partly for affair, she famously responded: “Well,
and so would have been in the middle the indiscretion of sharing a mistress he would, wouldn’t he?”
of middle age in 1963: too old, proba- with a Soviet diplomat, but largely In contrast to her old roommate’s,
bly, to benefi t from the evolving public for lying to Parliament. In politics, Mandy Rice-Davies’s subsequent life
morality of the era; too young to have then as now, it’s not the crime but the was comparatively happy and pros-
known the douceur de vivre that the pre- cover-up that gets you into trouble. perous. The first of her three rich
1914 generation liked to talk about. What made the Profumo Affair husbands was an Israeli business-
Most Americans might make the unique in its time, and prob- man, with whom she opened a series
same rough calculation, perhaps ably appealed to its American audi- of clubs and restaurants in Tel Aviv.
mentioning the Kennedy assassina- ence, was the extent to which it was She acted in movies with the likes of
tion (November 1963) as a signpost counter intuitive: It revealed that Lou Ferrigno; she sang and recorded
of the times, along with the Beatles’ underneath the staid exterior of old songs; she published a novel; at her
first appearance on The Ed Sulli- England was a swinging new Eng- homes in the Caribbean, she was al-
van Show (February 1964). But THE land of randy politicians, loosened ways available for interviews.
SCRAPBOOK would push things back standards, and high society hijinks. One comment late in life, however,
a few months to the summer of 1963 But of course, as with all such sym- struck THE SCRAPBOOK as poignant—
and the Pro fumo Affair, which very bols of an era, the Profumo Af- and revealing, too. “If I could live
nearly brought down the British gov- fair was both more and less than it my life over,” she once explained, “I
ernment of the day and was the fi rst seemed: Society did undergo a revo- would wish 1963 had not existed.”
British political scandal to be avidly lution of sorts in the 1960s, but not She was always at pains to point out
chronicled in the American press. everything changed. that she and Keeler had been dancers
By today’s standards, the scandal THE SCRAPBOOK was reminded of and good-time girls — precursors of
was comparatively tame. A rising pol- all this the other day by the news that Philip Larkin’s Swinging London,
itician, Minister of Defense John Pro- Mandy Rice-Davies had died, age 70. to be sure, but nothing more: “I
fumo, had engaged in an extramarital Rice-Davies was one of the secondary have to fi ght the misconception that
affair with a showgirl named Chris- fi gures in the Profumo Affair: She I was a prostitute, and I don’t want
tine Keeler, who counted among her had been the London roommate of that passed on to my grandchildren.
lovers the Russian naval attaché in her fellow showgirl Christine Keeler, There is still a stigma.” ♦
Just What Jucos grand adventure in missing the point. and something in Mr. Rifi no ignited,
Though it purports to be a big-pic- as he began to examine his own sense
Need: More Marx!
ture feature, the Times’s report boils of alienation. He quickly fi nished his
work at LaGuardia, and transferred
An article in last Sunday’s New down to a profi le of Professor Eduar-
to Hunter College in 2012. In the fall
York Times, “Raising Ambitions: do Vianna at LaGuardia Community
he began a doctoral program in psy-
The Challenge in Teaching at Com- College in Queens. According to the
chology at the Graduate Center of the
munity Colleges,” caught THE SCRAP- Times, Vianna has had success en- City University of New York.
BOOK’s eye. At a time when higher gaging marginal students where oth-
education is prohibitively expensive ers have failed, as evidenced by this We wish Mr. Rifi no the best, but
and more than a little dysfunctional, choice anecdote: we’re pretty sure American employ-
community colleges are often under- ers are not clamoring for psychol-
Mr. Rifi no was working as a cashier
appreciated. However, the New York ogy doctorates. Nor does inculcating
at a Gap in a mall on Queens Boule-
Times being the New York Times, the strong opinions about Karl Marx
vard, and feeling despondent about
publication took this potentially re- it. Dr. Vianna then introduced him vis-à-vis the supposed immiseration
vealing subject and turned it into a to Erich Fromm’s writing on Marx, of mall workers, who are not exactly
2 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015
industrial revolution wage slaves,
strike us as a persuasive argument
for directing more resources to com-
munity colleges.
