Category: Social and Political Philosophy
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Modern Liberalism, Original Intent, and Equality
From Thomas G. West, Jaffa versus Mansfield: Does America Have a Constitutional or a "Declaration of Independence" Soul?: Modern liberalism, as John Dewey and its other originators conceived it, is the enemy of individual rights in the Founders' sense. Dewey goes so far as to say that in the context of the twentieth century, the…
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A Poke at Some Conservatives (and at Rawls’ Difference Principle)
Conservatives sometimes invoke facts as if the factuality of a fact justifies it. Rush Limbaugh: "Life is not fair." Bill O'Reilly: "We live in a capitalist society." But you can't say that life is not fair and leave it at that; for this allows the lefty to come back with, "Then let's make it fair!"…
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The Conservative Mind
Innovations are presumed guilty until proven innocent. There is a defeasible presumption in favor of traditional beliefs, usages, institutions, arrangements, techniques, and whatnot, provided they work. By all means allow the defeat of the outworn and no-longer-workable: in with the new if the novel is better. But the burden of proof is on the would-be…
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What is the Alt-Left?
Victor Davis Hanson nails down some important points. I add a bit of commentary in blue. But first a question. Do we really need the designator 'Alt-Left'? Isn't the referent of this term pretty much indistinguishable from the contemporary Left? Granted, we need to distinguish between the contemporary Left and old-time liberalism. There is not…
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What Does America First Mean?
America First does not mean that that the USA ought to be first over other countries, dominating them. It means that every country has the right to prefer itself and its own interests over the interests of other countries. This is compatible with respecting other countries' interests and right to self-determination. So America First has…
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Liberal Bias and the Political Problem of the One and the Many
A March 15 WAPO piece begins like this: "States’ rights is making a comeback, but this time it’s progressives, not slaveholders or white supremacists, raising the cry." This implies that those who for years have been speaking out for federalism and Tenth Amendment rights are either slave holders or white supremacists. I'd call that left-wing…
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Another Trump Accomplishment: Progs Now Taking Federalism Seriously
Trump is doing well despite obstructionist Dems, deep-state saboteurs, and the nay-saying nimrods of Never Trumpism. The stock market is way up, illegal immigration is way down, and a solid conservative, Neil Gorsuch, is a SCOTUS shoo in. Add to the list an incitement of interest among lefties in federalism. Calexit, Bluexit and other secessionisms…
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A New Federalism
Federalism is what I recommend to ease tensions and preserve the Union. Patrick J. Buchanan explains it well. His piece concludes: A new federalism—a devolution of power and resources away from Washington and back to states, cities, towns and citizens, to let them resolve their problems their own way and according to their own principles—may…
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The Uses of Populism
My man Hanson: The spark that ignites populist movements is not so much disparities in wealth and status (they are not always French Revolution or Bolshevik-like class-driven attempts to grab power) as rank hypocrisies: Elites condescendingly prescribe nostrums to hoi polloi, but always on the dual premise that those who are dictating will be immune…
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Is ‘Trumpism’ a Heresy?
This is so stupid as to be beyond belief: President Donald Trump exudes an ideology of "America first." There's only one problem for orthodox Christians, however — the nation may never come first, because in first place must always be Jesus Christ and his Gospel. In that sense, "Trumpism" is actually a heresy. Exudes? Does…
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Secession?
Malcolm Pollack discusses the Calexit variation of the Secessionist Gambit. He is an uncommonly good writer. My favorite sentence in the piece in question: California, after all, is the mothership of Leftism in America: of radical environmentalism, open borders, sexual libertinism, and entropic postmodernism regarding every natural category. We need to explore modes of political…
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A Religious Test for Immigration Unconstitutional? Schumer’s Lie
Many Democrats use 'unconstitutional' rather broadly to refer to anything they don't like. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) apparently favors this broad (mis)use of the term. He claimed — wait for it — that President Donald Trump's temporary ban on Muslim immigration from seven Muslim countries is "unconstitutional" because it applies a religious test. But of…
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Scott Adams’ Starting Point
Here: For new readers of this blog, my starting point is the understanding that human brains did not evolve to show us reality. We aren’t that smart. Instead, our brains create little movies in our heads, and yours can be completely different from mine. We see that situation now. Half the country thinks President Trump…
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America First
Contrary to what Kristol seems to think, America First is a notion sound and defensible and in no way depressing although it is vulgar in the root sense of the word as I will explain at the end of this entry. Herewith, some notes on what America First means, or rather, what I think it…
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The Central Dividing Line in American Politics
Here: [Samuel] Huntington is most famous for arguing in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order that the post-Cold War world would not be defined by the universalization of liberal values but by ethnic frictions within nations and civilizational clashes between them (the most volatile fault lines, he said, were between the West and Islam and…