democracy 84
Review of Suicide of the West
Jonah Goldberg’s Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy, appearing on Amazon and New York Times bestseller lists, represents…
What Wendell Berry’s Brush Teaches Us About Capitalism, Community, and “Inevitability”
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] The Art of Loading Brush: New Agrarian Writings, the latest collection of writings by Wendell Berry, isn't a perfect book, nor the perfect expression of…
Why Patrick Deneen Failed
It's already an amazon dot hell best-seller in political theory.
The leaders we deserve
I'm heading back to the United States this month to spend some time with my family, and I'm headed back to an America whipped up into a political frenzy. Europeans…
What Will $100 Million Buy You?
When $100 million is being spent on the governor and senate campaigns in their state, Michiganders might want to sit up and take notice.
News from Nowhere
Providence, RI There are in these recent days at least three matters of great importance confronting my beloved land, The Assimilated Provinces of Megalomerica. They are related to one another.…
The Loss of a Culture of Personhood and the End of Limited Government
Philadelphia, PA The idea and practice of limited government begins with Christianity. Pagan antiquity could not imagine such a thing, because there was no distinction between religion and governance. …
Death by Democracy
George Will argues that Detriot was killed by democracy. Detroit, which boomed during World War II when industrial America was “the arsenal of democracy,” died of democracy. Today, among the…
Truth on the Losing Side
Justice Scalia’s dissents in the two same-sex “marriage” cases are worth reading. The first opinion addresses the idea of judicial supremacy within the federal government—what Jefferson called “the despotism of…
America Needs Another Bush?
Accusing President Obama of “caviling over chemical weapons in Syria,” The Economist insists that events in Syria are “exposing Mr Obama’s hubris,” his “overconfidence,” and revealing his foreign policy ineptitude.…
A Burke for Our Times
In a wonderful article published here at FPR a few weeks ago, Jason Peters argued that a proper education ought to provoke a kind of spiritual or intellectual crisis among…
What’s Wrong With Iowa? (A Transplanted Professor Knows)
If you think you may legitimately enjoy the physical benefits of a place while dwelling in the airy regions of judgment above it, you’d better think again.
Democracy and Coercion
Like other readers here at FPR, and across the web, I have been following the Great Salyer/Carter Debate of 2012 with much interest. I thought Mr. Salyer’s original article was…
Debating Conservatism: An Old Mistake in The New Inquiry
Late last week, The New Inquiry published an email exchange between Daniel Larison of The American Conservative and political theorist Corey Robin. Larison had taken issue with Robin's argument that…
C.S. Lewis on Mere Liberty and the Evils of Statism Pt. III
This is Part II of a III Part series on C.S. Lewis and Statism. The series originally appeared at theIndependent Institute. See Part I here and Part II here. Collectivism and…
Where Movement Conservatism Went Wrong–And How to Fix It
Freedom Requires Restraint
Mafia Among the Mountain Folk
What ironies of fate converged that morning, such that a mob was about to come out on a march against us?
Waking Up, Smelling the Constitutional Coffee
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS Dahlia Lithwick and Ezra Klein are a couple of my favorite pundits in the whole blogosphere. Lithwick is snarky, and Klein is wonky,…
Attributes of the Gentleman or Mr. Darcy’s Rules of Engagement
Even in a democratic age, where social classes are fluid and poorly demarcated, the gentleman is characterized by these five attributes.
History’s Long Road to Tyranny: Tocqueville and the End of Equality
Devon, PA. I have just finished teaching Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America with my freshmen students. In a way I have not witnessed before, they were compelled by his…
Egypt, Tunisia, and the Failure of Neoclassical Economic Theory
The regime changes in Egypt and Tunisia have been hailed as victories for democracy, as proof of the liberalizing power of social networking media, as testimony to the power of…
انه الاقتصاد، غبي
Here are two scenarios: one leads through democratic enlightenment to peace and prosperity, and the other through intractable economic problems to war and disintegration.
Why I am a Member of the Permanent Opposition
Long live the King, somewhere damned else.
Waiting for Superman, and a Real Conversation
The film describes a good education as one which prepares students for the high-tech jobs available in 21st Century America. A few union supporters have objected that the purpose of…