In 1965, National Review identified conservative alternatives to the John Birch Society. If only they could do that today.  more

Americans stockpiling gold as a hedge against runaway inflation may want to take a closer look at today’s Wall Street Journal.  more

If the anti-Hillary thing really didn’t do much to help the Republicans, I’m not sure that the anti-Palin thing will work to the Democrats’ advantage.  more

While conservatives should enjoy the moment, they should also remember that Scott Brown’s campaign model may not be the solution for every race coming up this year.   more

Rep. Parker Griffith’s party switch and Rudy Giuliani’s decision not to run are signposts for what the GOP can expect in 2010: Opportunities will continue to be missed in places like New York, and found in the South and elsewhere.  more

The race in New York’s 23rd served as a Phony War. It gave disaffected conservatives somewhere to spend their time and money, while the Republican establishment put it away on a grand scale in Virginia and New Jersey.  more

The betting markets are too thin to rely on for this cycle, but they do fit with my general read on the situation: McDonnell wins, Hoffman wins, Christie loses.  more

Running behind in the polls, Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds, is finally following the advice of the Obama administration: Bring out the minority vote by attaching yourself as closely as possible to Obama. And keep yourself and your actual campaign in the blurry background, if you don’t mind.  more

UPDATED: Yesterday, David Keene, chairman of the ACU, orchestrated a blogburst for third-party candidate Doug Hoffman. Hoffman is running against GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava in New York’s 23rd congressional district and many fear that the split will cede the seat to the Democrats.  more

Supporters of moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava in the race for New York’s 23rd congressional seat are concerned that conservatives backing challenger Doug Hoffman will split the right vote and cede the seat to the Democrats. While this would be a bad result for the Republican party, voters should ask themselves if a Democratic win might not be better for conservatives.  more

The way many conservatives see it, the way to win is not by emulating the no-drama strategy of the Obama campaign, but rather the hard-nosed, foul-mouthed Chicago tactics of Rahm Emanuel circa 2005 and 2006. But this strategy will not work for the GOP.  more

Recently, economist John Nye praised Harry Truman for his economic policies. But the credit really belongs with the “do-nothing” Republican Congress that pushed those policies, against Truman’s will.  more

Should Republicans create a plan and sell it as the “universal healthcare” plan that the Democrats are refusing to pass because of their bickering? No, and here’s why: “universal” is another word for “comprehensive”, and “comprehensive”, as we learned from the immigration debate of 2007, means “a lot of things we don’t like all shoved into one bill.”  more

From my big sister in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

“Two blocks from my house, there is a sign reading “This Project Sponsored by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Putting America to Work.” It has been up for months, and I can’t identify what work has been done or will be done. I am forced to conclude that the sign itself is the project.”  more

In the health insurance debate nobody seems to talk about the role of the American paycheck. The Republican party should push for health insurance “cafeteria plans,” where individuals can take their hidden paycheck costs in paid insurance premiums or in ordinary taxable cash.   more

With the swearing in of Kathleen Sebelius for Health and Human Services yesterday came swearing from the social conservatives.  It’s time for them to grow up.
Before the 2006 election cycle, the two most prominent social conservatives in politics, without a doubt, were Senator Rick Santorum, and Senator Sam Brownback.  They were publicly Catholic, vocally and articulately   more

It’s true: they did it.  The Democrats managed to get the words “comparative effectiveness” into the stimulus bill, just as many conservatives warned, which means that the infrastructure for rationing Medicare is now in place.  The idea is pretty simple: a national health board will determine the comparative effectiveness of different treatments for different ailments,   more

Consider the new congressman from Peoria.  Aaron Schock moved up from the Peoria school board, to head of the board, to Illinois state representative, to Congressman (and minor Youtube sensation).
He’s 27 years old.  He started with the school board at the age of 19.
That’s a pretty good story, I think.  We’re in a culture where   more

So, occasionally people ask me, “Joe, you’re a social conservative.  So, why are you posting on FrumForum.com?”
By “people ask me”, I mostly mean, I ask myself.  
I’m a social conservative, but not just a social conservative.  I’m still for the usual conservative Republican positions: less government, lower taxes, freer trade; fighting radical Islam, containing   more

The passing of Richard John Neuhaus comes at a crucial time for the Catholic Right.
The very idea of practicing, orthodox Catholics as a political movement and the key swing vote in the New (old?) Majority is fracturing.  The project of RJN and Michael Novak, and their sometime mentor John Courtney Murray, was to engage with   more