Weekly Roundup and Andrew Roberts on The Decline and Fall of American Imperium

Dear Readers,

This week, we’re proud to present British historian Andrew Roberts on the decline and fall of American imperium, the sociopolitical effects of this hegemonic reconfiguring, and whether the fall of the United States is, indeed, inevitable.

In addition, we have Joel Kotkin on the importance of work, and Brian Stewart also brings us a prescient piece on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson.

Thank you, as always, for your support which makes our work possible.

—Claire

The Decline of American Empire: A Kübler-Ross Cycle Analysis

How will the United States react domestically should she be dislodged from her role of global top-dog power by China? As well as the obvious economic and strategic ramifications of an end to American imperium, there will be profound emotional and psychological effects on a society that has taken its

QuilletteAndrew Roberts

Standards-Based Grading Will Ruin Education

This school year, a number of districts across the US decided to eliminate penalties for late assignments and allow multiple retakes for assessments. A recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times argues that these reforms will help teachers to evaluate “the skills and knowledge students gained and how…

QuilletteAuguste Meyrat

George Makari’s ‘Of Fear and Strangers’—A Review

French conservative radio host Éric Zemmour is mounting a presidential run, seeking to steal the mantle of right-wing populism from Marine Le Pen. Not only does the 63-year-old firebrand want to limit the number of immigrants who can come to France—a standard campaign promise for politicians of this…

QuilletteZaid Jilani

What a Free Republic Owes Thomas Jefferson

Late in his life, John Adams sent a letter to his great political rival Thomas Jefferson in which he wrote, “You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.” Adams must have understood Jefferson by the end, because on the 50th anniversary of the

QuilletteBrian Stewart

Outback Australia and the Information Wars

For several years now, David Cole has been a minor celebrity in the Northern Territory of Australia on account of his colorful conspiracy theories. While few people take anything he has to say seriously, many of us in the Territory enjoy wondering what he’s going to come up with

QuilletteMatthew Blackwell

Troll Exposure

Hell hath no fury like a trolled daughter’s father: When multiple media houses and friends of friends from far overseas approach me and my family over a devastating, soul-destroying, career-ending lie, then the time of any person to act has arrived. It’s time to protect your daughter and

QuilletteSean Welsh

Work or Welfare?

If a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists. ~Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968) Throughout history, work has been the common lot of humanity—at least, outside of the idle rich

QuilletteJoel Kotkin

Quillette Circle Comment of the Week

Work or Welfare?

If a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists. ~Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968) Throughout history, work has been the common lot of humanity—at least, outside of the idle rich and those who could no…

Quillette Circlequillette

DNY:
The assumption that a UBI would need to be paid for with higher taxes is ill-founded. Adding a UBI as an additional government poverty alleviation program would need to be paid for with higher taxes, esp. on the middle class. However, Charles Murray has run the numbers are shown that replacing all of the United States’s current poverty alleviation program with a UBI would be cheaper than what we do now. His UBI would be $1000/month per adult citizen or permanent resident plus a subvention to pay for a catastrophic health insurance policy.

The idea for his program comes not from anyone on the Left, but from one of the harshest critics of socialism, Frederich Hayek, who held that a UBI was the only poverty alleviation program that did not create distortions in the labor market, while allowing a state role in provision of health insurance – not pre-paid healthcare, medical insurance so catastrophic illness or injury will not bankrupt anyone – since people by and large do not rationally provide against low-incidence catastrophic events.

The point is that a UBI pays people whether they work or not, while our current means-tested poverty alleviation programs effectively pay people not to work, since entering the formal work force leads to loss of benefits, effectively a confiscatory tax on the first income earned.

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