Category: Social and Political Philosophy
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Should Libertarians Support Open Borders?
Maybe not. It might not be in their best, long-term self-interest, assuming that they are more than a discussion society and want to see their values implemented politically. Libertarians stand for limited government, individual liberty, private property, and free markets. On these points I basically agree with them, although I am not a libertarian. But…
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Krauthammer’s Fundamental Law
Here is Krauthammer's Fundamental Law: To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil. It's cute and clever, a nice piece of journalese, but not quite right, although it gets at part of the truth. Krauthammer's 'law' conversationally implies…
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Populism and Comity
A sane and defensible populism rests on an appreciation of an insight I have aphoristically expressed as follows: No comity without commonality. There cannot be comity without a raft of shared assumptions and values, not to mention a shared language. This is why unrestricted and unregulated immigration of any and all, no matter what their…
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Patriotism and Nationalism: Dispelling Some Confusions
Robert F. Gorman: St. John Paul II, addressing the themes of nation, nationality, and patriotism, stated: “It seems that nation and native land, like the family, are permanent realities. In this regard, Catholic social doctrine speaks of ‘natural’ societies, indicating that both the family and the nation have a particular bond with human nature, which has a…
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Three Lockean Reasons to Oppose the Democrats
The main purpose of government is to protect life, liberty, and property. Subsidiary purposes are subordinate to the Lockean triad. The Democrats, however, are anti-life, anti-liberty, and anti-property. So if you value life, liberty, and property, then you must not vote for any Democrat. The Republicans in their timid way do stand for life, liberty,…
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On Voting, Discrimination, and My Type of Conservatism
My brand of conservatism includes an admixture of classical liberalism. Thus my conservatism is neither of the 'throne and altar' nor of the 'alternative right' variety. But I am open to challenge from intelligent and good-natured critics to my right. Among the intelligent and civil alt-right critics I include Jacques who writes: In your recent…
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Habermas on the Judeo-Christian Origin of Equal Rights
Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object…
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Private Property and Individual Liberty
Walter E. Williams: The essence of private property rights contains three components: the owner’s right to make decisions about the uses of what’s deemed his property; his right to acquire, keep and dispose of his property; and his right to enjoy the income, as well as bear losses, resulting from his decisions. If one or…
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The Corruption of Institutions
Without institutions, where would we be? But they are all corrupt, potentially if not actually, in part if not in whole, and constantly in need of reform. The Roman Catholic Church is no exception despite its claim to divine sanction and guidance. When an institution abandons its charter and strays from its founding purpose and substitutes…
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‘Democracy’
Are you becoming as sick of this word as I am? Fareed Zakaria complains of a threat to democracy — from the Left. Conservatives, he notes, are regularly denied a platform. If you have been following the news, you know that Stephen K. Bannon is a recent example of one denied. But how is this…
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Norm Talk
There is a lot of talk, and a slew of new books, about (democratic) norms these days and how President Trump is flouting them. Your humble correspondent has speed-read two or three of them. This crisis-of-democracy genre wouldn't exist at all if the populist revolt hadn't put paid to Hillary's (mainly merely personal) ambitions. But…
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Political Jargon: Entryism
From the New Statesman: The founding example of entryism was provided by Leon Trotsky and the “French turn”. In 1934, the Russian revolutionary persuaded his supporters to dissolve the Communist League into the Socialist Party in order to maximise their influence. The term has since been applied to any group that enters a larger organisation…
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On the Near-Orwellian Abuse of ‘Democracy’
The near-Orwellian abuse of this word should disturb you. The elitist operatives of the Deep State attempt to bring down President Donald Trump by any and all means for supposedly destroying our 'democracy' — when he was democratically elected according to the rules of our system of government, and they are not men and women 'of…
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The Purpose of Government
Michael Anton on this Fourth of July: For the founders, government has one fundamental purpose: to protect person and property from conquest, violence, theft and other dangers foreign and domestic. The secure enjoyment of life, liberty and property enables the “pursuit of happiness.” Government cannot make us happy, but it can give us the safety…
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In What Sense are We Equal? Equality, Natural Rights, and Propositionism
Michael Anton (Publius Decius Mus), in a review of Thomas G. West, The Political Theory of the American Founding speaks of an "error," . . . from a certain quarter of the contemporary Right, which holds that any appeal to equal natural rights amounts to “propositionism”—as in, the “proposition that all men are created equal”—which…