Vianna has made it his mission
to expand inchoate minds in a left-
ward direction. “The thing about the
1 percent owning 40 percent of
the wealth, they were shocked,” he
told the Times. Indeed, “Most students
were, if not transformed in every in-
stance by what they had learned, at
least unsettled, and by the end of the
semester they could challenge one
another’s beliefs based on what they
had absorbed in class, arguing for ex-
ample about whether it was hard work
or native talent that drove success,”
notes the Times. After all, what good
is college if it doesn’t cause students
to question basic assumptions, such as
the value of hard work?
Speaking of hard work, the Times
is very concerned about teachers like
Vianna. “His course load leaves little
time for refl ection,” they note. “Dr.
Vianna teaches fi ve classes a semes-
ter, which is typical of instructors at
two-year colleges; as a tenured faculty
member at a top private college he
might be required to teach two.” The
problem, of course, is not that a good
many college professors are under-
worked. It’s that Vianna has to be in
class teaching 15-20 hours a week.
Instead of a leg up in the job
market or new vocational skills,
the important thing at a commu-
nity college is apparently acquiring education and labor markets are in the week before Christmas that it was
a sense of intellectual complexity: crisis. Community colleges are valu- imposing massive new tariffs on cer-
“If they come here with the goal of able precisely because they’re less tain Chinese goods, we admit to being
doing something very specifi c — to hamstrung by ivory tower pretensions astonished, despite our capacious
become a stewardess, or a makeup and are more directly accountable to sense of cynicism about what moti-
artist — they may think, ‘What’s the students. But if the Times and Pro- vates this White House.
point?’ ” Exactly! Students who go fessor Vianna have their way, com- “The Obama administration will
to college to learn something use- munity colleges will soon join their set duties on solar products from
ful and productive might even start overpriced liberal arts competitors in China and Taiwan that combined
resenting the fact that they’re paying a race to the bottom. ♦ could exceed more than 200 percent,
a lot of money to learn from people adding fuel to a renewable-energy
who spend most of their time sitting clash between the U.S. and China,”
around contemplating discredited The Power of Green reported Bloomberg. Now, if you
economic theories. believe that climate change is an
It should be obvious to the Times, THE SCRAPBOOK has never expected urgent, nay, eschatological prior-
but if left-wing cant were a recipe for the Obama administration to be ity, wouldn’t you want to encourage
setting minds afl ame, we would have on the right side of history when it as many people as possible to start
seen an American renaissance over comes to free trade. However, when using solar panels to lessen our de-
the last 50 years. Instead, American the administration quietly announced pendence on carbon-based energy?
JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015 THE WEEKLY STANDARD / 3
How does drastically raising the activists, even if we often dispute their
price of solar panels do that? facts. But unlike the accuracy of com-
It doesn’t, of course. Huge new plex climate models, there’s just no
tariffs are, however, yet another debating that “green energy” has be-
way to subsidize domestic “green come a crony-capitalist racket. When www.weeklystandard.com
energy” fi rms — and even some fi rms it comes to making solar panels, the
William Kristol, Editor
that aren’t domestic. The Commerce Obama administration had a choice
Fred Barnes, Terry Eastland, Executive Editors
Department issued the new tariffs between doing what’s right for the
Richard Starr, Deputy Editor
in response to a complaint from environment and rewarding their lob- Claudia Anderson, Managing Editor
SolarWorld AG, a German com- byists. They made their choice, and Christopher Caldwell, Andrew Ferguson,
Victorino Matus, Lee Smith, Senior Editors
pany that owns a factory in Oregon. their priorities are perfectly clear. ♦
