Asymptosis: Always Approaching

Category: Rhetoric

  • The Problem with “Socialism”

    As an attack term, “socialism” packs a lot of wallop. But that’s mainly because it’s used to attack things that aren’t actually socialism. Socialism, defined: “various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production.” But when attackers go after “socialistic” policies, they’re usually imprecating against something…

  • Best Line of the Week: Not-So-True Conservatives

    Okay, so the week happened to be more than two years ago. But it’s the best line of my week: The old formulation defined conservatism as the desire to protect traditional values from the intrusion of big government; the new one seeks to promote traditional values through the intrusion of big government. Related posts: Keynes:…

  • True Conservative Values, and Torture

    In my earlier post I didn’t give Jim Manzi sufficient credit. He argues that a systematic government policy of torture (as distinguished from the torturous acts that Americans have engaged in over the centuries) is 1. a radical break with American tradition, and 2. because of 1, is quite possibly (I would say definitely) damaging…

  • Gaming McCain’s Game

    Some people think the McCain bailout/debate maneuvering has positioned him to trap Obama: McCain's way out? – First Read – msnbc.com. So what if McCain shows up and tonight and says, ""I'm sorry I couldn't sign on to this Washington-Wall Street plan that I worried was putting an even bigger burden on taxpayers than this…

  • More Great Minds: Lincoln on “Conservatives”

    From the Cooper Union speech. Emphasis mine. “But you say you are conservative – eminently conservative – while we are revolutionary, destructive, or something of the sort. What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried? We stick to, contend for, the identical old policy on the…

  • WSJ: Obama, like Reagan, “changes the trajectory”

    Barack Obama caught all sorts of grief from small-minded lefties when he said that Reagan “changed the trajectory” of America, and that Clinton didn’t. That was actually a serious understatement. When Clinton announced in his 1994 State of the Union that "the era of big government is over" (and then repeated it later in the…

  • Admitting I’m Wrong: “Insurgents”

    If there’s one thing I admire, it’s people who are willing to acknowledge when they’re wrong. In that spirit, I must concede my sister’s point: "Insurgent" comes from roots meaning "rising up," not my assumed meaning of "surging in." Dictionary.com definitions for "insurgent" So, it’s a perfectly accurate word to describe the anti-American (and quite…

  • Why Are They Called Insurgents?

    The single most successful piece of Rove-spin, ever, has been the promulgation of the word "insurgents." Everyone uses this word, competely thoughtlessly, and so the pervasive sense is that these people are "surging in" from some unspecified outside place. Aren’t we the insurgents? Make it stop! Most of the attacks against the US-led forces in…

  • How Dare They Call Themselves Conservatives?

    If this blog has any purpose beyond the typical one (nourishing the cherished personal delusion that other people might actually be interested in what I have to say), it’s spin–crafting a coherent rhetoric that can convince reasonable "conservatives" to come over, to support traditional American progressive values, programs, and policies. I am not the person…