| | Your weekly newsletter direct from the keyboard of Bill Kristol, featuring timely observations and reflections. | |
| Back to Politics Well, the World Series is over—and a heck of a series it was. Three of the last four fall classics (those of 2014, 2016, and 2017) have in fact been classics—dramatic seven-game series with some truly memorable games and stirring individual performances. As I've said before, there seems to have been over the last year or two an inverse correlation between sports in America—which have featured terrific seasons and championship games in all the major sports—and politics in America, which have been less inspiring. Maybe it will reverse? In any case, it should be perfectly obvious by now to all that baseball is the best sport. Feel free, of course, in the spirit of civil discourse, to disagree with that statement—but if you do, know you're wrong. I gather from my colleague Jim Swift, who took a quick break from changing the twins' diapers (if you haven't seen his amusing parenting tweet-storm on Twitter, here it is) to review the submissions to our World Series contest, that not one but two of you predicted the Astros over the Dodgers in seven games. Jim will be in touch 1) to see if you'd like the glory of being named, which I'd be happy to do in next week's newsletter, and 2) to arrange delivery of your much-anticipated prizes. But now that the Series is over, and Harvard football isn't having a great season, I guess I'm going to have to get back to paying attention to politics. And much as I love baseball and like other sports, I'd be okay with some boring sports seasons over the next few years in return for our politics improving. Speaking of politics, it's actually been a pretty busy couple of week for me, busy enough that I had to miss parts of some of the Series games and watch others in hotel rooms. The sacrifices we make... The week before last featured the annual dinner of the American Enterprise Institute, a fun and interesting affair (despite being black tie) in which I played a bit part and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the recipient of the Irving Kristol award, gave a very fine speech. Among many other things, he distinguished patriotism from nationalism and warned of the dangers of a politics based on anger and resentment. You can watch the whole thing here, if you'd like. And a transcript of Rabbi Sacks's speech is here. * * * ADVERTISEMENT * * * This past Friday night I was the keynote speaker at a very nice (and non-black-tie!) dinner in Salt Lake City. It was the annual gala of the Utah conservative state-based think-tank, the Sutherland Institute, and featured terrific singing by the One Voice Children's Choir, and a performance by the country music songwriter Jimmy Yeary. I was one of four speakers—and we still got through by 9:15 p.m. They're very efficient out in Utah. I made the case for the continued relevance of conservative principles and policies, pointing out that they've (mostly) been vindicated over the past decades—and, I argued, if properly adjusted to new circumstances, they remain the best way forward for our liberal democracy. You can read press accounts of the event, if you wish, in the Salt Lake Tribune and an interview I did with the Deseret News. While I was in Salt Lake City, I also had a chance to visit Utah Valley University, where its president, Matt Holland, showed me their quite amazing "Roots of Knowledge" stained glass panorama (take a virtual look here). It's impressive. And speaking of impressive, I spent some time with Mitt Romney, who's very engaged in following current developments, and who, if Orrin Hatch does chose to retire, I think may run for the Senate. He'd be a good voice to have in the mix in Washington. Speaking of voices, Jonah Goldberg's is one of the wittiest and most intelligent on the scene today. Here's a new Conversation with him in which we discuss how the first year of the Trump presidency has affected American politics in general and conservatism in particular. We also reflect on the history of the conservative movement and consider the prospects for American conservatism in the years to come. Jonah's always interesting, and this conversation is no exception. If you're going to be in Washington soon, do visit Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting exhibit at the National Gallery. It's the exhibit we were so impressed by in Dublin, and as a warm-up you'll want to re-read Paul Cantor's very interesting review essay in TWS. I'm off to London tonight for just a few days, courtesy of the Pinsker Centre, an association of postgraduate students which seeks to educate about Israel and the Middle East at British universities. I'll be lecturing on American foreign policy and the Middle East at Cambridge, Oxford and King's College. I trust my pro-American, pro-Israel message will be very warmly received! I'll report next week. Final point: If you missed this article about the alt-right, and why it is, not to put too fine a point on it, genuinely loathsome—do read it. I think you'll see why some of us think it's so important to fight these forces and defeat them. Do take a look. * * * Onward. Bill Kristol * * * |
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