Philip Terzian, Literary Editor
SolarWorld’s stock jumped about
Stephen F. Hayes, Mark Hemingway,
10 percent the day after the tariffs Matt Labash, Jonathan V. Last,
were announced. And it isn’t just The Law Is an Ape John McCormack, Senior Writers
Jay Cost, Michael Warren, Staff Writers
the Commerce Department that’s Daniel Halper, Online Editor
doing SolarWorld favors. The com- From time to time, our contribu- Kelly Jane Torrance, Assistant Managing Editor
pany got $4 million in subsidies this tor Wesley J. Smith has warned Julianne Dudley, Ethan Epstein, Jim Swift,
Assistant Editors
past October from the Department in these pages that many animal
Judith Ayers, Editorial Assistant
of Energy. rights activists are after something
Philip Chalk, Design Director
Unsurprisingly, SolarWorld spends more than improving animal wel- Barbara Kyttle, Design Assistant
a lot on lobbying — over $1 million in fare — a worthy cause, to be sure. Teri Perry, Executive Assistant
2012, during Obama’s reelection cam- They seek, rather, to elevate animals Max Boot, Joseph Bottum,
Tucker Carlson, Matthew Continetti,
paign. While they aren’t on par with to equal moral and legal status with
Noemie Emery, Joseph Epstein,
Big Oil yet, green energy companies humans. See, for example, Smith’s David Frum, David Gelernter,
Reuel Marc Gerecht, Michael Goldfarb,
have become a formidable lobbying “Habeas Chimpanzee,” December Mary Katharine Ham, Brit Hume,
force. As far as we can tell, Solar- 16, 2013, in which he predicted that Frederick W. Kagan, Charles Krauthammer,
Yuval Levin, Tod Lindberg,
World is just playing the Washington animals might be given standing to Robert Messenger, P. J. O’Rourke,
game, and playing it well. There is, bring lawsuits (assisted by human John Podhoretz, Irwin M. Stelzer,
Contributing Editors
of course, ample precedent for a solar counsel, to be sure) and that one day
energy company buying influence soon we might see courts issuing MediaDC
with this White House. writs of habeas corpus for great apes Ryan McKibben, Chairman
Stephen R. Sparks, Chief Operating Offi cer
This late in the Obama adminis- and other nonhuman primates.
Tom Fowler, Chief Revenue Offi cer
tration, the name Solyndra almost Such is certainly the declared goal
Grace Paine Terzian, Chief Communications Offi cer
seems quaint. Despite the undeniably of the Nonhuman Rights Project, Kathy Schaffhauser, Chief Financial Offi cer
scandalous facts surrounding that which made headlines recently when Catherine Lowe, Integrated Marketing Director
particular company and its political it sued in New York to open that state’s Mark Walters, Sr. V. P. Marketing Services & Advertising
donations — and the hundreds of mil- courts to chimpanzees. The group has Nicholas H.B. Swezey, V. P. Advertising
T. Barry Davis, Peter Dunn, Andrew Kaumeier,
lions in federal guarantees it burned been unsuccessful in trial courts and
Brooke McIngvale, Jason Roberts
through before bankruptcy —a fl urry on appeal. But we feel obliged to add Advertising Sales
of stories in November claimed that the qualifi cation “so far,” now that an Advertising inquiries: 202-293-4900
Subscriptions: 1-800-274-7293
the Department of Energy loan pro- Argentine judge has granted habeas
gram that enabled Solyndra was corpus to an orangutan and ordered it The Weekly Standard (ISSN 1083-3013), a division of Clarity Media
Group, is published weekly (except the fi rst week in January, third week
actually turning a profit. Liberal freed from a Buenos Aires zoo (to an in April, second week in July, and fourth week in August) at 1150 17th
St., NW, Suite 505, Washington D.C. 20036. Periodicals postage paid at
journalists took a victory lap, though ape sanctuary), owing to its being a Washington, DC, and additional mailing offi ces. Postmaster: Send address
it emerged that the claim the loans “nonhuman person.” changes to The Weekly Standard, P.O. Box 421203, Palm Coast, FL 32142-
1203. For subscription customer service in the United States, call 1-800-
were making money was wrong. Animals as persons, in a world 274-7293. For new subscription orders, please call 1-800-274-7293.
