LA Riots Reflect Failure of Progressive Leadership
The current unrest reflects a deeper dysfunction steadily eroding the city’s foundations.
Los Angeles has a long, combustible history — and it’s flaring up again. The current unrest, driven in part by political grievances, reflects a deeper dysfunction steadily eroding the city’s foundations. Once a cradle of conservatism and the political home of Ronald Reagan, LA has become a hub of resurgent radicalism, and, to many outside its borders, a symbol of why the country turned to a nativist strongman like Donald Trump.
Now, amid the chaos, there is talk that Trump might go beyond the National Guard and deploy the Marines. It’s a characteristically extreme move, but one that, for anyone familiar with LA’s history of protests spiralling into violence and tragedy (as I witnessed during my 40 years there), may not be entirely out of step with the city’s volatile reality.
Often migrants who come to LA find opportunity but also profound disappointment. African Americans who arrived in large numbers during the Thirties and Forties escaped the overt racism of the South, only to encounter a hostile police force and deeply discriminatory housing practices. Their disillusionment erupted in two of the most explosive racial uprisings in American history: the Watts riots in 1965 and the unrest following the Rodney King verdict in 1992.
Politics
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Liberal Democracy Reexamined: Leo Strauss on Alexis de Tocqueville
This article explores Leo Strauss’s thoughts on Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1954 “Natural Right” course transcript.
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Long Distance Migration as a Two-Step Sorting Process: The Resettlement of Californians in Texas
Here we press the question of whether the well-documented stream of migrants relocating from California to Texas has been sufficient to alter the political complexion of the destination state.
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Who's That Knocking? A Study of the Strategic Choices Facing Large-Scale Grassroots Canvassing Efforts
Although there is a consensus that personalized forms of campaign outreach are more likely to be effective at either mobilizing or even persuading voters, there remains uncertainty about how campaigns should implement get-out-the-vote (GOTV) programs, especially at a truly expansive scale.
Decadent Ideology, Decaying Fraternity
Richard Reinsch reviews Prosperity and Torment in France by Chantal Delsol.
DC and LA Failures Play Into Trump’s Hands
Although clearly violating America’s long-standing federalist principles, Trump’s incursions are being justified by the incompetence of most blue-city leaders.
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Michael Lucchese on Understanding Reagan's Conservatism and Buchanan's Populism
Michael Lucchese discusses Reagan's conservatism and the different path of Buchanan's populism.
Not-So-Beautiful Losers: How Conservatism Won the Cold War – and Lost the Peace
Buchanan's populism, unlike Reagan's appeals, wasn't anchored in the spiritual realities at the heart of the American Founding. Much of the same is evident in Buchanan's latter-day disciples.
