In my latest National Post column I argue that there's no progress on the East Coast aboriginal fishery, and the rule of law is breaking down, because too many politicians and judges genuinely believe they can give stuff away to some people while keeping it for others.
In my latest National Post column I urge Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau to get out of hot water on taxes by simplifying the system dramatically because economically smart policy is also politically smart policy here.
"Vestigial remains of that Victorianism are everywhere around us. And memories of them persist even when the realities are gone, rather like an amputated limb that still seems to throb when the weather is bad. The sense of values lost may be as palpable as the values we do have."
Gertrude Himmelfarb, The De-moralization of Society
In my latest National Post column I explain why the federal LIberals' "sunny ways", and progressives' penchant for "compassionate" improvisation generally, are divisive and leave people feeling cheated.
"Many persons in these days wish to retain the morality which they like, after getting rid of the religion which they disbelieve. Whether they are right or wrong in disturbing the foundation, they are inconsistent in wishing to save the superstructure."
James Fitzjames Stephen in Liberty Equality Fraternity
"Should a traveller give an account of men who were entirely divested of avarice, ambition, and revenge; who knew no pleasure but friendship, generosity, and public spirit, we should immediately detect the falsehood and prove him a liar with the same certitude as if he had stuffed his narration with centaurs and dragons."
David Hume in 1772, quoted by Robert Ardrey in The Territorial Imperative
"I never, as it happens, come across a hospital or orphanage run by the Fabian Society or a Humanist leper colony."
Malcolm Muggeridge Observer (1968) in Ian Hunter, ed., The Very Best of Malcolm Muggeridge
In my latest National Post column I say the strong showing of the allegedly "far right" Alternative für Deutschland in the German election means you must either call one in eight German voters a neo-Nazi or concede that many normal people are deeply dissatisfied with politics as usual nowadays.