Michael B. Dougherty
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Senior Writer @NRO. author of My Father Left Me Ireland. Making sense of the disruptive politics of the 21st century.
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Articles by Michael B. Dougherty
Elections: Ranked Voting Not an Improvement on American System
The American system of fixed-term, single-member districts, and elections where the leading vote-getter wins, produces stability, and legitimacy.
Ireland’s Falling Birth Rate Threatens Its Demographic and Economic Future
Ireland's fertility rate has fallen to roughly 1.4 children per woman, raising concerns about an aging population, shrinking family networks, and growing pressure on the workforce. Delayed marriage and parenthood, declining family support, and dependence on immigration complicate the country's long-term demographic outlook.
How Tesla and SpaceX Drive American Innovation
Elon Musk is bringing manufacturing innovation back to America, as advances at Tesla and SpaceX demonstrate the value of building things at home.
AI Doomerism Underestimates Humanity’s Need for Justice and Self-Government
AI doomerism predicts that superintelligent machines will eventually control human society, reducing people to the status of cattle. But Yuval Noah Harari's vision overlooks fundamental differences between humans and animals, including our capacity for political judgment, demands for justice, and unwillingness to surrender governance to unaccountable technology.
Roger Scruton on Conservatism and Desecration
He perceived in the selfish joy of rioting that the protesters wanted to destroy the order and sense underneath the ordinary way of life.
Make the GOP Intellectually Incoherent . . . and Stronger | National Review
Trump has smashed the old images of the GOP and the grip of any one faction over it.
On the Origin of Straw Men
Tariffs don't eliminate competition, and markets don't stop adapting when governments intervene.
Defending Dynamic Markets | National Review
Domestic production costs aren't fixed. Tariffs can spur investment, competition, and falling prices.
Conservatism: A Definition | National Review
Rereading a book of Roger Scruton's, I came across this definition which is both sturdy but also shows its own date.
Tariffs, Domestic Competition, and Hamilton’s Case for Industry
Higher prices are a tool of tariffs. The aim is domestic investment and competition that eventually bring prices down.
The Shane Gillis Nonstory
Media outlets get the easy joy and rush of tearing down the guy who might be the last popular comedian to exist.
The Pope’s Death Penalty Stance Is Unconvincing | National Review
Pope Leo has reiterated the modern Catholic Church's position that the death penalty is an attack on the dignity of the human person and that the death penalty is "inadmissible."
Populist Right Reshapes Politics across Western Europe
Populist-right parties may struggle to take power outright, but their gains in Germany, France, Spain, and Britain are already reshaping Western European politics.
Why Do People Hate Nuns So Much?
The idea of consecrated women being malevolent hypocrites is too sensational for the media to resist.
For Many Voters, Economy Feel Frozen Despite Good News in the Data
Strong GDP growth, low unemployment, and an AI-driven investment boom obscure an affordability crisis for many wage earners. Rising housing, energy, food, and borrowing costs have limited economic mobility, while government policy and the Iran war have intensified pressure on household budgets.
JD Vance Globalization Comments: Without Trade Liberalization, What Would Have Happened Since 1985?
In a market economy, people are free to adapt, and the price system works, even if the planners can't quite remove borders from the globe.
Gate of Heaven | National Review
I had a solemn occasion to visit Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y., this week. It's one of the most beautiful cemeteries I've ever seen.
Gateskeeper | National Review
Bill Gates has now had a chance to sound off on AI technology. He is a semi-doomer and scoffs at regulation.
The Great Divorce | National Review
The Cold War coalition is coming apart.
The Rebuilding of Notre Dame: Something Is Suddenly Alive in France
Pope Leo's visit to the restored Notre Dame was met with an absolutely astonishing show of force from a youthful French church.
A War Rejected by the People | National Review
The prolonged U.S. war with Iran demonstrates the risks of launching major military operations without sustained public and congressional support. Shifting objectives, rising energy prices, military costs, and declining public approval underscore the importance of democratic consent in American foreign policy.
De Gaulle Invades America, Finally
The films will be released this November and December, exact dates still pending.
Two Film Biographies of Charles de Gaulle Produced
Two feature-length films based on Julian Jackson's astonishing biography of Charles de Gaulle have been produced in France.
After Libertarianism: What Comes Next for the Right?
