Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Political Tactics

  • Rights and Needs

    You can have a right to a thing whether or not you have or will have a need for it. So the best response to the leftist who asks, "Why do you need a gun?" is wrong question! Stop the pointless conversation right there. "The question is not whether I need one; the question is…

  • Is the January 6th ‘Insurrection’ the Left’s Reichstag Fire?

    I put the title question to an historian. Here is his response: It is not too far of a stretch to consider January 6th as the Left’s Reichstag fire, in that the Left is portraying the former event, chaotic but minor, as a serious insurrection against the Republic, the very Republic that the Left despises, as…

  • Thomas Klingenstein on Trump’s Virtues

    Outstanding! Memorize it and propagate it. I am very happy to have discovered Klingenstein. He is right on target. Here is a short (4:28) explanation of the war we are in. This is the truth. Face it!

  • Identity Politics: Is it Possible to Remain Classically Liberal?

    There is an identity politics of the Left and an identity politics of the Right. The second kind became obvious to me when, after objecting to the tribalism of blacks, Hispanics, and other racial/ethnic groups, and after calling for a transcending of tribalism, I was countered by certain alt-rightists/neo-reactionaries who reject any such transcending and…

  • The Dialogue Form

    Scott Johnson, Learning from Euthydemus: The dialogue form is conducive to venturing otherwise forbidden thoughts in a time of persecution. The form might usefully be employed to address the shibboleths shoved down the throats of students like Euthydemus in our own day. Let us have our best teachers turn to the dialogue form with students…

  • 2A and the Origin of Rights

    Your right to defend your life with appropriate means is not conferred by the State and would not be affected by repeal of 2A. That right is no more conferred by the State than the right to life from which the right to self-defense follows. The same holds for all of the rights specified in…

  • The Orwellian Abuse of Approbatives: ‘Democracy’

    An approbative word or phrase is one the conventional use of which indicates an approving or appreciative attitude on the part of the speaker or writer.  The opposite is a pejorative.  'Democracy' and 'racism' as currently used  in the USA and elsewhere in the Anglosphere are examples of the former and the latter respectively. If…

  • Real or Fake, Leftists Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

    The Left not only exploits real problems for its political gain, it also manufactures problems for the same purpose. COVID-19 is real and so is Putin's war against Ukraine. But both are being used by the left to advance its agenda. We may reasonably differ about the extent to which these unfortunate developments have been…

  • Yes, I Repeat Myself

    Leftists constantly repeat their brazen lies in the hope that eventually they will be taken for truths. So we of the Coalition of the Sane and the Reasonable need constantly to repeat truths. Not our truths, for there is no such thing as 'our' truth or 'my' truth or 'your' truth.' Truth is not subject…

  • Real and Merely Apparent Incoherence on the Left: Four Examples

    1) Leftists, supposedly 'for women,' champion the right of biological males to compete in female sporting events. The incoherence here is real and rooted in the conflict between opposing leftist commitments. On the one hand, leftists champion the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the marginalized, even when the latter  bear the lion's share of the responsibility…

  • The Biden Inflation Octopus

    He looks like a farmer because he is one.  He invariably talks sense.  No deracinated globalist, he is rooted, grounded, and  'based' — to stoop to an unnecessary innovation in current lingo.  He's my man, Hanson: The Democrats will suffer historic losses in the November midterms.  This disaster for their party will come about not…

  • Three Lockean Reasons to Oppose the Democrats

    The main purposes of government are to protect life, liberty, and property. Subsidiary purposes are subordinate to the Lockean triad. This is lost on the present-day  Democrat party which has been hijacked by the hard Left.  Despite what they say, they are anti-life, anti-liberty, and anti-property. So if you value life, liberty, and property, then…

  • Use it or Lose it?

    Substack latest. 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, the…

  • Why I Will not Support my Alma Mater: An Open Letter

    2 November 2021   Cheryl Mott Smith Executive Director Gift Planning Loyola Marymount University cheryl.smith@lmu.edu   Dear Cheryl Mott Smith,   I am an LMU graduate, class of '72. I am now in a position to make substantial monetary contributions to causes I deem worthy. LMU will not be on my list. As a classical…

  • Opponents or Enemies?

    If you shrink back from regarding your political opponents as enemies, you do not appreciate the threat they pose. You are not taking them seriously enough. They pose an existential threat. Such a threat is not merely a threat to one's physical existence; it is a threat to one's way of life, to one's cultural…