Thirty years ago this month, the Cold War ended with a failed coup in Moscow. As was remarked by many at the time, Marx’s dictum that history repeats…America has become its worst enemy
The Main Obstacle to Religious Freedom
This past week my wife and I had the chance to attend the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, DC. It was an interesting conference on a subject that gets the short shrift these days. In attendance were representatives of several religions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and many others. The fact that any kind …
Those Unpatriotic Leftists
We're "back to the future" on this one: On July 4 this year, liberal media declared independence from America’s most treasured cultural symbols.While media undermining of Independence Day itself is not new — Vox famously declared that “the American Revolution was a mistake” in 2019 — the hand-wringing reached a new pitch this year. Ever …
The battle between the two Americas
In recent history, the United States has arguably never been so divided — but not in the way you might think. Yes, the country has been split by the culture wars, with their polarising focus on race and gender. 1,333 more wordsThe battle between the two Americas
Those Hard Drinking Americans
When The Atlantic notes it, it's a problem: Right now we are lurching into another of our periodic crises over drinking, and both tendencies are on display at once. Since the turn of the millennium, alcohol consumption has risen steadily, in a reversal of its long decline throughout the 1980s and ’90s. Before the pandemic, …
Our Secular Shame-Honour Culture
An interesting observation by Tim Keller: The second influence impoverishing the modern practice of forgiveness is a rising shame and honour culture that some have called a new secular religion. According to Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning, the therapeutic culture has converted us into a collection of “self-actualizers,” whose primary concern is to get respect …
The Problem of the New Right
In the world of conservative thought, the intellectual energy lies with the New Right. The New Right can be found in the society of Washington wonks, Silicon Valley dissidents, New York writers, and all manner of GOP politicos.[1] Many served in the Trump administration at one level or another; all are interested in taking the popular…The …
Cancelling William Fulbright
They've come for another one: Comments to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville about the legacy of former U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright included a few threats to halt donations if his statue is taken down and his name is removed from UA’s arts and sciences college. But many wrote in to say that UA should …
Those Infernal Internal Passports
At the left is a passport cover, one of those things designed to protect your passport, especially if your home is really a pied à terre and you travel a great deal. But look carefully: it's from the old Soviet Union, complete with their national seal embossed on the cover, and "Pasport" at the bottom. …
Why Did They Cancel Charles and Mary Beard?
I recently completed reading Charles and Mary Beard's The Rise of American Civilization, which at one time was one of the most influential texts on the subject. The Beards, as is typical with textbooks in general, frequently revised the text, mostly adding to the end to keep that up to date. The version I read …
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