Professor Agnes Callard is admirable in her unwillingness to cancel Aristotle. In light of recent events, she might find his views are not so much prejudiced as they are realistic, and, on that note, timeless, unlike the egalitarian utopias which liberals are always chasing. The philosopher had a disposition toward the world around him which [...]
Whatever respite or solace Calvin Coolidge may temporarily have conferred upon the nation, Americans during the 1920s could not keep the world from turning. The system of limited government and economic deregulation that he had cultivated was elegantly false and perilously flawed, carrying within it the seeds of its own dissolution. I. For an administration [...]
Marx and Engels’ endorsement of the racially-charged project of European imperialism, their casual dismissal of vast swathes of racialized humanity as ‘backward’ or immutably despotic, their indifference to the enslavement of millions of black Africans, and above all their unshakeable belief in the superiority of the white Germanic races, should leave no doubt in anyone’s [...]
The 1619 Project is an instrument of propaganda whose insidious subtexts aim to promulgate the narrative that not only is America uniquely racist, but the nation cannot evolve beyond its history of slavery. Therefore, if America is to truly ascend, then the fatalism of the 1619 Project must be rejected. Criticisms of the 1619 Project [...]
It is evident from the globalist response to the COVID crisis that there will be a push for even more globalist control over our lives. Even were we willing to sacrifice our freedom for our safety, it would be folly to presume that globalist entities could solve the problems that globalism itself causes. Six months [...]
The fusionism of the past has been outmoded not due to some notion of progressive change but because the libertarian perspective it promotes is fundamentally flawed. Acknowledging the failure of fusionism is the first step to ensuring that conservatism may long endure. I recently had a rather extended debate with a libertarian-minded friend who expressed [...]
To this day, though America has changed in size, shape, demographics, and technology, “Democracy in America” remains the single finest description of the American experiment. Introducing his work to the world, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that nothing struck him more than the pervasiveness of the idea of equality in the United States. Alexis de Tocqueville [...]
Today, conservatism finds itself in danger of losing its way. In an attempt to win what feels like an all-out war, young conservatives take on the common tactics of the day. When conservatives surrender their civility to the abrasiveness, they sacrifice a part of the tradition that makes them conservative. Young conservatives are faced with [...]
Donald Trump has made the GOP more of a working- and middle-class party and has done as much as Reagan to deregulate the U.S. economy and reduce taxes on workers, producers, and investors. Abroad, he has rejected Bush transnationalism in favor of an America-first foreign policy. If he loses in November, however, much of what [...]
Because the classic idea of a community that once existed in America has been swallowed up by the present culture, to demand “community-driven” solutions to remedy police problems is an empty—and dangerous—proposition. The defund-the-police movement clearly defines its goal. Its activists believe police officers are agents of violence inside the community. Their solution is to [...]
James Fenimore Cooper’s depiction of the frontier, as expressed in the “Leatherstocking Tales,” transcends race and sex. The frontier can make anyone a true American—noble, liberty-loving, and virtuous. Ultimately, “Americanness” is individual and cultural; it is based on virtue and merit. 1822-1827: Republicanism and the American Frontier With his third novel, The Pioneers, James Fenimore [...]
Political theory sets out to consider the kind of knowledge involved in political activity and the appropriate form of education that will continue to inculcate this knowledge and the value in sustaining such knowledge to society. Political theory may not be so theoretical, after all. Within political theory, there is a pressure to operate in [...]
Reflecting many thinkers before him, James Fenimore Cooper argued in his works that America had a biblical duty to be the “Light Upon the Hill.” Cooper also believed that both the frontier and republicanism made America unique, vigorous, and consequential, and he spent his adult life advocating a purely American form of art. “Places for [...]
Thomas Hobbes’ morbid outlook holds that there are no goods higher than material success and life. People are reduced to the mediocrity of their whims and desires. The COVID-19 disaster represents the triumph of the Leviathan nightmare. People used to face challenges and risks to obtain higher goals in life. They understood that there were [...]