Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Tag: John O’Sullivan
When Did Librarians Get Woke?
What image comes to mind when you think of or hear the word librarian? For me that image is of a conservative person (and truth be told always a woman). By conservative, I refer not to politics or ideology (I imagine librarians have always come in a variety of ideological flavors) but instead of one with a conservative sensibility or temperament which includes a certain respect for tradition and decorum. And, that makes sense (at least to me) for those who are charged with preserving and providing access to a significant portion of our cultural heritage. In recent years, however, that image is fading fast for me.
National Review’s John O’Sullivan
John O’Sullivan joins Whiskey Politics and generously covers many issues, starting with O’Sullivan’s Law: “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.” We discuss Trump’s UN speech, North Korea (#Dotard!), William F. Buckley, today’s National Review and those opposing Trump, Europe in the age of Trump, why the conservative Australian model for immigration works, the worldwide attacks on free speech, and should Google and Facebook be nationalized?
The Fifth Republic Must End
The presidential elections have come and gone in France. Legislative elections will come soon. I’ve made some dark remarks on events, but sparsely — I think it’s too early to talk about it in detail. Few now speaking seem to take the situation in France seriously enough. To me, it seems obvious that suffering and humiliations will multiply in France. I have seen much excellent coverage of the elections; I recommend John O’Sullivan in National Review. For people less concerned with the elections and more concerned with what’s happening in France, I recommend an essay by Chris Caldwell on French critics of the French governing classes. The best author to read is the wise Pierre Manent in a journal I recommend, American Affairs.
But our own @Claire Berlinski, whom I admire so much, said “Macron vanquished Le Pen.” The depth of futility in that statement — the desperate fantasy of that sentiment — the unbending silence it invokes — was too much for me. I decided to write against everything that stands for, what Manent calls “the fanaticism of the center.” I will warn of the coming disaster like the prophets did in previous ages.
The facts of the election
Let me begin in the American way, by stating the facts of the matter. Emmanuel Macron won some 20.7 million votes and defeated Marine Le Pen, who won 10.6 million. It was a 66-34 election. The LePen name, as well as the Front National party, are poisoned in France. To round out the voting, I’ll add that 4 million votes were blank or null. Add up the tallies, and that’s about 35.5 million votes total, or a turnout of 74.5%, in a country with a population of about 65 million.
Uncommon Knowledge: McFaul and O’Sullivan
Peter Robinson speaks with John O’Sullivan and Hoover Institution fellow Michael McFaul about the many problems Europe is facing, including an aggressive Russia, Brexit, NATO, and the asylum crisis in Germany. McFaul and O’Sullivan give their analysis of these problems and what it means for the future of Europe.