Subscribers: Please send new subscription orders and changes of address
Donald Marron, a former acting where human fetuses aren’t? Ordi- to The Weekly Standard, P.O. Box 421203, Palm Coast, FL 32142-1203.
director of the Congressional Budget narily, THE SCRAPBOOK is pleased to Please include your latest magazine mailing label. Allow 3 to 5 weeks for
arrival of fi rst copy and address changes. Canadian/foreign orders require
Offi ce and director of economic pol- highlight the prescience of this mag- additional postage and must be paid in full prior to commencement
of service. Canadian/foreign subscribers may call 1-386-597-4378 for
icy at the nonpartisan Urban Insti- azine’s contributors. Not so, in this
subscription inquiries. American Express, Visa/MasterCard payments
tute, wrote a thorough debunking of case. The drive to have apes— and accepted. Cover price, $4.95. Back issues, $4.95 (includes postage and
handling). Send letters to the editor to The Weekly Standard, 1150 17th
the erroneous analysis that the loans eventually other animals — declared Street, N.W., Suite 505, Washington, DC 20036-4617. For a copy of The
Weekly Standard Privacy Policy, visit www.weeklystandard.com or write to
were profi table. Almost no one in the “persons” would subvert Western
Customer Service, The Weekly Standard, 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505,
media bothered to correct their sto- civilization’s core principle that Washington, D.C. 20036. Copyright 2014, Clarity Media Group. All rights
reserved. No material in The Weekly
ries saying otherwise. human life has unique dignity and Standard may be reprinted without
THE SCRAPBOOK doesn’t doubt the moral worth. To say the least, we pTheerm Wiseseioknly oSft atnhdea rdc oipsy raig rhetg iostwenreedr.
sincerity of many global warming wish that effort every failure. ♦ trademark of Clarity Media Group.
4 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015
CASUAL
The Lord of Misrule Except, perhaps, in the sheer
messiness of it all. Despite all the
advertisements and canned carols
that begin even before Thanksgiving,
Advent is structured as a clean and
C
hristmas doesn’t really Christmas to a week later and called penitential time. Christmas itself is
begin until Christmas— an octave because people who speak the chaos. It’s there in the clutter
Christmas Day itself, that Latin count in odd ways. And things of the unwrapped presents. There in
is. And I don’t mean just work differently in the feasts of the the fridge full of leftovers. There
in the way the Christian churches lay Eastern Orthodox churches, based in in the burned-down Advent candles.
out the season: the whole 12-days-of- part on whether those churches keep There in the disordered piles of sheet
Christmas thing, if you remember. to the old Julian calendar, in which music on the piano. There in the pine
And I know you do, because everyone case the Nativity falls on what’s Janu- needles falling on the carpet. There in
remembers the song about the par- ary 6 for the rest of the world. Things the jumble of ornaments. There in the
tridge in a pear tree, which is what work differently, as well, in the fi replace ashes. There in the unshapely
our loves would give us on the mounds of shoveled snow.
fi rst day of Christmas, if they Christmas doesn’t come to
were true. us as a neat and tidy thing. It
Personally, I’m still sus- is not, as C.S. Lewis would
picious, because I’ve never have put it, a tame holiday.
found seven swans a-swim- Even secularized into “holi-
ming, six geese a-laying, or day trees” and reindeer and
even fi ve gold rings under the snowflake designs, it will
Christmas tree. But as long not hold still—as who could
as we’ve mentioned the eccle- imagine that it would?
sial calendar, let’s get that Apart, of course, from the
part straight. Christmas Day designers of glossy catalogues,
is the end of the four weeks none of whom seem to realize
of Advent—and the begin- that white furniture, delicate
ning of the 12 days of Christ- ornaments, and outrageously
mas, which run till January 5. expensive glassware won’t
Or Twelfth Night, as that last survive even a single day of
Christmas evening is called: Christmas with actual people
the night before Epiphany and tra- stricter of the Protestant churches, in it. Sometimes, glancing through
ditionally a time for skits and cel- which don’t really do feasts—and, in a Williams-Sonoma catalogue or the
ebration, with a Lord of Misrule the case of the Puritans, actually tried upscale advertisements in the Sun-
appointed to lead the festivities. to ban Christmas celebrations. day New York Times, I picture the
That’s why Shakespeare called his Through the Christmas season, we breakage that would follow an old-
play Twelfth Night, even though it has have the feast of St. Stephen, which is fashioned Lord of Misrule, leading
nothing to do with Christmas. Noth- called Boxing Day in England, Wren wild children on a Christmas dance
ing, that is, except that it’s joyous, Day in Ireland, and December 26 in through the oh-so-tasteful settings.
