NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: Matters of Life and Death
Regnery, Alfred S.
OW OFTEN HAVE WE HEARD thattheWest,especially Western Europe, has a demographic problem? So few babies are being born, we're told, thattherewon'tbeenoughpeopletopayforthe pensions,...
...The free market at work, one might say...
...We at TAS, by the way, take delight when Scruton's piece arrives each month...
...Emanuel's account of a rooftop siege in Samarra, what the likes of MoveOn.org and their liberal accomplices in the Congress would think on reading it...
...Just not cleverly enough...
...Europe has, after all, far too many people who consume too much of everything, and who are turning the whole place into one massive shopping center connected by endless concrete Autobahns and dual carriageways...
...The irrepressible Bob Novak finds little to recommend in Alan Greenspan's memoir,perhapslargelybecausehejustcannotstomach (and rightfully so) Greenspan's admiration for Bill Clinton...
...Not much better treatment is given to Jonathan Chait, a youngish senior editor of the liberalNewRepublic,whosecrackpotbookonsupply-side economics is demolished by TAS economics editor Brian Wesbury...
...One must assume they probably do not read such things...
...A declining birth rate, in itself, is not necessarily a bad thing and in fact may be beneficial...
...Let me addtoothatheisafinepianist.HeandI,whennotdiscussing The American Spectator, often spend our Sundayeveningsplayingpiano-violasonatas...
...But TAS readers, regardless of what they think of our efforts in Iraq, will be captivated by Mr.Emanuel'smovingsagaofAmericanheroism.by Alfred S. Regnery N O T EF R O MT H EP U B L I S H E R 6 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 MattersofLifeandDeath H...
...Chait is one of those lefties who insists they are moderates, but who still cannot quite believethereisanyalternativetoNewDealliberalism and the old economic order of big spenders and high taxes.Supply-side,whichistrulyoneofthemostsuccessful conservative concepts of the last 50 years, is not only a good idea, but has been proven again and againtowork--asWesburypointsout,taxreceiptsare higher than they have been in years but taxes are lower, and the economic engine created by the lower tax rates chugs along unabated...
...Never dull, never predictable, he has added a great dimension to the magazine...
...Butpopulation,saysTAScontributingeditorand columnist Roger Scruton, is not the problem at all...
...We welcome to our print pages the fine reporting andwritingofJeffEmanuel,recentlyembeddedonthe front and a veteran of Iraq combat, who captures, in vivid detail, the competence, bravery, and valor of the youngtroopsfightingthere.Onecannothelpbutwonder, as one reads Mr...
...TherealEuropeanproblemisthewelfarestate--no surprisetoAmericanconservatives--anditspropensity toteachallthewronglessonsandprovideallthewrong incentives.Itisreallyasortofsupply-sideissue,afterall: It is not that Europe is spawning too few young people topayalltheoldpeoples'bills.Itissimplythatthebills are too big, as they always are in a welfare state...
...So few babies are being born, we're told, thattherewon'tbeenoughpeopletopayforthe pensions, healthcare, and other benefits of the aging population, not to mention covering the wagesofpublicemployeessonecessarytokeepingall those state-managed functions going...
...Scruton, whodivideshistimebetweenVirginia'ssparselypopulated Blue Ridge and overpopulated rural England, concludesthattheEuropeanshavecollectivelydecided that there are, simply put, enough people there alreadyandthushaveputthebrakesonreproduction...
...A good liberal can thus only ignore the facts and call his opponents names,which,Wesburytellsus,Chaitdoesquitecleverly...
...Readers should pay particular attention to our book coverage this month...
Vol. 40 • November 2007 • No. 9
