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Argues that the Republican Party should turn to constitutional conservatism as a framework for addressing current challenges that will appeal to social (formerly called traditional) & libertarian conservatives, a voting bloc necessary for a Republican revival. A look at the need to moderate the tension between tradition & liberty, draws on Edmund Burke & examines his clash with the French revolutionaries, asserting that Burke preserved liberty against the extravagance of the revolutionaries claims by championing traditions claims. It is contended that conserving a constitutional system devoted to liberty adds to the challenge of properly balancing tradition & liberty; however, the progress of freedom requires constitutional conservatism to do just that. The reemergence of constitutional conservatism & contention between social & liberal conservatives in the US conservative movement birthed in the 1950s, are discussed, outlining the views of key US conservatives Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Jr., & Frank S. Meyer. Constitutional conservatisms evolution since the 1960s is then traced, examining the ideas & actions of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, & George W. Bush. It is maintained that a conservative renewal requires that liberatarian conservatives accept that big government is here to stay & social conservatives come to grips with the sexual revolution. In this light, an agenda for constitutional conservatism is presented. D. Edelman

A review essay on a book by Denis Dutton, The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution (Bloomsbury Press).

A review essay on a book by Steven F. Hayward, The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution 1980-1989 (Crown Forum, 2009).

Argues against the loss of stature of Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan in academic circles & for reading the masterpiece on its own terms to discover not only Hobbes's agenda but the texts contemporary relevance. It is contended that Hobbes challenges current perspectives on morals & politics while also complimenting current views on the liberal state. The importance of historical context for understanding Hobbes is considered, & while not dismissing the contextualist approach, prioritizing context is seen as a way to cloud understanding of Hobbes's political philosophy. The enduring quality of Hobbess contribution to the permanent debate on the human condition is explained, detailing his thinking on the relationship between nature & human nature & the desirability of peace. His work on the principles of a properly constructed commonwealth, which includes various tasks of contemporary relevance: laying the foundation for natural freedom & equality discovered in the humbleness of human nature; analyzing the laws of nature, the virtues, & their connection; & identifying the sources & limits of sovereignty. In closing the ambiguities & tensions throughout Leviathan are acknowledged in a positive light as common to all political masterworks. D. Edelman

Of course, contrary to Said, the premise that informs Lewis's and Ajami's writings on American foreign policy and undergirds Bush administration democracy promotion efforts is that Arabs and Muslims are not lesser peoples but full members of the human family, equal in rights and as deserving as any other people of living in freedom and dignity.\n In Part II, he identifies rationalism, universalism, and self-criticism as 'the tutelary guiding lights of, or the three golden threads running through, Western civilization.'.

In the context of the election of Barack Obama to the US presidency, the excesses of the US left, which are seen to distort the genuine progressive spirit, are examined in terms of the "pathologies" exhibited in the European left. To shed light on the "dangerous impulses, sentiments, and opinions" that the US left is harboring, attention is given to Bernard-Henri Levy's critique of the European left as presented in Left in Dark Times: A Stand against the New Barbarism (2008). Six key characteristics of the European left are identified, &, ultimately, Levy states that the European left is decrepit owing to a crisis of "the Universal" wherein belief in a shared human nature & universal moral & political principles has disintegrated. Levy is then criticized for three misunderstandings related to conservatism, atheism, & the modern liberal tradition that prevent him from offering solutions to the left's malady. The implications of progressive control of the US executive & legislative branches are touched on in this light. D. Edelman