comic, contains in the misruly clown the rest of the world. And the feast It’s a small thing, I know, but it adds
Feste what may be one of Shake- of the Holy Innocents, the children to my Christmas joy.
speare’s few self-presentations, and slaughtered by King Herod. The And Christmas joy is the point,
was fi rst performed in 1602 on Can- feast of the Holy Family. The feast of isn’t it? The theological point, the
dlemas. And Candlemas, the Feast of St. Sylvester on New Year’s Eve day, psychological point—and even
the Presentation, marks the absolute, which the Scots call Hogmanay. The the so ciological point. Christmas
fi nal, pack-it-all-up end of the Nativity Solemnity of Mary, and the feast of is the untamed, all messy and unruly,
season—40 days after Christmas, 28 the Holy Name, and . . . it’s a mess, set outside ordinary time. It smashes
days after Twelfth Night—by which isn’t it? Even in the church calendar, through our ordered experience, and
point the Christmas decorations had the run from the fi rst day of Christ- it lasts for days. Twelve of them, in
to be taken down to avert bad luck. mas through to Epiphany and on to fact. Or maybe forty. A good long
K
R Now, all that’s distinct from the Candlemas has no clarity of narrative, while, anyway.
A
D CLOctave of Christmas in the Catholic no fi rmness of organization, and no
DAVI church, running the seven days from sharpness of lesson. JOSEPH BOTTUM
JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015 THE WEEKLY STANDARD / 5
EDITORIAL
The More the Merrier
The more the merrier, so bless me God! And our holiday message to possible Republican candi-
Our love can thrive in company great; dates is also simple: Seize the day. If you think you would
our honour more and never less. be a good president of the United States, run. After all, if not
—from “Pearl,” late 14th century now, when? The election of 2016 is not only winnable. It will
be the most consequential since 1980. The country’s future
The Republican presidential nominee is likely to is at stake. This is no time for anyone who thinks he or she
win the White House in 2016. Since 1952, with has something to contribute to equivocate, to hold back, to
the only exception being “Reagan’s third term” in calculate the odds for 2020 or 2024.
1988, voters have ousted the incumbent party after eight So, channeling Thomas Paine, we say to John Bolton,
years. Indeed, the candidate of the eight-year incumbent Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly
party always does considerably Fiorina, Lindsey Graham,
worse in his election than the Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal,
incumbent running for reelec- John Kasich, Pete King, Mike
tion four years before. Obama Pence, Rick Perry, Mitt Rom-
won with only 51 percent of the ney, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan,
vote in 2012. That’s a bad sign Rick Santorum, Joe Scarbor-
for the 2016 Democratic nomi- ough, Scott Walker, and Allen
nee, who, if history is a guide, West: “The summer soldier
is likely to end up with about 45 and the sunshine patriot will,
percent of the vote. So the 2016 in this crisis, shrink from the
GOP nominee has a good shot service of their country; but he
to be president. that stands by it now, deserves
But who, you might ask, the love and thanks of man and
should that be? woman.” Each of you would be
Good question. And we a better president than Hillary
don’t have an answer. With Clinton. You would deserve
Friedrich Hayek, we believe the thanks of man and woman
in the limits of central plan- if you beat her. And if your
ning and foreknowledge. With name is not on this list, don’t
Adam Smith, we believe in feel slighted. Rather, feel free
the merits of wide-open com- to volunteer. Dick Cheney,
petition. With Joseph Schum- Tom Cotton, Mitch Daniels,
peter, we believe in the utility Joni Ernst, Newt Gingrich,
of some creative destruction. and Rudy Giuliani—you’re
With Peter Thiel, we believe But could they all fi t on one stage? also more ready than Hillary.
that it’s very hard to know If you think you’re the right
ahead of time who can make the leap from zero to one. person . . . go for it.
