Peter Lawler

In response to a few requests and in defense of a fundamental alternative in the seni-science of American political development . . . . . . . Continue Reading »

Patrick Deneen is right to have raised questions over several years about whether American liberal democracy is sustainable. He’s not, of course, the first to do so. Conservatives, maybe beginning with Edmund Burke, have often understood liberalism as a kind of self-obsessive individualism that has the potential to consume the social and relational institutions that make human life worth living. Liberalism contains the seeds of its own destruction… . Continue Reading »

1. So I agree with the comment in the thread that “we Straussians” are overdoing our texual analysis of our President’s Second Inaugural. Maybe we even do the same thing with President Lincoln’s (although it was much better and actually beautiful). SOME of us did the same . . . . Continue Reading »

So I’ve been getting a good number of challenging emails about our recent postings. Here’s one (from someone most of you know and respect): Your view relies on viewing the open-endedness of Locke’s doctrine and the mixed or incoherent nature of the Founding. If true, the big . . . . Continue Reading »

Yuval has done better than anyone is showing how coherent, ambitious, and hugely partisan the speech was. The Declaration, we remember, has been the most effective partisan weapon in our nation’s history. Here’s Yuval’s view of president’s view of the Declaration’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Here’s what Pete says : Mr. Obama’s speech was not a call to unity; it was a summons to his liberal base to fight–on global warming, for gay rights, for gun control, for renewable energy, and for a diminished American role in world affairs. And the president’s speech also . . . . Continue Reading »

In the mail this morning: So, driving home last night I heard some bits and pieces from the Inaugural on NPR. One bit was either the Benediction or the Invocation—-the one done by some woman who isn’t even an ordained minister of any kind. Two striking things: 1) as near as I could make . . . . Continue Reading »

Paul asserted (and Carl echoed) that we live in an era of progressive ascendancy. What does that mean? Michael Zuckert recently pointed out that today’s progressives (and anti-progressives) are like Zombies. Everyone thought that the brand “progressive” had been killed by history . . . . Continue Reading »

There are all sorts of ways you can criticize the understanding of the truths and the people in the president’s Second Inaugural. But it’s impossible not to admire the ambitious move from “We hold these truths” to “We, the people .” It’s arguably . . . . Continue Reading »

So congratulations to Rod for making it across the pond. You can see Rod hanging out with the guys at local restaurants and other nice shots of St. Francisville. I do sense an authenticity problem or two. It’s my experience, for example, that the great thing about living in a small southern . . . . Continue Reading »