It seems only a few years ago that I was calling myself “a man of the left.” Well, like the Jewish intellectuals who became “neoconservatives” in the 1960s and 1970s, I am a liberal who’s been “mugged by reality.” What has happened to the public discourse about race in this country . . . . Continue Reading »
A national flag in a church is not a sign of idolatry, but a reminder to the faithful to remember the specific magistrate we pray for. Continue Reading »
As the Declaration of Independence affirms, we never walk alone, but in the care of the God who gave us life and liberty at the same time. Continue Reading »
Patriotism, the family, and the Church make life worth living—even when all three are under assault. Continue Reading »
The title of R. R. Reno’s Return of the Strong Gods requires qualification. To begin with, most of what Reno tells us concerns not the gods’ return, but their expulsion. As for the gods themselves, they “are not golden idols or characters in ancient mythologies,” Reno writes. . . . . Continue Reading »
America is a nation of immigrants. America has always been a nation of immigrants. Or so we are constantly told. Strange, then, that the phrase did not become common until John F. Kennedy published a book with that title in 1958. “All Americans have been immigrants or the descendants of . . . . Continue Reading »
The Virtue of Nationalism by yoram hazony basic books, 304 pages, $18.99 In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a surge of patriotism ran through me. I was, however, a junior professor teaching at Princeton University. National pride struck most of my colleagues as a crude emotion. With a healthy . . . . Continue Reading »
I love my country – I fear my government. I first saw that mantra as a bumper sticker in the Clinton nineties. It then began to sprout as billboards and rock-paintings in the Obama years, and it has now become the chorus to almost every song of complaint composed by American conservatives. It is . . . . Continue Reading »
Congratulations to Trenton Mattingly for winning second place in our third annual Student Essay Contest. Here is his response to prompt #3. Continue Reading »
This weekend, Americans across the nation will celebrate the 239th anniversary of our separation from the British Empire. Many of us will enjoy our long weekend in stereotypically American fashion—grilling meat, drinking beer, and filling the sky with explosions. I love my country, nearly to . . . . Continue Reading »
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