Remember, Remember, the 9th of November

By |2023-11-08T17:45:55-06:00November 8th, 2023|Categories: Bradley J. Birzer, Communism, Foreign Affairs, Freedom, History, Politics, Timeless Essays|

Socialism did not kill merely the body—it sought to extinguish the soul and all belief in anything transcendent in the human person. As we celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is time to remember and reclaim man’s oldest faith, a faith in one Almighty God who make each of us [...]

Why Did the Berlin Wall Fall?

By |2023-11-09T19:19:47-06:00November 8th, 2023|Categories: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Barbara J. Elliott, Communism, Europe, Poland, Russia, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

The Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain seemed to be permanent fixtures of the political landscape of Europe after 1961. But to everyone’s surprise, the Berlin Wall opened on November 9, 1989. This stunning event triggered a chain reaction throughout Eastern Europe, accelerating a process that had begun a decade earlier. Using a little poetic [...]

Time to Retire the Term “Progressive”?

By |2023-10-24T20:43:13-05:00October 24th, 2023|Categories: History, Politics, Progressivism|

Could I ask a small favor? Could we either retire the adjective “progressive” whenever it is used in a political context or, if not, could we apply it more universally? Confused? Stay tuned. To be sure, the word has a lengthy history In American politics. That history stretches back to the early days of the [...]

Westward Expansion: How the West was Won?

By |2023-09-26T17:40:19-05:00September 26th, 2023|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Bruce Frohnen, Foreign Affairs, Timeless Essays|

Most westward expansion was morally ambiguous, with blame and praise earned on both sides, but expansion was almost always made worse by a progressive drive on the part of the government. Our friend Brad Birzer’s musings on his trip to the West (God’s country, the home of all good men, etc.) raise some important issues. [...]

Do We Need Regime Change or a Change of Hearts?

By |2023-09-24T14:36:41-05:00September 24th, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, John Horvat, Politics|

Patrick Deneen's book “Regime Change” is curiously post-Christian. Indeed, “regime change” conjures up images of forced virtue, authoritarian actions, and rigid programs to address serious problems. But what is needed today is not a regime change but a spiritual conversion, a reorientation, a new vision of the world. What makes Patrick Deneen’s new book, Regime [...]

On Saint Patrick, Saint Augustine, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), & Us

By |2023-09-18T17:26:25-05:00September 18th, 2023|Categories: Christianity, Foreign Affairs, Saint Patrick, St. Augustine, Western Civilization|

The West's primary threat still lies in the East. And yet, like the late Romans and Byzantines—and the Roman captives whom Saint Patrick encountered—we are poised to surrender people, churches, monuments, and lands rather than stand our ground. Last Spring, I read a biographical novel about Saint Patrick. We do not have much firsthand information [...]

Local Government: The Real Bedrock of Democracy

By |2023-09-06T19:09:48-05:00September 6th, 2023|Categories: Democracy, Politics|

Local governmental bodies, and particularly school boards, have always provided a forum for direct democracy, in which citizens can openly voice their opinions. To restrict access to or participation in these forums is not only to curtail speech and political association rights, but also to substantially restrict the very nature of democracy and federalism in [...]

When Mother Teresa Came to Washington

By |2023-09-04T19:41:25-05:00September 4th, 2023|Categories: Barbara J. Elliott, Catholicism, Featured, Politics, Ronald Reagan, Sainthood, Timeless Essays, Virtue|

As I looked around that room in Washington, filled with so many powerful people, I realized that one day in Mother Teresa’s life brought more good to the face of the earth than all our efforts combined for a lifetime. It was utterly ludicrous, stepping out of a chauffeured White House limousine to go hear [...]

“The Hour of Fate”: Theodore Roosevelt & American Capitalism

By |2023-08-21T18:27:32-05:00August 21st, 2023|Categories: American Republic, Books, Capitalism, Economics, Politics, Presidency, Teddy Roosevelt, Timeless Essays|

Theodore Roosevelt was the obvious victor in both of the “battles to transform American capitalism.” He refused to do the bidding of the coal operators and instead helped engineer a compromise. American capitalism was not so much transformed as tamed in the process. The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan and the Battle to [...]

What Is Liberalism?

By |2023-08-19T09:06:54-05:00August 11th, 2023|Categories: Christendom, Christianity, Culture, Liberalism, New Polity, Politics|

While preceding generations have simply taken liberalism for granted as the given context within which we make practical judgments about many other things, the current generation seems willing to raise astonishingly bold questions regarding liberalism itself. Is it the only possible way to think about politics? Is it the “best regime”? Essential questions are “untimely” [...]

Antidote to the American Dream: Cardinal Mindszenty’s “Memoirs”

By |2023-08-06T21:28:28-05:00August 7th, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Communism, Fascism, Foreign Affairs|

József Cardinal Mindszenty's memoir is an epic of the great suffering of the Hungarian nation and of this man’s participation in it, out of his love for his people, his Church, and his God. In addition to the cruelties of totally repugnant totalitarianism, he endured abandonment by the Church, culminating in heartbreaking treatment by the [...]

Patrick Deneen on the Need for Regime Change

By |2023-08-01T15:47:15-05:00August 1st, 2023|Categories: American Republic, Books, Community, Liberalism, Politics|

Political philosopher that he is, Patrick Deneen is preoccupied with the eternal question of the few versus the many. How to balance their interests? How to reconcile their differences? He hopes that a “mixed regime” will force the few and the many to learn from each other, while correcting the abuses and excesses of each [...]

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