So our holiday message to Republican primary voters Some may say we’re taking “the more the merrier” to
is simple: Take your time before making your choice. Take ridiculous lengths. Perhaps. But the winnowing process,
a good look at all the candidates. Don’t rule individuals in once it begins in late 2015, will be merciless. The fi eld will
or out because of your own or others’ preconceptions, or narrow soon enough. So while Democrats face the prospect
because pundits say this or donors say that or the media say of a forced march to a lackluster coronation, Republicans, at
God-knows-what. Give each of the candidates a chance to least for the next several months, can let a hundred fl owers
make his or her case, and don’t rush to make up your mind bloom. “Our love can thrive in company great; our honour
either about who has the best chance to win or who would do more and never less.”
best at governing. —William Kristol
JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015 THE WEEKLY STANDARD / 7
Land of Not surprisingly, then, political
dynasties have actually been quite
common in American history, though
Dynasties not always family-based. From the
early 19th century into the 20th, there
were three state-based political dynas-
ties that were even more dominant
than the Bushes.
Should we be disturbed The Virginia dynasty dominated
the presi dency for the first quarter
by another Bush candidacy?
of the nineteenth century. President
Thomas Jefferson (1801-09) was suc-
BY JAY COST ceeded by James Madison (1809-17),
then James Monroe (1817-25). Strictly
on merit, Jefferson’s and Madison’s
elections were eminently sensible—
but Monroe’s less so. While he served
with distinction as secretary of state
and secretary of war during the War
of 1812, his main qualifi cations for
the presidency were residence in Vir-
ginia, the largest Southern state, and
unfl inching loyalty to Jefferson.
The initial purpose of the Electoral
College was to distance the presidency
from the factionalism of politics with-
out resorting to life tenure. But this
ideal was short-lived. To defeat John
Adams in 1800, the Jeffersonians trans-
formed battles for state legislatures
into proxy contests for Electoral Col-
lege votes—especially in New York and
Pennsylvania. Thereafter, the Jefferso-
nian congressional caucus selected the
party’s presidential nominee, who was
virtually guaranteed victory thanks to a
In mid-December, Jeb Bush Henry and grandson Benjamin), and weakened Federalist party. This is how
announced his intention to the Roosevelts (cousins Theodore Monroe came to be president: By 1816,
explore a presidential bid. If he and Franklin). But the Bushes are in selection of the nation’s chief executive
runs and wins the Republican nomi- a class by themselves for the speed was an insider’s game, and Monroe was
nation and then the election, he will with which one succeeded another— the ultimate insider.
be the third President Bush in 25 just eight years apart. And if the third After 1824, nominating power
years. That unprecedented prospect Bush wins the top job after another shifted to state parties, but dynasties
has left many wondering: In a repub- interval of eight years, that will only persisted. From the Civil War until
lic like ours, is it proper for one family make the exception more pronounced. the Great Depression, the Republican
to fi ll the executive seat so often? While we might fret about this for party regularly nominated Ohioans,
The Bushes are not the fi rst fam- cultural reasons, we must acknowledge while the Democrats usually selected
ily to send multiple members to the that it has not come about by accident. New Yorkers.
White House. They join the Adamses In fact, dynasties make a lot of sense During this period, presidential
(father John and son John Quincy), for practical politicians. Acquiring elections were closely contested, and
the Harrisons (grandfather William the presidency is enormously chal- with corruption a prominent issue,
lenging, and political dynasties ease neither party could afford to nomi-
Jay Cost is a staff writer at at least some of the diffi culties either nate anyone tainted by venality. For
THE WEEKLY STANDARD and the in securing the nomination or in win- the Republicans, Ohio was a natu-
author of A Republic No More: Big ning the general election. To put it ral place to turn. The Buckeye State KE
C
O
Government and the Rise of American bluntly, dynasties endure because they was an electoral-vote-rich, must-win Y L
R
Political Corruption (Encounter). are politically useful. battleground (even then!), and the GA
8 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015
Ohio GOP was (reasonably) free of not. It has little to do with creeping Hillary Clinton, after all, lost to an
corruption, unlike its counterparts elitism, the decaying republican char- upstart junior senator from Illinois in
in New York and Pennsylvania. New acter of the government, or a monarchi- 2008. Jeb Bush will surely face the most
York state Democrats, meanwhile, cal impulse in the people. Rather, it is crowded and talented Republican fi eld
who won statewide elections usually rooted in the practical realities of poli- in a generation. His pedigree might
lined up against New York City’s cor- tics: Running for president is awfully give him an edge, but he will still have
rupt Tammany Hall, which allowed hard; it is less hard for some candi- to prove himself capable.
