P. J. O’Rourke – American Consequences

August 2019

Smarty Pants and Other Smart Devices

By P.J. O’Rourke I’m an ordinary middle-American old married man. I’m used to everybody being smarter than me. Major media outlets are full of reporting and editorials about how stupid my political, social, and cultural ideas are. I long ago...

P. J. O’Rourke

August 2019

A Brief History of How Communication Devolved

By P.J. O’Rourke If there be e-volution, there surely is de-volution, a degradation of the species. – H.S. Carpenter, 1882 They tell us that We lost our tails Evolving up From little snails I say it’s all Just wind in sails – Devo, 1977 The...

P. J. O’Rourke

August 2019

Shut the F%$K Up

Whose Bright Idea Was It To Make Sure That Every Idiot In the World Was in Touch With Every Other Idiot? Letter from the Editor: Editor in Chief P.J. O’Rourke Social media comes in for a lot of criticism… The big corporations who operate...

P. J. O’Rourke

July 2019

Patriotism Versus Nationalism

Patriotism is a warm and personal business. Nationalism is another business entirely. Letter from the Editor: Editor in Chief P.J. O’Rourke The difference between patriotism and nationalism is the difference between the love a father has for his...

P. J. O’Rourke

July 2019

Go To Your Happy Place

The Unalienable Purpose of America By P.J. O’Rourke Other nations are founded on battle, blood, territory, nationality, culture, and language. Not America… We’re founded on happiness. It’s right there in America’s IPO, in the first sentence of...

P. J. O’Rourke

July 2019

Oh Beautiful For…

Some Expected Things By P.J. O’Rourke Three things I like about America are fast food, suburban sprawl, and traffic jams. No, I’m not writing this from the mental health facility where my family has sent me to get some “rest.” Not that I couldn’t...

P. J. O’Rourke

June 2019

Toledo, Ohio

A Lesson in Successful Failure By P.J. O’Rourke “Toledo… the germ of a second Buffalo.” Pierre Irving, nephew of Washington Irving and an early Toledo land speculator, in an 1836 letter to a friend. America’s exceptionalism lies not in its...

P. J. O’Rourke

June 2019

Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction

Letter from the Editor: Editor in Chief P.J. O’Rourke The amazing thing about free-market capitalism is that it gets rid of stuff that doesn’t work. You say, “Amazing? When stuff doesn’t work, of course you get rid of it!” If you’ve got a washing...

P. J. O’Rourke

May 2019

Is a Libertarian Foreign Policy Even Possible?

The “Powell Doctrine” Gives Us a Clue By P.J. O’Rourke As someone who subscribes to the principles of libertarianism, I have a problem with foreign policy. Libertarian philosophy is based on individual freedom and responsibility. Yet...

P. J. O’Rourke

May 2019

Negative Rights vs. Positive Rights

It’s Positively Confusing By P.J. O’Rourke There’s a reason why so much political thinking starts out in the neighborhood of Idealism, crosses Naive Street, and winds up in Stupidville. The reason is confusion between negative rights and positive...

P. J. O’Rourke