James Kalb

The recently revised New York City Health Department form for parents requesting birth certificates asks the “woman giving birth” whether she is female or male. The question is obviously absurd. But why do absurdities of this sort keep popping up? And why do most people fall in line, . . . . Continue Reading »

Why has the equivalence of same-sex and opposite-sex relations suddenly become a moral and social absolute? That it has is plain to see. In the Supreme Court’s recent ­Windsor decision, which struck down much of the federal Defense of ­Marriage Act, the majority found that the only reason for . . . . Continue Reading »

On Tolerance: ? A Defence of Moral Independence by Frank Furedi Continuum, 224 pages, $22.95 The independent-minded British sociologist Frank Furedi has variously been a self-proclaimed revolutionary communist and a libertarian public intellectual. The last has led him to write On Tolerance , a . . . . Continue Reading »

The Conservative Foundations of the Liberal Order: Defending Democracy Against Its Modern Enemies and Immoderate Friends by Daniel J. Mahoney ISI, 240 pages, $26.95 How do you moderate and preserve a liberal order? The question is not an easy one, because the principle of equal freedom tends to . . . . Continue Reading »