I’ve been getting grief from several directions — accusing comments that I’ve been (a) soft on Trump, (b) in the bag for Trump, (c) too hard on Trump, and (d) changed my tune on Trump. Each claim is a mystery to me. My practice is rarely to comment directly on day-to-day or week-to-week political issues […]
Emotion trumping Trump assessments Read More »
“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail—its roof may shake—the wind may blow through it—the storm may enter—the rain may enter—but the King of England cannot enter!” (William Pitt, March 1763 speech. Pitt was a British Whig politician, including being Prime Minister
On property rights as a check against political power, Pitt edition Read More »
2150 years ago, the historian of Rome wrote: Text: “In the natural, spontaneous course of events, the first [political] system to arise is monarchy, and this is followed by kingship, but it takes the deliberate correction of the defects of monarchy for it to develop into kingship. Kingship changes into its congenital vice—that is, into
Polybius on degenerate democracy Read More »
The Black Plague of 1665 and the Lord Mayor of London: In 1665 the plague came to London. They called it the “Black Death”—black because of the color of the nasty lumps that signaled its presence in the victim’s body, and death because of the invariable result. The plague germs were carried by fleas that
The Black Plague, and a political cautionary tale Read More »
Two documents. Which is real? And now the original: [Lenin quotation source.] Raw text versions follow: 1. Press Release: People of Color and Gender Equality Working Group For our racist and sexist society, freedom of speech means freedom for whites and males to control the media, a practice which in all countries, including even the
Press Release: People of Color and Gender Equality Working Group Read More »
We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the seventeenth: C. S. Lewis said forthrightly: “A Christian society would be what we now call Leftist.” If we were to imagine, he asks us, a real Christian society, we would see that “its economic life was very socialistic.” Audio versions of
Christian Socialism and C. S. Lewis [Open College transcript] Read More »
We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the sixteenth: Socialism is partly an ethos, and partly it’s politics. The ethos is that you belong to a social unit, not an individual self; your allegiance, your values, and in some cases, your identity comes from being a part of
Stephen Hicks Interview with Glenn Beck [Open College transcript] Read More »
1. Why does reason even matter? 2. What’s important about the Enlightenment? 3. Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” — a counter-Enlightenment subjectivism? 4. Canada and the USA as importers of ideas from Europe? 5. Common themes in Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche? 6. Subjective passionism contra liberal democracy? 7. Which groups will dominate in the conflict? 8. Why are
Canada Strong and Free Network interview — Troy Lanigan Read More »