thoughts in and out of season
Guys like Julius Caesar and Hegel got places by dividing things into three parts, so I thought I’d do my own three-part division of liberal tyranny:
Here’s my contribution to The Great Purge: The Deformation of the Conservative Movement Paperback , co-edited by Paul Gottfried and Richard Spencer.
The Closing of the Ring
by James Kalb
What “political correctness” means is that there are more and more topics that cannot be discussed in reputable circles, even among those who say they … More ...
Why do some people say that America is the First Universal Nation when the Muslim Umma is already the first Universal Nation? To me it seems like a bad idea to imitate the Muslims.… More ...
Here are some further unsystematic thoughts noted down while reading Political Liberalism:
As punishment for my sins (which must be scarlet indeed) I’ve been obliged once again to read John Rawls’s Political Liberalism. Some comments (further comments as always are welcome):
While I was preparing to give a talk about law, I did a little reading on the philosophy of law. One thing that struck me was what might be called the “external” point of view taken in current thought on the subject.
Here’s a quote from Blackstone:
… More ...This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind
In an email discussion a Lefty said:
… More ...The religious right believes promiscuity is bad because the Supreme Being and Creator of the Universe doesn’t like it, never has and never will. The left believes it’s good or bad depending on the consequences on this earth, in this lifetime, and those are going to change over
The tyranny of liberalism is mostly a tyranny of ideas. It’s not completely disembodied, of course. Like every tyranny it’s run in a way consistent with the tyrants’ power and profit. The professional and managerial classes and bureaucratic and financial interests that maintain it benefit from the conversion of informal traditional arrangements into bureaucratic and … More ...
What is liberalism?
The view that equal freedom is the highest public standard, and that society should be a rational arrangement to put that standard into effect.
How can liberalism be tyrannical?
“Tyranny” is usurped and abused power. The goals of liberalism are comprehensive, and it views them as a simple matter of justice and … More ...
I was discussing America, the Constitution, the liturgy and the Roman Catholicism with an Anglican and Americanist friend. It occurred to me that the issues were all related, so I decided I’d put them somewhat together. On the liturgy I said (in an edited way):
… More ...My vote for the Novus Ordo for now would be