I tried. I tried so hard. You’ve gotta believe me when I tell you how I tried and tried to finish Ayn Rand’s oversize chronicle of obsessive-compulsive capitalism, Atlas Shrugged,…
Political Culture
101 Articles
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Here’s the thing about reading Ayn Rand: She forces you to think the way she does. Once you’ve immersed yourself in her black-and-white worldview — and once you’ve adjusted your…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
When I was a senior in college, instead of prepping for a career as a Rand-ian Master of the Universe with high-level courses in economics or engineering, I chose a…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
A homework pass to the first commenter who can identify what inspired this column’s headline — without resorting to the Google (honor system!) — and can tell us why The…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Objectivism is back, baby! Don’t take my word for it — just check out this cover of the libertarian monthly Reason, which offers up a freaky old Audrey Hepburn-meets-the-wicked-witch photo…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
It was such a simpler time, that summer of 2001. Remember it? That last season of America’s (cyclical) innocence shimmers in the memory, sorta like those gauzy images of lovebirds…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Ever since Al Franken parked his rear end in the Democrats’ 60th U.S. Senate seat, the conventional wisdom has held that no matter how much of a fuss the Republicans…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
We may not have John Edwards to kick around anymore — though that hasn’t stopped us from putting the occasional boot into his backside, has it? — but he did…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Now hereÁ¢€â„¢s a fast-moving story: Just a week ago, word leaked that Rush Limbaugh was part of an ownership group hoping to bid on the woebegone St. Louis Rams. Within…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Can liberals and conservatives still see the best in one another, or is intelligent political discourse a thing of the past? Jon Cummings combs through his inbox in search of an answer.
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Michael Moore has a new movie out, and you might assume that a proud liberal like Jon Cummings might be filled with rapturous praise for it…but you’d be wrong.
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
The words were spoken in London, casually, almost flippantly, and were directed at an audience that was sure to treat them in the spirit they were intended. It was not…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Was Ted the best and bravest of the Kennedys? In his latest Political Culture, Jon Cummings looks back at the Lion’s life and times.
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Jon Cummings thought the right wing would smooth down its fringe feathers after the ’08 election. Snake eyes on that roll, Jon!
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
I must admit, I had thought the days were over when Republicans could scare the bejeezus out of the citizenry (and force acquiescence from lily-livered Democrats) with bullshit tricks like…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
When the long-awaited, religiously incendiary sequel to The Da Vinci Code arrives in theaters and the anticipated uproar is reduced to a low roar, you know itÁ¢€â„¢s gotta be a…
Jon Cummings
7 Min Read
Any time now Á¢€” maybe even during the too-few moments between my pressing Á¢€Å“submitÁ¢€ and this column going live Á¢€” President Obama is going to announce his appointee to replace…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The Republican PartyÁ¢€â„¢s annus became considerably more horribilis this week, with Arlen Specter switching parties, President Obama taking what amounted to a 100-days victory lap (despite the economyÁ¢€â„¢s continuing decline),…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
It may be that only an event like this could have propped up that downward-spiraling phenomenon, the beauty pageant: An out-and-proud celebrity gossip-monger asking a comely Californian how she feels…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Have right-wing evangelicals won their last battle? Maybe not, but Jon Cummings thinks it’ll take them more than three days to resurrect their political fortunes.
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Those clunky translation earpieces were nowhere to be found last Thursday night in the United Nations General Assembly, as a multinational assemblage of talent and star power filled the great…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The original, furiously populist theme of this column, as I envisioned it last weekend, was Á¢€Å“Nationalize the Banks, Now!Á¢€ Well, as of Monday that was taken care of, so, moving…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
ItÁ¢€™s been a giggle this week watching Democrats paint Rush Limbaugh as the Á¢€Å“bloated, drug-addledÁ¢€ head of the Republican Party, as Paul Begala put it the other day. ItÁ¢€™s been…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The last couple weeks have served as a brilliant, if butt-ugly, reminder that governance should be judged not on the back and forth of day-to-day events, but on outcomes. When…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Like most people I know, my favorite feature in Us Weekly is the Á¢€Å“Stars — TheyÁ¢€â„¢re Just Like Us!Á¢€ spread. You know, Brad Pitt with his fly down, Ryan Phillippe…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
As of last night, absolutely nothinÁ¢€â„¢. (Legislatively speaking, at least.) But you gotta give Barack Obama points for trying. Presidents donÁ¢€â„¢t often do what Obama did on Tuesday. A week…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Á¢€Å“Tomorrow is some shit, people,Á¢€ Adam Yauch declared matter-of-factly Monday night, after searching for an appropriate way to close out the Beastie BoysÁ¢€â„¢ fearsome inaugural-eve Rock the Vote gig in…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Sometime in the early afternoon next Tuesday Á¢€” after Barack Obama takes the oath of office, and before the new President and First Lady take the traditional stroll up Pennsylvania…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
We white folks are feeling pretty good about ourselves these days. And why not? A couple months ago, almost half of us voted to put a black guy into what…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
Á¢€Å“Eighty percent of success in life is just showing up.Á¢€ Á¢€” Woody Allen For a few years there Á¢€” as George Bush “won” a pair of shady elections and then…