David P. Goldman is a senior editor of First Things.

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The Heidegger Puzzle

From First Thoughts

The recent publication of transcripts of Martin Heidegger’s 1934 Freiburg seminars on Being, the People and the State simply adds to the confusion over the philosopher’s relationship to Nazism. Michael Wyschogrod reviewed Emanuel Faye’s widely-read book on Heidegger in the March . . . . Continue Reading »

Misunderstood Jezebel

From First Thoughts

Poor Queen Jezebel, the misunderstood Phoenician feminist who fought for pluralism and Middle East peace against the narrow  nationalists of her time. Or so writes Janet Howe Gaines of the University of New Mexico  in the Biblical Archaeology Review, linked to this morning by Jewish Ideas . . . . Continue Reading »

How Are You Pronouncing “Pyrrhic”?

From First Thoughts

A degree of resignation over the gay marriage issue is evident from the conservative camp, marked by Matthew Lee Anderson’s exchange with Ross Douthat over how supporters of traditional marriage should respond. It seems likely that our side will lose, but in my view we should fight tooth and . . . . Continue Reading »

David Malpass’ Senate Campaign

From First Thoughts

I’ve known David Malpass for more than twenty years. He was a comrade-in-arms in the supply-side wing of the Republican party as an official at the Reagan Treasury Department, and later a colleague at Bear, Stearns (he was chief economist while I was fixed-income strategist).  He’s . . . . Continue Reading »

The Great Muslim Disconnect

From First Thoughts

My old business partner and mentor in supply-side economics, the late Jude Wanniski, used to say that the electorate is like a diamond: it looks cloudy, but if you cut it just right, all becomes clear. Think of “wedge” issues as a diamond-cutter’s chisel. Americans are tolerant . . . . Continue Reading »

The Publicly Employed and the Under-Employed

From Web Exclusives

Here’s a Rooseveltian way to address unemployment now at 1930s levels: Let’s create a National Infrastructure Corps to make urgently-needed repairs to roads and bridges, and put to work the disproportionately blue-collar army of unemployed. According to Shadow Government Statistics, a website that constructs alternate data measures, 22 percent of the workforce is under- or unemployed, right up there with the worst of the Great Depression… . Continue Reading »

Cherchez la Femme

From First Thoughts

A Google search turns up 75,000 hits for the search term “Michelle Antoinette.” That’s sub-viral, but still noteworthy. At the Huffington Post, one pundit denounces New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman for a “hit piece on First Lady Michelle Obama,” referring to . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Employment Disaster

From First Thoughts

The most important data point in this morning’s employment release—both for economics and politics—is the loss of 48,000 state and local government jobs. That almost wipes out the 71,000 increase in private employment. Because of the layoff of Census temporary workers, the headline . . . . Continue Reading »