The first task of the wise legislator in his effort to regulate emulation is to actively conduct the passion toward politically useful objects and thereby place the passion "on the side of virtue." Political Architecture: The Natural Order of the Many A full understanding of the passion for distinction requires that we look at man [...]
Our responsibility is not to eliminate power, but to find ways to serve ends higher than its own appetites. Since there cannot be a right to rule, we’d best make sure that those who rule, rule well. There’s an old joke that goes, “The definition of a gentleman is someone who knows how to play [...]
John Adams Gathering my thoughts to once again tackle the question of monarchism, I glanced over the comments on my 2014 essay, “Why I’m a Monarchist.” One commenter, known only as Harris and identified only as an aging Maltese, noted that “Thomas Hobbes makes the argument more pungently, and more brutally. What is [...]
My recent article on the relative merits of monarchy and democracy brought an array of comments from both ends of the political spectrum. At one extreme I was berated for suggesting that the absolutist view of monarchy, rooted in the political theory of the divine right of kings, was wrong. The person who made this [...]
Like many modern people, or, at any rate, like many modern people in England, I would describe myself as a monarchist and, at the same time, as a believer in democracy. Am I therefore an idiot? Am I guilty of holding two mutually exclusive positions simultaneously? Like many modern people, or, at any rate, like [...]
Conservatives to a significant degree are defined by their respect for historical origins. In the American context this has meant recognizing the importance of a tradition with its roots in England, but also further back, and further East. To put it in terms reminiscent of Russell Kirk, the religion of Jerusalem, the philosophy of Athens, [...]
I would like to offer Mr. Rod Dreher a response to his recent article, “Among the Neoreactionaries”, as I’m afraid there aren’t many of them (perhaps us), and it would be no fun a’tall if the discussion wasn’t taken up by the someone with at least sympathy for the current of American reactionary ideology. I [...]
Charles claims he does not want to return to the past, but simply to learn from it. He thinks we should “accept that there are such things as timeless principles, operate on a human scale, look firmly to the long-term, respect local conditions and traditions, and be profoundly sceptical of people who suggest that everything [...]
We are taught that the change from monarchy to democracy is progress; that is, a change from servitude to liberty. Yet no monarchy in Western history ever taxed its subjects as heavily as every modern democracy taxes its citizens. But we are taught that this condition is liberty, because “we” are—freely—taxing “ourselves.” The individual, as [...]
King Haakon VII I didn’t know the story of King Haakon VII—democratically elected king of Norway!—and his noble opposition to the German National Socialist invasion of the Kingdom of Norway in 1940 until today. That such such heroism existed in the twentieth century gives me great hope for humanity. When the Germans invaded [...]