John Locke, Closet NeverTrumper? by Mike Sabo

John Locke, Closet NeverTrumper? by Mike Sabo

Hazony argues Locke “asserts that universal reason teaches the same political truths to all human beings.” But he overlooks the crucial caveat that Locke recognizes: while such truths are accessible to anyone capable of reason, not all men have an equal capacity to use their reason. Locke would have thought it preposterous to think that the use of human reason would be widespread throughout a single civil society, much less worldwide. This is why he argued that religion, civil society, and a public sentiment that supports reason are all crucial to the perpetuation of human life. Vague hopes that the proliferation of human reason alone is enough to maintain civil society are folly—and something Locke clearly rejected.

Interesting rebuttal to the Hazony article. 

The Primal Scream of Identity Politics by Mary Eberstadt

The Primal Scream of Identity Politics by Mary Eberstadt

Anyone who’s ever heard a coyote in the desert, separated at night from the pack, knows the sound. Maybe the otherwise-unexplained hysteria of today’s identity politics is just that: the collective human howl of our time, sent up by inescapably communal creatures who can no longer identify their own.

This brilliant, (and long) article just nails what is going on in our nutty culture today!

Shootings, Wildfires, And Hurricanes Remind Us It’s Foolish To Put Safety First by Anna Mussmann

Shootings, Wildfires, And Hurricanes Remind Us It’s Foolish To Put Safety First by Anna Mussmann

Our culture values safety above all things. In the end, this teaches us to value only ourselves. The real tragedy is that as we rush about protecting our bodies, we are losing our souls.

We are worshipping at the altar of Safety with dire consequences.

Weinstein Sex Scandal Dunks Celebrity Trump Critics In Shame by David Marcus

Weinstein Sex Scandal Dunks Celebrity Trump Critics In Shame by David Marcus

Alas, the late-night comedians, the great arbiters of how we ought to live, they get quiet about Harvey. He grabbed a t-t. But he gave millions to Planned Parenthood, and hates the NRA. Kimmel and Eminem and Meyer and all the rest are complicit. I’d say shame on them, but they bask in shame. It is the water in which Hollywood celebrity swims.

The hypocrisy of Hollywood continues to stun.

Is ‘Classical Liberalism’ Conservative? by Yoram Hazony

Is ‘Classical Liberalism’ Conservative? by Yoram Hazony

The differences between the classical-liberal and conservative traditions have immense consequences for policy. Establishing democracy in Egypt or Iraq looks doable to classical liberals because they assume that human reason is everywhere the same, and that a commitment to individual liberties and free markets will arise rapidly once the benefits have been demonstrated and the impediments removed. Conservatives, on the other hand, see foreign civilizations as powerfully motivated—for bad reasons as well as good ones—to fight the dissolution of their way of life and the imposition of American values.

Brilliant insight from someone outside America who can point out what we cannot often see. 

Paying the price for breakdown of the country's bourgeois culture by Amy Wax & Larry Alexander

Paying the price for breakdown of the country's bourgeois culture by Amy Wax & Larry Alexander

All cultures are not equal. Or at least they are not equal in preparing people to be productive in an advanced economy. The culture of the Plains Indians was designed for nomadic hunters, but is not suited to a First World, 21st-century environment. Nor are the single-parent, antisocial habits, prevalent among some working-class whites; the anti-“acting white” rap culture of inner-city blacks; the anti-assimilation ideas gaining ground among some Hispanic immigrants. These cultural orientations are not only incompatible with what an advanced free-market economy and a viable democracy require, they are also destructive of a sense of solidarity and reciprocity among Americans. If the bourgeois cultural script — which the upper-middle class still largely observes but now hesitates to preach — cannot be widely reinstated, things are likely to get worse for us all.

These two are giving the answer for what ails us. Unfortunately, it cannot be said in today's culture.

Blaming Columbus Misses the Lessons of History by Patrick Mason

Blaming Columbus Misses the Lessons of History by Patrick Mason

Columbus Day is a day for us to remember that bold and courageous voyage in 1492 that lead to the first sustained contact between two very different worlds. It is a day to remember the many good things that have come out of that contact, such as the founding of the United States, the first lasting democratic-republic.

From someone with Native American heritage, he makes great points.

How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds by Nicholas Carr

How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds by Nicholas Carr

Scientists have begun exploring that question—and what they’re discovering is both fascinating and troubling. Not only do our phones shape our thoughts in deep and complicated ways, but the effects persist even when we aren’t using the devices. As the brain grows dependent on the technology, the research suggests, the intellect weakens.

It's worse than we thought...

The Blade Runner Curse and the Overestimation of Corporate Might by Jonah Goldberg

The Blade Runner Curse and the Overestimation of Corporate Might  by Jonah Goldberg

For all their alleged power, big corporations are often powerless when it comes to the simple task of surviving. As Williamson notes, “Only 67 of the firms in the Fortune 500 in 1955 remained there by 2011.”

Blade Runner apparently "curses" companies that appear in it as big, evil corporations. It seems they almost all have gone out of business. Maybe it's just the creative destruction of capitalism!