Speaking of global warming, The Scrapbook could have used a little more of it this winter. Meanwhile we’ve been bundling up against the cold and curling up next to the fireplace with our favorite new book, Jay Cost’s A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption. If you read Jay’s essay in these pages two weeks ago, “Stop the Rot,” you’ll know that he has homed in on a critical issue that transcends the headlines: the deep corruption that is undermining our political system. As Jay writes in the book, “The institutions the Framers created were competent to handle responsibly the -powers they assigned them; Americans since then have added extra -powers under the false assumption that the same institutions could handle the extra load responsibly. But they -cannot, and so the government now –behaves irresponsibly. This produces corruption.”
The book not only tackles an issue of the utmost importance, it’s also a great read. As The Scrapbook’s boss put it in his weekly Kristol Clear newsletter:
Make haste to your favorite bookseller! (And while you’re at it, if you haven’t already done so, sign up for Kristol Clear by clicking here.)
