Athens and Jerusalem Revisited by Julian Geran Pilon

 Athens and Jerusalem Revisited by Julian Geran Pilon

[Leo] Strauss understood that Athens was closer to Jerusalem than many presupposed. In his 1967 essay, he concluded “[t]hat both Socrates and the prophets are concerned with justice or righteousness, with the perfectly just society which, as such, would be free of all evils.” To be sure, the two approaches define the perfectly just man differently, for 

according to Socrates, [it is] the philosopher; according to the prophets, he is the faithful servant of the Lord. The philosopher is the man who dedicates his life to the quest for knowledge of the good, of the idea of the good; what we would call moral virtue is only the condition or by-product of that quest. According to the prophets, however, there is no need for the quest for knowledge of the good: God “hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6.8).

For America to succeed, we must acknowledge that the belief in a Creator is foundational and to be encouraged so that all other forms of knowledge are grounded in truth. 

Plutocratic Socialism and the Corruption of Democracy by Mark T. Mitchell

 Plutocratic Socialism and the Corruption of Democracy by Mark T. Mitchell

The American constitutional order assumes a populace of property owners, a middle class whose virtues provide the necessary ballast to support our republic. Our founders imagined strong communities, strong families, and independent citizens capable of self-government. They knew if the people degenerated into an insolent plutocracy on the one hand and a disgruntled, insecure, proletarianized mass on the other, the American experiment in self-government would become increasingly fragile and eventually collapse.

Welcome to the Plutocratic Socialist States of America.

The return of Covid fearmongering by Toby Green and Thomas Fazi

 The return of Covid fearmongering  by Toby Green and Thomas Fazi

At this point, it really isn’t clear what advocates of these “tried and failed” restrictions hope they will achieve, given that — even in conjunction with several doses of the Covid vaccines — they haven’t been able to prevent the vast majority of people contracting Covid. As Edinburgh University’s Professor of Epidemiology Mark Woolhouse wrote in The Year the World Went Mad, lockdowns and associated non-pharmaceutical interventions cannot eliminate a virus, or even prevent infections — they can only delay them, and even then just for a short while.

Great article on the whole Covid response and what we now know.

The West needs to grow up by Paul Kingsnorth

 The West needs to grow up by Paul Kingsnorth

The antidote to this is to dig down to those foundations and begin the work of repair. We are going to have to learn to be adults again; to get our feet back on the ground, to rebuild families and communities, to learn again the meaning of worship and commitment, of limits and longing. We are, in short, going to have to grow up.

This may be the most insightful article I've read detailing the reason for the rot at the heart of our culture. 

The Right Standards for American Schools by James Hankins

 The Right Standards for American Schools by James Hankins

Without a grasp of the historical experiences of religious war, of the abuse of lordly power, of the control of labor and trade by governments, privileged individuals, and corporate bodies; without understanding how unproductive and even harmful science can be when it becomes dogmatic; without understanding the centuries of costly errors that led to Western embrace of religious freedom, freedom of expression, and economic freedom—without understanding all that, the young will never understand the reasons for preserving Western traditions. If you need an explanation for why the younger generation—the generation now beginning to take over the institutions of our society—does not value the great achievements of Western civilization, here’s your answer: they have never been taught anything about them.

Every history teacher should read this article.

How the Left was Lost by Sasha Stone

 How the Left was Lost by Sasha Stone

The Left I used to know stood up for the little guy, the working-class poor, not just those they choose to help because they are ideologically compliant. We didn’t punish or cancel artists. We didn’t censor and bully journalists. There is no doubt we have lost our way. Perhaps a massive red wave will give the Democrats a chance to collapse completely and then rebuild with new blood and a better path forward.

Great self-reflective article on what the Left has become.