Edmund Burke Now that the presidential primary season has begun in earnest, it seems a good time to reconsider just what a political party is—what its purpose and essential nature are, and how we may recognize whether one is healthy or in a state of disorder and potential breakdown. As with most things [...]
As he personally drafted his first inaugural address on a yellow legal pad, President-elect Ronald Reagan set as a primary goal restoring America to its former greatness. Reagan saw that America had lost faith in itself, as a result of the Carter years, the Watergate scandal, President Nixon’s forced resignation, and the loss of the [...]
Calling for a moratorium on Muslim immigration “until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,” Donald Trump this week ignited a firestorm of historic proportions. As all the old hate words — xenophobe, racist, bigot — have lost their electric charge from overuse, and Mr. Trump was being called a fascist [...]
You are aware, are you not, that there was this chap called Oliver Cromwell who came after Shakespeare and brought democracy to England, including—ultimately—free speech. Anybody wishing to understand the nonsense that prevails in the present need only consider the nonsense that many people believe about the past. Indeed it would not be an exaggeration [...]
(Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Louis Markos as he examines democracy and egalitarian sameness. —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher) Most Americans take for granted that democracy is an absolute good. If it can be said of an idea or a program that it promotes equality, Americans, whatever their [...]
A condescending attitude towards common people is typical of today’s political Left, while the Right’s heroes have always been champions of protecting the common man against all sorts of enemies, including an encroaching state. I have always loved listening to Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. It is simple and sincere, noble and hopeful. [...]
It requires no special genius to observe that the American political system has become dysfunctional. Although never fond of those who sit across the aisle, Democrats and Republicans have rarely vilified and demonized each other as they now do. Long regarded as the essence of American democracy, compromise has become all but impossible. This partisan [...]
The Common Good of Constitutional Democracy: Essays in Political Philosophy and on Catholic Social Teaching by Martin Rhonheimer, edited by William F. Murphy, Jr. (Catholic University of America Press, 2013) This collection of essays is billed as a defense of “constitutional democracy” or, in a more exact translation from the German, “the democratic constitutional state.” That [...]
After Tocqueville: The Promise and Failure of Democracy, by Chilton Williamson, Jr. (ISI Books, 2012) Twenty years ago, as the Cold War ended with the triumph of the West over Communism, Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the “end of history,” by which he meant that human political community had reached its final and best stage of development [...]
Democracy is dead. I say so not because I have ceased to believe in it—I retain a half guilty affection for that worst of all forms of government (worst except for most of the rest)—rather, I say so because everyone else has ceased to believe in it. Yesterday, I asked my students what comes first [...]
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, warned us that there is nothing new under the sun. At least in terms of the current crisis in Greece, Solomon was dead right. As I look on aghast at the sense of entitlement, the lack of discipline, and the refusal to accept austerity measures that are driving [...]
Having spent a few weeks teaching here in Iceland, a few things are becoming clear. First, Icelanders are a friendly people who have managed to maintain a society with very little crime or violence, in which children are very safe and in which there is an extremely strong sense of community. Second, it is a [...]
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDFX-dNtsM Delivered June 12, 1987 Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty-four years ago, [...]
To the size of states there is a limit as there is to other things, plants, animals, implements; for none of these retain their natural power when they are too large or too small, but they either wholly lose their nature or are spoilt. – Aristotle The great Aristotle is always worthy of our deference and [...]