them to present themselves as cred- dates; and parties naturally gravitate to Far from fretting about what Jeb’s
ible reformers. That, along with the such candidates. putative candidacy means for the
Empire State’s 40-plus electoral votes The process is not closed to alterna- republic, conservatives should wel-
and inevitably tight final margins, tive candidates, of course, and being a come him to the fray. More candidates
made it an obvious place for the Dem- member of a dynasty is not a suffi cient should mean a better debate about the
ocrats to look for nominees. Between condition for victory. It wasn’t in the country’s future, and maybe in the end
the Civil War and the Great Depres- nineteenth century, and it is isn’t today. a better nominee. ♦
sion, the Republicans nominated
Ohio politicians for president seven
times, and the Democrats nominated
New Yorkers seven times. Of these, six
Ohio Republicans and two New York
Democrats served as president.
That’s three dynasties in a little
more than a century, from Virginia,
Ohio, and New York.
Fast-forward to the modern era.
The contours of the nomination battle
and the general election have changed
dramatically, but the difficulty of
becoming president of the United
States remains. Today, would-be presi-
dents have to raise an extraordinary
amount of money, and they must fi ght
for the support of “low-information”
voters, those whose knowledge of and
engagement in the political process is
White House protest, November 2011
limited. And here, a family dynasty
helps: Each aspirant can build on the
The Pipeline and
successes of his or her predecessors.
Take Jeb Bush. He enters the race
with an extensive network of wealthy
donors cultivated over decades by his the Damage Done
father and brother. And his family
name is a useful signal for voters who
lack the ability or inclination to sort
out for themselves which candidate
best fi ts their worldview. Even the least- Obama’s Keystone Kops routine.
informed voter has a general sense that
the Bushes stand for a relatively expan- BY FRED BARNES
sive social welfare state, a muscular for-
eign policy, and a reduced tax burden. For a symbolic issue, the Key- divisions, some of them quite bitter.
Bush’s early frontrunner status for stone pipeline has sure caused I’ll get to Keystone’s victims shortly,
the nomination probably signifi es little a lot of damage—to Canadian- but fi rst the explanation of why the
more than the advantages of dynasty. American relations, to Democrats, to issue is purely symbolic. If the pipeline
Hillary Clinton possesses identical President Obama. And it feeds, under- is built, it will carry oil from northern
assets on the Democratic side. scores, or refl ects a variety of political Alberta to refi neries on the Gulf Coast.
M So, while the spectacle of another If it is not built, the crude oil will be
O
CBush running against another Clinton Fred Barnes is an executive editor transported either to Canada’s west
S
W
NEmight make us uneasy, it really should at THE WEEKLY STANDARD. coast or to New Brunswick, a maritime
JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015 THE WEEKLY STANDARD / 9
province in the east, where it will be treated Canada shabbily, Harper in Department’s projection, however, is
refi ned for export. particular. Relations haven’t ruptured, that it would create 42,000 jobs and
The point is the oil won’t remain but they’ve taken a hit, especially now add $3.5 billion to the economy.
underground. It will be extracted, that Obama appears ready to oppose Meanwhile, until it’s built or can-
turned into gasoline, and keep cars the pipeline offi cially. celed, Keystone will be involved,
running all over the world. That Except for warding off the wrath directly or indirectly, in political rifts.
means blocking the pipeline, should of enviros, Democrats on Capitol Hill There’s Obama’s controversial prac-
the president decide to do that, will have done themselves no favor by tice of being tough on allies, soft on
have no effect on greenhouse gases. opposing the pipeline. Keystone is adversaries. In December, he was easy
That appears to make little difference popular. A USA Today poll last month in normalizing relations with Commu-
to the environmental movement. It found 60 percent of Americans want it nist Cuba, dropping the precondition
opposes fossil fuels and anything that built. Only 25 percent don’t. that all Cuban political prisoners be
facilitates their use, period. In November, Democratic senator released. In contrast, he was brusque
There’s another reason the green Mary Landrieu of Louisiana learned with Canada, implying its motive for
lobby has exerted enormous pressure that opposing the pipeline was more the pipeline is bigger profi ts for Cana-
to kill Keystone. It’s a power play. critical to her Democratic colleagues dian oil companies.
