R.R. Reno is editor of First Things.

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The Future of Conservatism

Today Commentary Magazine ’s website features my contribution to a symposium on the future of conservatism that was published in their January issue. These reflections are part of my larger concerns about the future of American conservatism, which I elaborate on in the Public Square in the . . . . Continue Reading »

11 Jan 2013

Sex and Babies

A friend’s wife recently gave birth. He reports that the New York birth certificate asks for the sex of the mother, and the sex of the father. I was taken aback. How could the State of New York be so behind the times? Don’t the bureaucrats in Albany know what the T in LGBT stands for? . . . . Continue Reading »

10 Jan 2013

Income Inequality: Self-Destruction of the 1%

Since the first of the year I’ve been working to catch up. A friend had sent a useful article by Chrystia Freeland, ” The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent ,” and I finally got around to clicking through and reading it. Freeland has an interesting story to tell about Venice. The city went . . . . Continue Reading »

9 Jan 2013

Legalizing Drugs

The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal featured an article advocating the decriminalization of drugs. Economists Gary Becker and Kevin Murphy argue the war on drugs has failed, and social costs of continuing with our current laws are too high. Their solution is to legalize drugs use, and . . . . Continue Reading »

7 Jan 2013

The Blindness of Tax Purists

Daniel Henninger has gone down the rabbit hole. In his column for the  Wall Street Journal he inveighs against the countless ways in which the tax code is manipulated by legislators to reward this or that constituency—-or donors and lobbyists, as the case may be. The . . . . Continue Reading »

4 Jan 2013

Esoteric Elite Morality

Over the years I’ve come to realize that “relativism” is the wrong way to describe the way in which secular elite culture approaches moral questions. It’s obvious that all things are not permitted, which is why Pope Benedict coined the term “dictatorship of . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Dec 2012

Being and Taxes

A friend was talking to me recently. He observed that the post-election drama in Washington seems to be about more than taxes and spending. Everybody seems to feel that the stakes are high, and two visions of the future of America are being contested. “It’s . . . . Continue Reading »

27 Dec 2012

Faith Invisible

With year’s end drawing near the editors of the Wall Street Journal ‘s weekend review section asked fifty “friends” to tell us their favorite books of 2012 . We hear from TV personalities, businessmen, writers, politicians, a college president, two baseball managers, three . . . . Continue Reading »

17 Dec 2012

The New Translation of the Mass

The Tablet is conducting an online survey to find out what people think of the new translation on the Mass after a full year of its use. Log on and let them know what you think. . . . . Continue Reading »

4 Dec 2012

More on Sex, Marriage, and Politics

David Blankenhorn and I have had a useful exchange. In his last posting he questioned my argument that judging homosexual acts wrong isn’t akin to the racist view that skin color makes someone inferior : I’m sure that Rusty Reno knows as well as anyone that almost no gay people . . . . Continue Reading »

27 Nov 2012