P. J. O’Rourke – Page 2 – American Consequences

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

May 2019

It’s The End of the World

Goodbye to Classical Liberalism… Letter from the Editor: Editor in Chief P.J. O’Rourke People are always saying this… especially people my age. Marcus Tullius Cicero, born in 106 B.C. and therefore even older than I am, is famous for his...

P. J. O’Rourke

April 2019

Trick Quiz

By P.J. O’Rourke For 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates Where Will the Money Come From? The big, unruly crowd of would-be Democratic presidential candidates is engaged in a free-for-all. Literally. They’re fighting to see who can promise the...

P. J. O’Rourke

April 2019

Committee Brain

Why Government Doesn’t Work, No Matter Who Runs It By P.J. O’Rourke Lesson II The other reason government will always malfunction – besides the logical impossibility of sensible spending – has to do with a politician’s brain. “What brain...

P. J. O’Rourke