Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Political Pessimism

  • Is the Enlightenment the Problem?

    This is a redacted repost from 21 June 2015. In the subsequent eight years, we in the West are 'infinitely' worse off than before.  Time to re-visit the topic and re-assess. Mournful was the tocsin Malcolm Pollack sounded in 2015; what must its sound be today? ……………………….. Malcolm laments via e-mail: Don't things seem to…

  • Robert Kaplan on Henry Kissinger

    Robert Kaplan: Kissinger’s beliefs, which emerge through his writing, are certainly not for the faint-hearted. They are emotionally unsatisfying, yet analytically timeless. They include: Disorder is worse than injustice, since injustice merely means the world is imperfect, while disorder tempts anarchy and the Hobbesian nightmare of war and conflict, of all against all. It follows,…

  • Political Pessimism and Optimism

    Michael Anton Liel Leibovitz

  • How Long Can We Last?

    Historian Hanson wrote in January of 2022:  In modern times, as in ancient Rome, several nations have suffered a “systems collapse.” The term describes the sudden inability of once prosperous populations to continue with what had ensured the good life as they knew it.  Abruptly, the population cannot buy, or even find, once plentiful necessities.…

  • The End of Liberty is Nigh: The Digital Pound and Cancel Culture

    And to add insult to injury, irony to outrage, the end of liberty is being ushered in by the mother country.  Here: The digital pound would be a new type of money issued by the Bank of England for everyone to use for day-to-day spending. You would be able to use it in-store or online…

  • Why Won’t Leftists Enforce Existing Laws?

    A reason, perhaps the main reason, may be gleaned from the following graphic: The above stats are clearly in the ball park according to every study I have read. Heather Mac Donald has done outstanding work on this topic. I refer you to her. One reason why leftists won't enforce existing laws is because (1)…

  • Matt Taibbi

    Campaign 2024, Officially Chaos. Excerpts: The cognoscenti never figured out or accepted that the support for protest candidates like Trump or Bernie Sanders even is rooted in wide generalized rage directed their way. To this day they don’t accept it. They keep thinking they can wish it away, describe it away (see Bump’s description of Robert F.…

  • 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.

  • Should We Discuss Our Differences?

    Pessimism versus optimism about disagreement. Substack latest.

  • How the Dems Will Win in 2024

    Victor Davis Hanson explains. Here's an alternative scenario from Paul Kengor. "If RFK [Jr.] goes third party, it would be doomsday for Democrats. It could bring Donald Trump back to the White House. And if that happens, Democrats [will] have only themselves to blame for their idiotic, authoritarian policies on everything from vaccine mandates to…

  • The Accelerationist Option

    I wrote recently that the only way out is through, but Malcolm Pollack's most recent offering is much better; it is indeed brilliant.  It divides into three parts. There is first a litany of what ails us. The second part explains why the ills listed are upon us. The general answer is that . .…

  • Amerika, the Police State

    Have you been paying attention, or are you a useful idiot? America, No Turning Back The Catholic Case for Guns A Maoist Cultural Revolution?

  • Political Polarization

    Polarization in a physical body has to have a limit lest the polarized body break apart. (Imagine the distance between Earth's North and South poles — 8595.35 miles — increasing indefinitely.) It is no different with the body politic.  We will eventually break apart or be broken apart by an external force (how about the…

  • Does Classical Liberalism Destroy Itself?

    Joe Odegaard sends us to The Orthosphere where we find Classical Liberalism Destroys Itself. The opening paragraph is stylistically brilliant, especially the concluding sentence, and I agree with the paragraph content-wise, though not with the quotation from Dreher: “Classical liberalism detached from the Christian faith is what got us here.”  Rod Dreher, “David French: Not…

  • 2024 and Trump sub specie aeternitatis

    First-rate political analysis by DiploMad 2.0. (HT: Bill Keezer) But there is little to be hopeful or happy about this New Year. 2023 is likely to be worse than the last three.  You are well-advised to seek your happiness within.  Not that one should withdraw from the fray entirely. Fight on, but not at the…