In his latest column, Jonathan Rauch takes a serious look at Rick Santorum's intellectually serious new book and concludes that the conservative movement has officially blown apart: "As Goldwater repudiated Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, so Santorum repudiates Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. It's now official: Philosophically, the conservative movement has split. Post-Santorum, tax-cutting and court-bashing can hold the Republican coalition together for only so much longer."
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 02, 2005 • Comments
Meghan McArdle posts, and personally vouches for, an example of the type of grassroots relief, outside the major cities, that recovery from Katrina will take lots of. More info, and a PayPal link, here.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 02, 2005 • Comments
In response to my comment below (or, more accurately, to InstaPundit's quoting it) about donations to help refugees cover their rent, Steve Ely writes:
As Michele Catalano noted on A Small Victory, Kevin and Paul from Wizbang are doing essentially that. They've got a PayPal button, Paul's in the thick of it , and donations cover his family, yes, but especially those around them worse off. Much more detailed post from him here.
I gave, and I appreciate the PayPal button. I wish more organized charities would use PayPal.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 01, 2005 • Comments
Since Katrina refugees need the sort of immediate relief and infrastructure (i.e., food and beds) it can provide, I sent money to the Red Cross. It may have lost some credibility post-9/11, but this crisis, unlike that one, plays to the organization's strengths.
On a local note, the North Texas Food Bank needs money to feed Katrina refugees in the Dallas area.
What refugees are going to need is help getting settled in new places to live: first and last month's rent, furniture, etc. (Right now, I wish someone would find a fund to pay for hotel rooms. I'd donate.) Tens of thousands, perhaps more, of the poorest people in America--people with few connections outside their local area--have lost everything. And then there are the "lucky" ones, who at least have family elsewhere and some insurance.
InstaPundit's comprehensive list of bloggers' links is here.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 01, 2005 • Comments
It's not just the Astrodome. Other Texas cities, including Beaumont and Dallas, are turning their sports stadiums and concert venues into refugee camps. Since no one expects the refugees to leave anytime soon, they're also preparing to enroll kids who've fled Katrina in local schools. Here's the Dallas Morning News report:
The first Hurricane Katrina refugees arrived Wednesday afternoon at the newly opened Reunion Arena, wondering about how to educate their kids, how they'll survive without money and when they'll get to go home....
The American Red Cross in Dallas had opened two smaller shelters to house about 400 people, but Reunion will offer a consolidated location with more space. "This way we will be able to provide them a more comfortable place and take good care of them," said Anita Foster, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross.
On Wednesday, the Red Cross was organizing the arena floor into sleeping quarters, a kitchen and dining area. The shelter will provide food, bedding, diapers, baby formula and hygiene products, Foster said....
Foster said it was difficult to predict how many people the agency would serve, but she suspected that many families who were in area motels would be heading to Reunion.
"Essentially the money is going to run out and they're going to come here. They have to because they can't go home," she said....
Texas public schools are opening their doors to Hurricane Katrina refugees. 'We will do everything we can to welcome these students and return some form of stability to the lives of these youngsters,' Commissioner of Education Shirley J. Neeley said.
UPDATE: The DMN has a slideshow here, on refugees in North Texas.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on August 31, 2005 • Comments
I must admit that New Orleans has long been my least favorite American city--dirty, inefficient, rundown, corrupt, not very friendly, and way too popular with people organizing conferences. It seemed like a good place for people who wanted to get drunk, eat crustaceans, or listen to jazz, all pursuits of no interest to me.
Nonetheless, I find Katrina's devastation overwhelmingly sad and hard to get my mind around. The idea that a major American city could essentially vanish in a natural disaster is simply hard to accept. But the obituaries are beginning. Here's Robert Parker on TNR and Josh Levin on Slate, both writers with strong ties to the city.
Will a city already struggling to justify its economic existence be rebuilt? Can it be? The debate has started on D Magazine's FrontBurner blog. To summarize: They rebuilt Galveston. But they didn't rebuild Pompeii.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on August 31, 2005 • Comments
InstaPundit has a list of places to send aid.
On TV, I like the Weather Channel's coverage, which also looks good online, including a good use of blogs to solicit and convey information.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on August 30, 2005 • Comments
Almost exactly six years ago, I gave this speech to a regional meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society. The theme of the conference was "creeping socialism." I argued that socialism was not the biggest threat to liberty today and that fighting old, familiar battles was a serious mistake.
Although the speech got thunderous applause, one audience member absolutely hated it and let me know in no uncertain terms. Vaclav Klaus scornfully told me what I was saying was no different from socialism in the guise of a "third way." Socialism was in fact the biggest threat to liberty, and it was wrong (and, his tone suggested, stupid and evil) to suggest otherwise. He wasn't looking for an argument, as far as I could tell, just a chance to put an obscure young lady in her place.
Well, now he's apparently come around--at the Mont Pelerin Society meeting, no less. Turns out old-style socialism is not, in fact, the biggest threat to liberty in the 21st century. Turns out it's not heretical to say we shouldn't fight old battles--at least if you're Vaclav Klaus. Gee.
His analysis isn't as clear as mine (nor can it accommodate Islamicism, which is a virulent form of reactionary stasis). But at least he's finally grasped the general point. Better six years late than never.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on August 30, 2005 • Comments
The WaPost's Peter Carlson marks the 10th anniversary of The Weekly Standard with an jocular article focused on the magazine's contents and influence. He misses, however, one of the Standard's most important effects: Lighting a fire under National Review, which had grown moribund.
Today NR has reclaimed its position as the leading conservative magazine and is far more influential online than either the Standard or the once-mighty New Republic (which is getting lapped online by liberal competitors The Washington Monthly and The American Prospect). Even in the decidedly unprofitable world of think magazines, there's nothing like competition to spur improvements.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on August 30, 2005 • Comments
Jerry Flint of Forbes, who has forgotten more about the auto industry than I'll ever know, offers his assessment of Detroit's current prospects. Read the column for the details. Here's the basic conclusion:
In the good old days, car companies lost money only in bad times. Today, the losses are coming with near-record industry sales every year. The Detroit companies just emptied the inventory bank, but it required huge price cuts over the summer. It's hard to make a big profit that way....
What is happening now is another reminder that GM and Ford won't get more money per car until their vehicles are so desirable that people are willing to pay top dollar and factory capacity is trimmed to match demand for such vehicles.
The leading foreign manufacturers, Toyota Motor (nyse: TM - news - people ), Honda Motor (nyse: HMC - news - people ) and BMW--Chrysler is based in Stuttgart, Germany, but its Chrysler division is American--get higher prices for their cars and trucks and give away much less in incentives. So far, these manufacturers are running most of their plants at high-capacity levels, despite the giveaway prices of the competition.
I do wish he'd written more about Chryler, which he calls "the one bright spot among the traditional 'Big Three,'" and what GM and Ford might learn from it. (That's another column perhaps.) Chrysler is in fact producing distinctive-looking cars, including the gorgeous Crossfire. One of my Dallas neighbors is kind enough to keep a red Crossfire parked in front of our building much of the time, giving us a new kind of public art.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on August 30, 2005 • Comments