What does America have to complain about? by Charles Murray

What does America have to complain about? by Charles Murray

The central truth of my pessimism is that the ideal behind the American project, of free people living under a benevolent limited government, is never going to reach maturity. It is dead. The central truth of my optimism is that government is still at the periphery of my daily life — that I can live in the presence of Supreme Court justices who exasperate me, bureaucrats who enrage me, members of Congress who seem devoid of courage and principle, and a president who in my opinion is in need of some really good meds — and nonetheless go about living a wonderful life through the institutions of family, community, vocation and faith that are the wellsprings of human happiness.

Despite a very pessimistic outlook, Murray finds many reasons for optimism. We need this.

C. S. Lewis and the Great War by Joseph Loconte

C. S. Lewis and the Great War by Joseph Loconte

What Lewis found was something the Great War nearly destroyed for him: an explanation for his deepest longing, the desire for joy. What he discovered, from his own careful study of the gospels, helped him cast off his doubts: a vision of God’s grace as well as his holiness. Here, in the life and teachings of Jesus, was “the only comfort” as well as “the supreme terror.”

I love C.S. Lewis so much. Everything he says is so deep and so original. Reading about his conversion and experience in the war just gives me deeper insight into him.

In the Footsteps of Brasidas by MIguel Monjardino

In the Footsteps of Brasidas by MIguel Monjardino

Courage, resiliency, and adaptation take practice. Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War demonstrates how crucial the social, economic, and political contexts are for making informed political choices. Understanding this is vital for the Hoplites, Argonauts, Helots, and Barbarians of the Republic, most of whom will pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level. They belong to the Google Generation and are fully digital. But as Joseph E. Aoun writes in his book Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, we all need a new type of literacy. Data and information are not enough for a good education in a free society.

This kind of immersion in the classics is so desperately needed to sustain a free population.

The Dark Side of the Enlightenment by Yoram Hazony

The Dark Side of the Enlightenment by Yoram Hazony

This view of “reason”—and of its power, freed from the shackles of history, tradition and experience—is what Kant called “Enlightenment.” It is completely wrong. Human reason is incapable of reaching universally valid, unassailably correct answers to the problems of science, morality and politics by applying the methods of mathematics.

Although I believe what we call The Enlightenment has many great features, it definitely deserves a clear-headed rethinking.

Why Giant High Schools Just Can’t Help Messed-Up Kids by Auguste Meyrat

Why Giant High Schools Just Can’t Help Messed-Up Kids by Auguste Meyrat

Contrary to popular belief, large schools actually discourage cliques and hierarchies. To maintain stability and order, administrators and teachers leave less and less freedom to students: passing periods and lunch periods are shortened, talking discouraged, and associations supervised through larger, more time-consuming extracurricular programs. Life for students is highly regimented.

 Indeed, some liken this to prison. Someone watches them not just during school hours, but after and before the school day as well. Does this mean critics are right to point out that school officials hope to marginalize parents’ influence and home life? Not deliberately. They simply want minimize variables that might upset the machine. To be fair, parents demand a secure, orderly environment—and, oppressive as it seems, this is what it looks like.

Brilliant must-read article on what our public schools are doing to our children.

Planned Princesshood by Faith Moore

Planned Princesshood by Faith Moore

Feminist groups want to reimagine Disney princesses in their own image, using the princesses little girls love as tools for propaganda. Planned Parenthood selling abortion as a feminine ideal is the ultimate villainous ruse. Like Snow White’s wicked stepmother, they want to offer girls a poisonous idea in a bright, appealing package.

As Dennis Prager says, "The Left destroys everything it touches."

A Gift of Grace to the United States by Lance Morrow

A Gift of Grace to the United States by Lance Morrow

I admired Martin Luther King as much as I admired any American in the twentieth century. I felt—still do—a reverence for him. Charisma is Greek for “a gift of grace.” King was a gift of grace to the United States—a country that may have been unworthy of the gift, or else unable to understand it. Toward the end of his life, blacks had given up—a bit—on King and his ways. With amiable humor, they called him “De Lawd.” 

Nice piece on the history and person of MLK.