Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Political Tactics

  • What do Democrats Mean by ‘Democracy’?

    The Dems are always going on about 'our democracy,' their noble defense of it, and the Republicans' nefarious assault upon it.  But they never tell us what they mean by 'democracy.' One is left to speculate.  Here is David Brooks commenting on the recent gerrymandering/redistricting contretemps: I understand the argument. But let's do a little…

  • Victor Davis Hanson

    Under nine minutes. Hanson argues that the Democrats are destroying democracy to destroy President Donald Trump.  Do your bit and propagate this short video clip.  This is a war. Speak out, gear up, get ready. The ass you save may be your own.

  • Gerrymandering: the Latest Leftist Double Standard

    Would anything be left of the Left if the bums were divested of all their double standards?  The latest example is gerrymandering. It's OK for them but not for us. As Vice President J.D. Vance noted in a recent interview on Fox News, Democrats “have fought very dirty for a very long time” and “have tried to…

  • Retribution and Psycho-Political Projection

    'Retribution' has two main senses in English, and they are importantly different. The word can refer to revenge or to a form of justice, retributive justice. Do I have to explain that justice is not revenge? Conflating the two, journalistic shills for deep-state malefactors try to dismiss as revenge what is a quest for justice…

  • Is the U-Haul the Vehicle of Peaceful Coexistence?

    You may have noticed that our relations with some people improve when we no longer have contact with them. Now while we can and must round up and deport illegal aliens, our classically liberal principles make it very difficult to force out of our midst those of our political adversaries who count as out-and-out political…

  • Trump, Nukes, and Nation-Building

    It is blindingly evident that Ayatollah Khamenei and the rest of the  radical Islamists in control of Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Donald Trump has been clear and consistent about this during the ten years he has been in the political spotlight.  He may speak of diplomacy and agreements but he…

  • Why We Are Winning

    Roland Fryer, WSJ, The Economics of DEI and MEI. (Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence) Victor Davis Hanson, Five Ukrainian Fables James Piereson, New Criterion, Too Many Democrats Kimberly Strassel, WSJ, Trump's School Choice Paul Craig Roberts, Every Vote for a Democrat is an Attack on America.  HT: Tony Flood who writes, "Salient line (for me): 'And…

  • Trump’s Incendiary Common Sense

    The method to Trump's apparent madness is well-explained here: In his recent successful presidential campaign and in his first month in office, President Donald Trump has used a remarkably effective rhetorical device that may best be described as "incendiary common sense." The clearest example from the race, and where it became most clear, was the infamous allegation…

  • Judicial Terminology: Lustration

    Here: Lustration is the removal of public officials and judges who are associated with a tainted political regime. It has been used as a tool of transitional justice in newly independent and postconflict countries. Lustrating begins with vetting—a review of conduct and competency. Individuals associated with the discredited government, and credibly accused of corruption or…

  • Trump’s Gaza Proposal

      Donald Trump seems incapable of qualifying his statements, a fault that may be connected with his tendency to exaggerate.  And so he needlessly inflames his enemies, who, given their biases, naturally took him to be advocating ethnic cleansing with his talk of "taking over" Gaza.   Anthony Flood here skillfully rebuts the suggestion.   I…

  • The Converse Alinskyite Tactic

    When our political enemies use our virtues against us, we should use their vices against them.

  • The Battle is Just Beginning

    Walk the line. Don't back down.  It's going to be a long twilight struggle against the forces of darkness, my friends. (Wo)Man up, gear up, but be of good cheer. Long live the Republic! JFK Inaugural Speech, 1961: Now the trumpet summons us again–not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as…

  • The Coalition of the Sane and the Reasonable

    I have been using the title phrase for some time now to refer to Trump-supporting conservatives. But what makes us sane and reasonable? Victor Davis Hanson compiles a list in The Trump Counterrevolution is a Return to Sanity. In an earlier post I referred to the take-back of our country as a National Sanitation Project,…

  • Elections Have Consequences

    Conservatives are hobbled by their virtues, one of which is civility: we are loathe to "give as good as we get." But now that our side has power, we must not hesitate to use it against our political enemies. The destructive swine will squeal but we should show them no mercy.  There must be no…

  • Should Trump Use the DOJ Against his Enemies?

    Would it be 'revenge' or would it be a wholly justifiable upholding of the rule of law?  Would success be 'revenge' enough, as Trump has suggested? His enemies accused him of violating 'norms' when they themselves violated the norms that matter, those rooted in the rule of law and the Constitution. Doing so, they engaged…