This interview was originally published on May 11, 2010. Andrew Breitbart died Thursday morning. He was 43. Tea Party Supporter and Media Critic Andrew Breitbart Andrew Breitbart is a conservative political commentator and the founder of an online media empire: Breitbart.com, breitbart.tv, Big Hollywood, Big Government, and Big Journalism. He has also worked for the … Read more
The moral implications of picking a career Senior spring is a wonderful time at Harvard. Theses are done, coursework is light, and the weather has (finally) improved. I have enjoyed senior spring tremendously since turning in my thesis, and I am confident that it will be my best semester yet. But one thing still troubles … Read more
The threat of Islamism in Turkey is overblown On Feb. 25, 2010, some 40 top Turkish military officers were arrested for allegedly plotting a coup against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (the AKP). The Islamic party had recently exacerbated its already strained relations with the military, which has long … Read more
A close election indicates a strengthening democratic process Iraq’s parliamentary elections in March prompted a 62 percent voter turnout, with 12 million Iraqis voting for the next leaders of their fledgling democracy. For a country that has recently been dominated by sectarian conflict, the sight of millions of Iraqis going to the polls in spite … Read more
Time is running out for the Mexican drug war Since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 promising to end Mexico’s illicit drug trade, more than 18,000 people have been killed, and the death toll rises every month. In Ciudad Juarez, a border city and a primary smuggling point to the United States, 2,600 people … Read more
Explaining the right-wing movement The Tea Party movement attracted a lot of attention with its vocal opposition to the Democratic health care legislation, but it took shape at the very beginning of the Obama presidency. It arose out of widespread libertarian and populist outrage over the federal government’s intervention in the economy. While opposing the … Read more
In Federalist No. 63, James Madison wrote that the defining principle of American democracy, as compared to Athenian democracy, “lies in the total exclusion of the people in their collective capacity.” But since Madison wrote those words, several direct-democratic institutions have been introduced into American politics. California became the first state to adopt a ballot-initiative … Read more
To combat obesity and improve America’s health, change the food industry More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years. For the first time since the Civil War, Americans’ life expectancy may be declining. These facts paint a depressing, and by now familiar, picture. After decades … Read more
The politics of an unpopular policy In 1993, President Bill Clinton pushed the last bill through Congress to increase the gas tax. Even this, however, was watered-down reform; the tax was not indexed to inflation and increased the price of gas by only 4.3 cents per gallon. The modesty of the increase should not be … Read more
Two sci-fi allegories provoke unjust criticism Avatar, directed by James Cameron, 20th Century Fox, 2009. District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp, TriStar Pictures, 2009. In a nationally televised speech in October 2002, President George W. Bush argued that toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime would bolster American security and win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi … Read more