Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Political Aporetics

  • An Exchange Relevant to the Problem of Dirty Hands

    From Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons." William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law! Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that! Sir Thomas…

  • Resuming the “Never-Trump Mentality” Thread

    Tom Tillett often leaves very good comments, but he is 'slow on the trigger.' As a result, his contributions often get buried and go unread. I get the impression that he is someone who actually works for a living [grin].  Today he left two long but very good comments on the Never-Trump Mentality post.  Here…

  • Notes on Anarchism I: R. P. Wolff on Authority

    Top o' the Stack. One of my better efforts. First in a series. Robert Paul Wolff's In Defense of Anarchism (Harper 1970, 1976) is a good book by a clear thinker and master expositor. Here is a first batch of interpretive and critical notes. I use double quotation marks when I am quoting an actual…

  • Separation Anxiety

    I hope I don't consume half the day pondering this excellent but disturbing entry by Malcolm Pollack. Important internal linkage. Comments are good too.  A nasty, but welcome, time-sink. Thanks, Malcolm! UPDATE:  Malcolm informs us here that Michael Anton has replied to Anonymous.

  • Beware of Projecting . . .

    . . . your values and attitudes into others. We are not all the same 'deep down,' and we don't all want the same things. You say you value peace and social harmony? So do I. But some are bellicose right out of the box. They love war and thrive on conflict, and not just verbally.   It is dangerous…

  • Was Kyle Rittenhouse a Vigilante?

    I have been known to refer to David French as a useful idiot in the sense usually attributed to V. I. Lenin, but I won't repeat that legitimate charge here. I'll just say that French is exasperating in the Trump-hating pseudo-conservative style of David Brooks, George F. Will, Bill Kristol, Mona Charen and the rest…

  • Polarization and Flotation in Politics

    Can we avoid both polarization and a noncommittal floating above the fray that does not commit to one side or the other? I fear not. Politics is war. You must take a side. You can't play the philosopher on the battlefield.  A warrior at war cannot be "a spectator of all time and existence," as…

  • Two Related Political Mistakes

    1) One is the idea that we can all live together and get along despite deep differences in language, race, religion, culture, political convictions and basic values.  This, the contemporary liberal position, either is or tends towards the idea that there are no limits on productive and mutually beneficial interaction among  very different types of…

  • Back on the Rant

    During Lent I was, in a manner of speaking, hors de combat, but of my own free will. But now the happy warrior is back in the Facebook trenches doing battle with our political enemies. No leftists need apply.  Fruitful discussion is possible only on the common ground of shared attitudes, values, presuppositions, and principles.…

  • Attributed to Robert Frost

    Here: "A liberal is a man too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel” is usually credited to American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963). Frost used the quote in January 1961 (discussing John F. Kennedy, who Frost thought was not this type of liberal) and Frost used it again in January 1962. A popular…

  • Asymmetrical Polarization

    Holy Hillary, we are polarized over polarization!

  • David French, Christianity, and Politics

    Substack latest.

  • An Important Issue in Political Philosophy: Robert Barron versus George Will

    For many of us who reject leftism, and embrace a version of conservatism, there remains a choice between what I call American conservatism, which accepts key tenets of classical liberalism, and a more robust conservatism.  This more robust conservatism inclines toward the reactionary and anti-liberal. The difference emerges in an essay by Bishop Robert Barron…

  • A ‘Woke’ Paradox

    Is it objectively true that objectivity is a white-supremacist value? Assert that it is, and you presuppose it. But if you say that it isn't, then why should we listen to you?

  • The Political Equivalent of Divorce?

    You've heard me say that we need to find the political equivalent of divorce if we are to reduce the animosity that threatens to destroy us as a nation. But the marital analogy limps badly. Although I don't think much of Damon Linker, he talks sense here: Part of me gravitates to a fantasy of…