Greatness

So, I got to meet these guys: That's Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie from Reason magazine, and on Tuesday night they were at a book signing event sponsored by the Heartland Institute at Jaks Tap in Chicago to promote their new book The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America. (I reviewed part of the book here). I must … [Read more...] about Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie

"American Superhero" is what Congressman Tom Latham just called Norman Borlaug in explaining why he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. As I explained in a post last year, Borlaug is arguably the greatest American. His Green Revolution improved the efficiency of world-wide agriculture and saved a lot of people from starvation. Just how many people were saved is hard to … [Read more...] about American Superhero

Over on Hit & Run, they're discussing in the comments the comparative merits of Survivor, The Sopranos, and Six Feet Under. Which of these will future art historians most admire? Which of these television shows will future historians look back on as our Madame Bovary, as our Moby Dick? I say none of them. A hundred years from now, historians will describe this as the … [Read more...] about The Greatest Art Of Our Time

Didn't make the list. … [Read more...] about Damn.

Now that the search for the Greatest American is over, I'd like to add one more name to the list. This gentleman didn't even make the top 100—probably because his greatest contributions occurred outside the United States—but he could well be the greatest American of all. I'm speaking of Dr. Norman Borlaug, winner of the Medal of Freedom and the 1970 Nobel Peace … [Read more...] about One More Great American