Has libertarianism 'disappeared' from our political aviary?
AI Doom as the New Climate Catastrophe: A Lesson on How We Might Respond
Oren Cass has a very smart essay on how to respond to the AI doom scenarios with what we've learned from the environmental castraophists.
Big Controversies Continue in Ireland Related to Palestinian Cause
It now seems like every week there is a big controversy in Ireland related to the Palestinian cause.
The Next Vibe Shift: An Appeal to Our Better Angels
The AI and data center panic might be the crescendo of a long doom-and-gloom era of American politics
Midterm Elections: Lawmakers Have Fewer Opportunities to Distinguish Themselves
Congressional midterm elections have always been a partial referendum on the performance of the president. But now they are little else, and the dynamic seems to be self-reinforcing.
Late-Period Periodicals | National Review
AI-generated prose isn't just a problem of writers taking copy-and-paste shortcuts.
Paul LePage Runs Bilingual French-English Ad in Maine House Race
Paul LePage's campaign ad in Maine is evidence of a recurring pattern in American reactions to immigration.
Howie Rose and the Joy of Sound | National Review
As he retires, Howie Rose, the Mets' main radio play-by-play announcer since 1995, wants to be remembered as a Mets fan since boyhood who simply had the aspiration and the opportunity to become the voice of the club he so loved.
Can Consumer-Focused AI Save Us from Doom? | National Review
AI products that reduce my personal engagement with software and screens while still helping me experience the conveniences of instant communication - that's a big win.
Artificial Intelligence Debate: More Bad Polling for Tech
The AI panic is just one skiff sailing atop a roiling sea of discontent. According to the New York Times, 80 percent of young respondents said they opposed the building of data centers. Many generally distrust AI.
New Morality of Assisted-Suicide Cause: The Duty to Never Come a Burden Does Not Exist
Assisted suicide establishes a new morality, and that new morality intensifies the deluding pull of a felt duty that does not in fact exist: the duty not to ever become burdensome to others.
A New Look at Roger Scruton's Life and Formation
We do seem to radically discount how disruptive television was to cultural transmission and the education of elites.
A Father's Attempt to Teach the Knuckleball
I recommend this very sweet piece in the Wall Street Journal about one father's attempt to teach the knuckleball.
The Fight for Open-Source AI
I would certainly prefer a future in which digital users are more like citizens - and can own and effectively control their personal data.
The End of the World Isn’t Upon Us | National Review
There is a paradoxical way in which the overweening fear of "superintelligence" is driving a certain carelessness in the attempt to create it.
Software Already Kills People | National Review
The danger posed by AI is real, but software already causes deadly failures. The harder question is how to balance safety, capability, and freedom.
Artificial Intelligence Doomer Prophecies: Relevance to Human Problems Will Exert a Powerful Restraint
It's not just unbelievable that we would give AI absolute power to destroy us, or just shrug our shoulders at disasters along the way; it's also almost certainly untrue that it would become this alien superintelligence.
More Reading on the Gipper | National Review
Jonah tries to give more political coherence and consistency to Reagan's overall record than I think is really there.
When Labor Is Dear
The lower number of jobs created was compatible with a low unemployment figure precisely because the country wasn't absorbing hundreds of thousands of working-age people a month as it did under Joe Biden.
The Terms on Offer
After a new round of shuttle diplomacy, Russia has made a new offer to Ukraine. Russia is acting, for now, like it's still in fundamental control of this engagement.
Cal Newport Pours Cold Water on the AI Panic
There is no AI robot conspiracy, no sandbagging, no deception happening, unless it is self-deception.
Fintan O’Toole’s Trump-9/11 Comparison
Trump, religion, sex, and perhaps the worst commentary on 9/11 so far this year.
The Thinning of Rarefied Air | National Review
As reading declines, so does the educated culture that once rewarded the lifelong pursuit of history, literature, and the liberal arts.
What Makes JD Vance Appealing to Conservatives
The qualities are not so different from those that made Reagan stand out.
God Is In the Details
The court's order contains a pretense that is impossible to justify.
Barzun on the Heaps
An essay that continues to astonish.
Nationalism Properly Understood | National Review
When done with too much self-regard, bombastic moral pronouncements on activities over which you have no real influence is a kind of seductive substitute for real moral action.
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