Interviewing Jonah Goldberg About His New Book, “The Tyranny of Cliches"

Jonah Goldberg is one of those columnists you just have to follow. Lets face it he destroyed Piers Morgan,  likes Sci Fi and finds the most entertaining,  and informative ways to cut through the muck and get to the truth-no holds barred!

My friend John Hawkins had an opportunity to interview Goldberg about his new book  “The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas.”

Here are some excerpts from the interview.

Jonah Goldberg on letting 18 year-olds vote.

"If I got to make policy, I would keep the voting age at 18 or maybe I’d raise it to about 25. But one thing I would definitely do is make everybody take a test. We don’t say that when you turn 16 you can drive, we say when you turn 16 you’re eligible to drive, which means you have to pass a test in order to be able to drive. Immigrants have to take a test and know the three branches of government, who the Founding Fathers are, they have to know about the Bill of Rights. They have to know those things. It seems to me that if immigrants have to know that stuff to become citizens and be able to vote, then I don’t see any principled objections why citizens who are born here shouldn’t have to take a similar test to be able to vote. I generally think that voting is too easy in this country and that if people want to value their citizenship, we should make it a little harder because things that are harder, we value more."

Jonah Goldberg on whether it's better to let 10 guilty men go free than punish one innocent man.

"...you can make a very strong utilitarian argument that 10 murders and rapists out on the street are far worse for society than one poor, innocent accountant unfairly thrown in jail."

Jonah Goldberg's problem with Moderates

Well, first of all they tend to be really salty when you cook them. 

Jonah Goldberg on centrists.

 "If I say two plus two is four and you say two plus two is ten, the person who champions the compromise of six is not a hero. He’s an idiot and at the very least I would like the moderates, centrists and the likes to defend the substance of their positions without appealing to the fake authority of centrism or moderation."

Jonah Goldberg on being spiritual, but not religious.

"Yet, there is a smug, self-satisfaction among the champions of spirituality who think that all of these people who came before them and dedicated their lives to thinking these issues through were idiots. They think they can figure it all out if they just sit in a yoga position."'

There is lots more to this interview, I highly recommend you go to John's site Right Wing News to read the entire piece.  Just Click Here.