|
|
by Benjamin Lockerd
After the shock of the 2016 election, liberals got a civics lesson on the electoral college established by the Constitution, and they didn’t like it. Timothy Snyder speaks for them in his new book, The Road to Unfreedom, bemoaning the fact that the founders created not a direct democracy but a republic (though he somehow avoids using this word): “In 2016, the most obvious weakness in American democracy was the disconnect between voting and results. In most democracies, it would be unthinkable that a candidate who received millions more votes than her rival would lose.” Prof. Snyder and his friends would prefer to have elections decided by the individualists in the metropolitan areas. The founders thought that the people in the vast areas outside those cities ought to have a say, and in recent elections they have done so, to the chagrin of the intellectual elites and their adherents. The scorn liberals feel for those people in the rural areas has been expressed many times and is again evident here. Those people are aware of the condescension and don’t much like it...
|
|
Grammar, Speech, Rhetoric & the Fate of
Humanity |
by Caryl Johnston
If Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy's Speech and Reality could be more widely known, especially among students of language, history, literature and all forms of what used to be called “rhetoric”—it would have the power to revolutionize and re-awaken our decadent intellectual life. Containing essays on “Articulated Speech,” “In Defense of the Grammatical Method,” “Grammar as Social Science,” “How Language Establishes Relations,” “The Individual’s Right to Speak,” among others, the book goes to the root of our toxic and debased notion of “individualism”—a notion which has been so destructive of social bonds, culture, and shared history. How does he do this? By making the statement that “an individual becomes a person by being able to represent speaker and listener both within one person.” To be able to listen is to become a “You”—to wait, to become receptive, and yes, perhaps, even a bit humble. The “You,” that is, the grammatical second person, Rosenstock remarks elsewhere, is the principle of mental health—“Life in the second grammatical person is the basis for renewal of both men and peoples, and it will remain so”...
|
|
|
|
by Thomas Ascik
In the case of United States v. Windsor, the Supreme Court found that the Constitution required formal, legal, and constitutional recognition of homosexual marriage. And yet if the Court had followed its own precedents, it would have ruled that Edith Windsor lacked the legal standing to file her original lawsuit. Ms. Windsor, a taxpayer, sued to have her estate taxes refunded. That was the basis of her standing to be in court. She had the opportunity to sue the Defense of Marriage Act only because and on the basis of her standing to seek that tax refund. Suits by plaintiffs identifying themselves as taxpayers have been almost impossible to pursue. Despite these precedents, Justice Anthony Kennedy for the Windsor majority pointedly identified Ms. Windsor’s case as a taxpayer’s suit. He said that she had “suffered a redressable injury” because she was “required to pay estate taxes from which, in her view, she was exempt” on account of the unconstitutionality of DOMA. Yet, the no-taxpayer-suits cases all concerned federal expenditures. Ms. Windsor’s suit actually concerned federal income...
|
|
|
|
by Joseph Mussomeli
Two questions should always be asked over and over again before security measures are implemented: At what point do security measures impede security? And at one point is a free people no longer free? We must never allow security personnel to have the final say in making policy. It is crucially important to rein in security advisors and not let them dictate how and where and why we live. Risk avoidance is a dangerous path to wander down unthinkingly. Imagine if we had safety personnel who could dictate and control our lives to the same degree. One simple example: every year about 30,000 Americans lose their lives in traffic accidents. This is horrible, and yet it could easily be fixed: just lower the maximum speed limit to 15 miles per hour. We would save tens of thousands of lives. The absurdity of this analogy is lost on security experts who want no losses to terrorism and other political crimes. This insistence on no losses and this excessive risk aversion impedes and curtails crucial engagement around the world... [MORE]
|
|
|
|
by Glenn Arbery
The other day, I came by chance upon an essay by the American Catholic convert, Orestes Brownson, titled the “Necessity of Liberal Education,” from 1844. His salient point is that the educated have an obligation of service to those who have not been given the leisure of a higher and deeper understanding.
Brownson makes a crucial point when he says that we need to distinguish between two understandings of service:
1) "Serve the people by devoting to the amelioration of their condition all your genius, talents, and learning"; and
2) "Serve the people by deferring to them, taking the law from them, and never presuming to contradict them, or in any respect to run counter to their judgments, convictions, or taste."
The latter understanding stems from a kind of democratizing envy, not to say consumerism. The topic remains one of lively concern to a college like ours. The whole point of an education like ours is to turn the resources of the tradition into the first and higher kind of service, which has always been respected and sought...
|
|
The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
|
|
|
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario