Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Political Psychology

  • What is Fascism? Are MAGA Republicans Fascists?

    The Left's favorite 'F' word is of course 'fascist.' But of course they don't define it, the better to use it as a verbal cudgel.  But we know that responsible discussion of a topic begins with a definition of terms. What is a fascist? More to the point, what is fascism? The term expresses what…

  • Servility Will Cower to Force

    Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: For my part, I am persuaded that in all governments, whatever their nature may be, servility will cower to force, and adulation will follow power. The only means to prevent men from degrading themselves is to invest no one with that unlimited authority which is the sure method of…

  • Political Ponerology

    Ponerology is the theological study of evil. Political ponerology is thus the political-scientific study of evil. A tip of the hat to Tony Flood for referring me to this Mises Wire review by Michael Rectenwald of Andrew M. Lobaczewski's Political Ponerology.  I just now ordered a copy from Amazon. A new edition of Political Ponerology, by…

  • Politics and Meaning: More on the Conservative Disadvantage

    Here again is my Substack entry "The Conservative Disadvantage."  In it I wrote, "We don't look to politics for meaning. Or rather, we do not seek any transcendent meaning in the political sphere." Thomas Beale charitably comments (edited): Just a short note on that post: your observation about meaning is  one of the most penetrating…

  • Establishment Conservatives

    ESTABLISHMENT CONSERVATIVES are singularly ill-equipped for fighting. Hobbled by their virtues, they cannot bring themselves to give as good as they get. Politics is war, but establishment conservatives don't want to believe it. Donald Trump tried to teach them, but they proved unteachable. Instead of getting with the program, they wasted time and energy undermining…

  • Disingenuousness

    One politician accuses another of being disingenuous. But isn't such an accusation itself disingenuous inasmuch as disingenuousness is itself necessary for polite, politic, civil, political behavior? Could one have diplomacy and  civility without fakery and phoniness?  Perhaps the greatest diplomatic line of all time was uncorked by Ronald Reagan in his confrontation with Mikhail Gorbachev,…

  • Malcolm Pollack on ‘Mass Formation’

    Our old friend Malcolm Pollack has an article in American Greatness entitled "'Mass Formation' is a Two-Headed Coin." Pollack offers the following characterization of mass formation: “Mass formation” . . . is a newish term for an age-old and long-studied phenomenon: the occasional, and usually quite sudden, arising of passionate and sometimes completely irrational fixations…

  • Krauthammer’s Fundamental Law Repealed

    "To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil." (Charles Krauthammer)   Cute and clever, the oft-quoted saying is a nice piece of journalese, but not quite right, although it gets at part of the truth. Krauthammer's 'law' conversationally implies…

  • Could I Pass an Ideological Turing Test?

    On 11 January 2017 I wrote a post that begins: Could I present liberal-left ideas in such a way that the reader could not tell that I was not a liberal?  Let me take a stab at this with respect to a few 'hot' topics.  This won't be easy.  I will have to present liberal-left…

  • Is There a Political ‘Use it or Lose it’ Principle?

    If you want to maintain your physical fitness, you must exercise regularly. Use it or lose it!  Not so long ago  I thought that the same principle had a political application: if you want to maintain your freedoms, you must exercise them.  Use 'em or lose 'em! But times have changed.  And when times change,…

  • Hypocrisy? Double-Standardization?

    Accusing a leftist of being a hypocrite is like accusing a meat-eating Texas cattle rancher of being a carnivore. The concerns of bourgeois morality find as little purchase with leftists as the concerns of vegetarians with meat-eaters.  A curious 'disconnect' is therefore displayed by earnest Fox commentators who upbraid leftists for their hypocrisy and double…

  • Asymmetrical Polarization

    Holy Hillary, we are polarized over polarization!

  • Is it Rational to be Politically Ignorant?

    A re-post from March 2016.  Was in Georgia 10 pt; now in 12 pt. Slightly emended. Stands up well. Internal hyperlink verified. …………………………. There are those who love to expose and mock the astonishing political ignorance of Americans.  According to a 2006 survey, only 42% of Americans could name the three branches of government.  But…

  • Guest Post: Vito Caiati on David Brooks

    I asked long-time reader Dr. Vito Caiati, historian, to comment on David Brook's Atlantic article, America is Having a Moral Convulsion.  Vito responded with alacrity and acerbity, and I have thrown in my two cents. Comments enabled. …………………………… 1.  The essay is entirely descriptive rather than analytical in that it presents various economic and sociological…

  • No Fool Like an Old Fool

    Ed is an 80-year-old neighbor of mine. We've been casual acquaintances for years, running into each other on the trails, exchanging greetings and snatches of conversation. The other day politics came up for the first time, and to my surprise I learned that Ed, originally a Republican, had become an Independent, and was now a…