Jack Kemp & Transitions…

Right now, up at First Things, a terrific look at Jack Kemp by David P Goldman.

What attracted Jack Kemp to supply-side economics was the promise of advancement for ordinary people. At the end of a long cycle of economic expansion, it is easy to forget how it all began. Jack had been associated with future President Reagan since 1969, when he worked on the California governor’s staff in Sacramento. As a U.S. Congressman representing a working-class constituency in the traditionally Democratic city of Buffalo, Jack got elected on his sports-hero credentials. He passionately believed in individual opportunity and free markets, and he needed an argument to take to the union rank-and-file who made up the bulk of his district’s voters. Supply-side economics, the premise that tax cuts and corresponding regulatory reform would unleash the creative energies of Americans, persuaded him, and he became its great missionary.

You’ll want to read it all.

I liked Kemp. He was a very rare politician in that you really can’t find a serious person who did not both like and respect him, even though he was a politician. In that, he was rather like Phil Gramm. And maybe Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Jeffrey Bell says Kemp brought America back from the Carter years. Moderate Voice looks at the big tent. Malkin and Morrissey have more.

A transitional note:

If you know anyone who reads me and is complaining that they still can’t see my homepage, please advise them to do a hard re-load, (hitting their shift key and refresh button together). That might do the trick for them.

Graphic thanks to reader Brian, who also created the poster for the inevitable Sandra Bullock/Jimmy Fallon hit movie, “Chasing Rush.”

Things might get a little rocky here and there, in the coming week or so; a whole new design is in the works for First Things. Please bear with us.