Substack latest.
Calm, clear, rigorous, and free of invective. Which is not to say that invective does not have important uses. Different strokes for different folks. For thugs, slugs. The hard fist of unreason. For the reasonable, the open-handed, loving caress of sweet reason. Civility for the civil. Respect for the respectful.
It is fascinating how Americans completely disregard the unique and specific set of historical, political , geographical and cultural set of circumstances that inextricably linked firearms to self defence. Other Christian nations managed to evolve without the need of firearms to ensure self defence , and disregarding this leads to a top down approach to the philosophical analysis here. It is now too late and it would be impractical to reverse the right to bear arms in America. Locke’s reduction of humans to beasts is also outside of the Christian understanding of humans and ethics and again bears symptoms of the suicidal brutality we are seeing that seems infect men who seem to be Christian-adjacent and have found themselves powerless for whatever reason. Locke’s understanding of this doesn’t seem to sit right at the moment and warrants further thought. Did he have a transforming faith? He seems more Roman in his worldview.