If it works, the political clout of the Keystone has become a partisan and
movement will grow. And environ- Except for warding off the ideological issue. So who is against it
mentalists are already a forceful spe- and who is for it? Liberals are opposed,
wrath of enviros, Democrats
cial interest in Washington. conservatives in favor. More precisely,
In 2011, Canadian prime minis- on Capitol Hill have done “gentry” liberals are against, the work-
ter Stephen Harper got a telephone themselves no favor by ing class for. We know environmental-
call from Obama. Earlier, the State ists oppose it. The pro-business crowd
opposing the pipeline.
Department had studied the envi- wants it. Most Democrats want to kill
Keystone is popular.
ronmental impact of the pipeline Keystone. Nearly all Republicans are
and concluded it would be minimal. A USA Today poll last eager to build it.
Now, the president told Harper, a new If you favor blocking the use of
month found 60 percent
environmental study was required fossil fuels at every opportunity, you
of Americans want it built.
to make sure an aquifer in Nebraska surely oppose the pipeline. If
wouldn’t be affected. Only 25 percent don’t. you prefer to wait until green energy
The president assured Harper that can replace oil, coal, and natural gas,
the pipeline was only being delayed. you’re eager to build it. Opponents of
Harper was irritated and said to be than boosting her slim chance of free trade oppose it, I suspect. Thus,
worried the pipeline was in jeopardy. reelection. A big Democratic vote for most free traders favor Keystone. If
But the problem of the aquifer was Keystone, which she supports, would you’re comfortable with Obama’s long
solved when the pipeline’s promoters demonstrate her infl uence. But only 14 delay, you’re probably against the
agreed to change its route. Obama con- of 54 Democrats voted with her. In the pipeline. If you wanted a quick deci-
tinued to postpone a decision. House, 31 of 201 Democrats did. A few sion in 2009, you’re pro-Keystone.
That Keystone matters enormously weeks later, she lost her bid for reelec- Yes, these categories overlap. And
to Canada is putting it mildly. It’s tion, 56 to 44 percent. some are more serious than others.
important to their economy. The For his part, Obama has shown a And here’s one that may be a stretch.
alternatives to Keystone would be poor grasp of economics in downplay- Do you like Obama’s tactic of lead-
less efficient. Both major political ing the pipeline’s benefi ts. It would ing from behind? If so, I’ll bet you’re
parties—Liberals and Harper’s Con- help Canada send oil everywhere anti-Keystone. If you like up-front
servatives—support developing the except the United States, he has said leadership, my guess is you wish con-
country’s natural resources. And there repeatedly, so “it doesn’t have an struction had begun in 2009.
aren’t many better places to do it than impact on U.S. gas prices.” The Wall The overall impact of Keystone has
northern Alberta. I’ve been there. It’s Street Journal’s editorial page corrected been to sow discord. Worse, opposing
pretty desolate. Edmonton, the nearest him: “Oil markets are global, and add- it has become a moral cause. Protest-
city, is 274 miles away. ing to the global supply might well ers chain themselves to the White
Canada happens to be America’s reduce U.S. gas prices.” House fence. They’ve staged a “die-
closest ally and biggest trading part- The president normally touts the in” in the street. Obama has been no
ner. And Canadians are understand- job-generating power of large infra- help. Should he kill the pipeline, he’ll
ably sensitive to how Big Brother to structure projects. But in the case need to provide Harper with better
the south treats them. Keystone is a of Keystone, he has suggested con- reasons than he’s been offering the
test of our friendship. By dragging his struction of the 1,179-mile pipe- rest of us. Or it will be an embarrass-
decision into a sixth year, Obama has line would create few jobs. The State ing conversation. ♦
10 / THE WEEKLY STANDARD JANUARY 5 / JANUARY 12, 2015