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The Leveling Wind: Politics, the Culture, and Other News
The nationally syndicated conservative columnist and ABC-TV political commentator presents his fifth collection of columns, speeches, and reviews from 1990 through 1994, including observations on the pleasures of sports and family life. Reprint.
- GenresPoliticsNonfictionEssays
496 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1994
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About the author
George F. Will
71 books194 followersGeorge Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics. By the mid 1980s the Wall Street Journal reported he was "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America," in a league with Walter Lippmann (1899–1975).
Will served as an editor for National Review from 1972 to 1978. He joined the Washington Post Writers Group in 1974, writing a syndicated biweekly column, which became widely circulated among newspapers across the country and continues today. His column is syndicated to 450 newspapers. In 1976 he became a contributing editor for Newsweek, writing a biweekly backpage column until 2011.
Will won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "distinguished commentary on a variety of topics" in 1977.[6] Often combining factual reporting with conservative commentary, Will's columns are known for their erudite vocabulary, allusions to political philosophers, and frequent references to baseball.
Will has also written two bestselling books on the game of baseball, three books on political philosophy, and has published eleven compilations of his columns for the Washington Post and Newsweek and of various book reviews and lectures.
Will was also a news analyst for ABC since the early 1980s and was a founding member on the panel of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley in 1981, now titled This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Will was also a regular panelist on television's Agronsky & Company from 1977 through 1984 and on NBC's Meet the Press in the mid-to-late 1970s. He left ABC to join Fox News in early October 2013.
Will served as an editor for National Review from 1972 to 1978. He joined the Washington Post Writers Group in 1974, writing a syndicated biweekly column, which became widely circulated among newspapers across the country and continues today. His column is syndicated to 450 newspapers. In 1976 he became a contributing editor for Newsweek, writing a biweekly backpage column until 2011.
Will won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for "distinguished commentary on a variety of topics" in 1977.[6] Often combining factual reporting with conservative commentary, Will's columns are known for their erudite vocabulary, allusions to political philosophers, and frequent references to baseball.
Will has also written two bestselling books on the game of baseball, three books on political philosophy, and has published eleven compilations of his columns for the Washington Post and Newsweek and of various book reviews and lectures.
Will was also a news analyst for ABC since the early 1980s and was a founding member on the panel of ABC's This Week with David Brinkley in 1981, now titled This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Will was also a regular panelist on television's Agronsky & Company from 1977 through 1984 and on NBC's Meet the Press in the mid-to-late 1970s. He left ABC to join Fox News in early October 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 24, 2023
Because I enjoy investigating different points of view, I am always willing to read a good argument, and frequently willing to read a bad argument. In “The Leveling Wind,” which is an anthology of George Will’s columns and speeches from 1990 to 1994 I had the opportunity to read both.
In February 28, 1994 Will made a speech in the Reagan Library. He made three assertions that merit scrutiny. First, “By the time President Reagan left office the deficit, as a percentage of [Gross Domestic Product] GDP had been declining for six years.”
If you click on the following website:
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/natio...
You will find a chart compiled by “The Balance” that shows how the national debt in dollars, and as a percentage of GDP, has fluctuated from 1929 to 2022. “The Balance” got its data from ten sources, including three from the United States Department of the Treasury, one from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and one from The World Bank Group.
1980 was the last full year Jimmy Carter was president. During that year the national debt was $908 billion. The national debt as a percentage of GDP was 32%.
The last six years Reagan was president were 1983 to 1988. In 1983 the national debt was $1,377 billion. The national debt as a percentage of GDP was 37%. In 1988 the national debt was $2,802 billion. The national debt as a percentage of GDP was 50%.
Second Will wrote, “The key to America’s success has been job creation – 19 million in the Reagan years.”
According to a “Wall Street Journal” article that appeared Jan 9, 2009, during the Carter administration an average of approximately 2,600,000 jobs were created every year. During the Reagan administration that declined to approximately 2,000,000 jobs created every year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/0...
Correct my arithmetic if you need to, but according to my calculations: 2,000,000 x 8 = 16 million. Moreover, President Carter had better numbers on job creation. Don’t argue with me about that. “Argue with “The Wall Street Journal.”
Finally Will wrote, “Nowadays, economic distress moves America to the right, not the left.”
Economic distress still hurts the party that occupies the White House. During the campaign of 1976 Carter invented the term “misery index.” The misery index is computed by adding the inflation rate to the unemployment rate. Carter was able to show that during the eight years Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford had been president the misery index rose. Unfortunately for Carter, the misery index continued to rise during the Carter administration. Reagan was elected in 1980.
