Another excerpt from some recent work: The basic political premise of techno-politics is that the classic question regarding competing claims to rule has been decisively answered: instead of Platos philosopher king we get its emasculated modern descendant, the rational bureaucrat. The . . . . Continue Reading »
Ross’s latest NYT column makes a point I think I alluded to earlier: just because losing Arlen Specter is bad doesn’t mean having him to begin with was good . And this is not just a charge you can level due to Specter’s stance on policy (on ‘strictly political’ issues . . . . Continue Reading »
Conservatives, postmodern and otherwise, often discuss the difficulties associated with the sometimes promiscuous assignment and declaration of rights in political discourse today. If we look at the American founding narrowly from the perspective of its Lockean influence, its easy to see the . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the American Spectator, Cato’s Doug Bandow considers the implications of Senator Specter’s decision to become a Democrat. Without exactly welcoming the switch, he suggests that Specter’s departure offers an opportunity to get back to principle: “Absolute purity . . . . Continue Reading »
Here is a short excerpt of an aticle I just finished writing and that is relevant to Ralph’s Manifesto 1.3.1: The differences between Bushs Executive Order Expanding Approved Stem Cell Lines (June 20, 2007) and Obamas Executive Order overturning it are striking . . . . Continue Reading »
So I spent a few days this week attending a conference at Berry College in Rome, Georgia hosted by Peter Lawler and Eric Sands. It was a terrific and well organized series of events capped off by a thought provoking presentation by our own Jim Ceasar on Tocqueville, his consideration of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Via Hit & Run , I see that Gerard Magliocca of Concurring Opinions has called Huey Long “the forgotten man in The Forgotten Man ,” by which he means that, whatever you want to say about FDR, at least he wasn’t Huey Long: Among other things, [Governor Long] wanted to establish . . . . Continue Reading »
So we had an interesting discussion at Berry College tonight, featuring our own Jim Ceaser, on why Tocqueville talks up the Puritans and slights the Declaration of Independence. Ivan the K already mentioned the observation of our French visitor R. L. Bruckburger , who reminded us that the . . . . Continue Reading »
The way you hold your head, cursin’ God with every move Ooh, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it What are you tryin’ to prove Bob Dylan, Dead Man, Dead Man , 1981. Over at Front Porch Republic , Augustinian scholar James Matthew Wilson provides an important exegesis on . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at No Left Turns, our own Peter Lawler briefly discusses R. L. Bruckberger’s Images of America , which was originally published (the English edition) in 1958 and has been re-released with a wonderful introduction by Dan Mahoney. It was something of a sensation when it first hit the . . . . Continue Reading »