Carl Scott

First off, this great Hillsdale prof, Nathan Schlueter, wrote a pithy and up-to-date defense of Great Books education for NRO today. He poses this genuine liberal education, against its imposter, which he calls “Liberalist Education.” Liberalist education is characterized by three . . . . Continue Reading »

The 20th century is over. Marxism remains contemptible, anachronistic, and hasn’t a prayer of real comeback. To the extent that full-blooded socialism is returning to compete with liberal democracy for the allegiance of modern persons, it does so in populist garb—and in the future, its . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s true as our Peter once said, in one of the most engaging essays on the man out there, that “On the most fundamental questions, Jefferson ought not to be our only guide.” Yes, but we all have to grapple with his legacy. This Thursday, dribbling a bit into Friday, the Center . . . . Continue Reading »

My last essay ended by noting that conservatives are told by many of their leading politicians and pundits that America’s fundamental problem is that too many of their fellow citizens no longer understand its basic principles, of which liberty has pride of place. Were we to get enough . . . . Continue Reading »

Note: I wrote the heart of this several months ago, and the current federal shut-down has nothing to do with my presenting it now. Obama’s re-election , the overall character of today’s Democratic Party , and my own creepy premonitions are the “current events” that prompted it. . . . . Continue Reading »

I missed this few-weeks-old big Peter Beinart piece, The Rise of the New New Left , the first time around, and am linking it here mainly to see what y’all think about it. Its most interesting aspects are a general “yes” to the above question, and an effort to present Bill de . . . . Continue Reading »

Why is the music of these days so inferior to that of earlier times? The pop/rock music, that is. If you’ve ever read the comments while listening to an older song on you-tube, you’re familiar with this question/gripe. And guess what? My series Carl’s Rock Songbook has pretty much . . . . Continue Reading »

Fall is here, arguably the best time for listening to classical music . . . But “the season” of my Rock Songbook remains in the Spring of folk-rock, the 63’-67’ era of proto-hippie expectancy. The last post, if you missed it, gave you my favorite post-1960s folk-rock songs , the . . . . Continue Reading »

Peter recently said to his Big Think readers “It really is true that you don’t know much about how the Constitution works even today if you haven’t read them.” By “them” he meant The Federalist Papers . But of course, not all of them. Some Great Books must be read . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve been gratified by the encouraging response given my initial American Liberty posts, in which I outline my theory of the five American conceptions of liberty. It looks like I will have a chance to present my ideas to a wider intellectual audience soon, but remember that you read about it . . . . Continue Reading »