During the campaign between President George H.W.Bush and Bill Clinton there was a recession. Clinton said, “It’s the economy, stupid,” and was elected.
Another factor, which Will hints at, is that when class is the issue, as it certainly was during the Great Depression, Democrats win. When race is the issue, as it was in 1988, and has been periodically since then, Republicans win.
Will makes his best arguments when he points out how the good intentions of President Johnson’s Great Society have usually yielded bad results. After the assassination of President Kennedy there were five years of increasingly destructive black ghetto riots. There were more enduring increases in crime and illegitimacy among blacks and whites.
George Will is a man of impressive intelligence and learning. This is obvious from reading “The Leveling Wind.” Unfortunately, and like most people, he occasionally allows his likes and dislikes to distort his judgment of what is true and false. I do that too, but I try not to.
In February 28, 1994 Will made a speech in the Reagan Library. He made three assertions that merit scrutiny. First, “By the time President Reagan left office the deficit, as a percentage of [Gross Domestic Product] GDP had been declining for six years.”
If you click on the following website:
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/natio...
You will find a chart compiled by “The Balance” that shows how the national debt in dollars, and as a percentage of GDP, has fluctuated from 1929 to 2022. “The Balance” got its data from ten sources, including three from the United States Department of the Treasury, one from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and one from The World Bank Group.
1980 was the last full year Jimmy Carter was president. During that year the national debt was $908 billion. The national debt as a percentage of GDP was 32%.
The last six years Reagan was president were 1983 to 1988. In 1983 the national debt was $1,377 billion. The national debt as a percentage of GDP was 37%. In 1988 the national debt was $2,802 billion. The national debt as a percentage of GDP was 50%.
Second Will wrote, “The key to America’s success has been job creation – 19 million in the Reagan years.”
According to a “Wall Street Journal” article that appeared Jan 9, 2009, during the Carter administration an average of approximately 2,600,000 jobs were created every year. During the Reagan administration that declined to approximately 2,000,000 jobs created every year.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/0...
Correct my arithmetic if you need to, but according to my calculations: 2,000,000 x 8 = 16 million. Moreover, President Carter had better numbers on job creation. Don’t argue with me about that. “Argue with “The Wall Street Journal.”
Finally Will wrote, “Nowadays, economic distress moves America to the right, not the left.”
Economic distress still hurts the party that occupies the White House. During the campaign of 1976 Carter invented the term “misery index.” The misery index is computed by adding the inflation rate to the unemployment rate. Carter was able to show that during the eight years Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford had been president the misery index rose. Unfortunately for Carter, the misery index continued to rise during the Carter administration. Reagan was elected in 1980.
During the campaign between President George H.W.Bush and Bill Clinton there was a recession. Clinton said, “It’s the economy, stupid,” and was elected.
Another factor, which Will hints at, is that when class is the issue, as it certainly was during the Great Depression, Democrats win. When race is the issue, as it was in 1988, and has been periodically since then, Republicans win.
Will makes his best arguments when he points out how the good intentions of President Johnson’s Great Society have usually yielded bad results. After the assassination of President Kennedy there were five years of increasingly destructive black ghetto riots. There were more enduring increases in crime and illegitimacy among blacks and whites.
George Will is a man of impressive intelligence and learning. This is obvious from reading “The Leveling Wind.” Unfortunately, and like most people, he occasionally allows his likes and dislikes to distort his judgment of what is true and false. I do that too, but I try not to.
September 10, 2010
Will writes of the struggle that faced in some degree both Bush I and Bush II and the Republican Party he says ‘If international law is properly called a law, who enacts, construes adjudicates and enforces. This was a question provoked by 911. My opinion is that the int’l community failed to the point where it was rejected by Buss II inresponse to 911. It was made even more challenging because on the judgemental and intolerance of the core Republican base. The next challenge my well be the reduction of the worlds addicition to oil.
May 13, 2013
George F. Will levels salvo after salvo at the failures of government, political correctness, and the false civility that is all pervasive in most examinations of the two. When government cannot keep citizens safe in the street, or deliver a actual defense of fundamental rights, it is of no use. Unlike many others of his persuasion, Will seems to believe that government can deliver a better result; he simply thinks that our present government does not. This book is his stentorian voice of conscience and indictment of the failings of civil society in our era.
August 4, 2016
I just could not finish.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews