Political action committees are not enough, says R. R. Reno in today’s column . We also need a politics of the imagination.
Yes, politics has a practical dimension. Campaigns can be run well—or poorly. Laws can be well crafted—or not. Constitutional lawyers can argue more or less effectively. But all that operates within a larger imaginative universe. The future turns on god terms. Our political environment would be very different if we thrilled to “discipline” rather than “transgression,” “justice” rather than “diversity,” or to “integrity” rather than “inclusion.” That’s a difference campaign contributions, Karl Rove, and political action committees cannot achieve. It requires a politics of the imagination, one that alters our metaphysical dreams and reshapes our god terms.
Read the full column here .
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
