An Introduction to Conservatism for “Well-Meaning Liberals”

By |2023-11-15T05:47:05-06:00November 14th, 2023|Categories: Books, Conservatism, Economics, Government, Natural Rights Tradition, Political Philosophy, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik, Timeless Essays, Western Civilization|

Instead of considering contemporary political issues, or politicians, Roger Scruton attempts to rebuild conservatism by looking seriously at its past. Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition, by Roger Scruton (176 pages, All Points Books, 2018) In his Conservatism, An Introduction to the Great Tradition (2017), long-time Anglo-American conservative champion and author Sir Roger Scruton says [...]

The Supreme Court Ends Racial Discrimination

By |2023-07-03T10:58:28-05:00July 1st, 2023|Categories: 14th Amendment, Constitution, Equality, Senior Contributors, Supreme Court, Thomas R. Ascik|

The Supreme Court has found the race-based admission practices of both Harvard University and the University of North Carolina to be unconstitutional violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc., decided [...]

Eight Reasons to Overturn Roe v. Wade

By |2022-06-24T14:08:38-05:00June 24th, 2022|Categories: Abortion, Constitution, Senior Contributors, Supreme Court, Thomas R. Ascik, Timeless Essays|

Not only does the Supreme Court regularly overturn prior precedents, it has established rules for doing so. Here are eight reasons to overturn Roe v. Wade. With the Supreme Court's overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision, The Imaginative Conservative revisits some of its best essays on the topic of human life. With the widespread [...]

Race, Reparations, and the Courts

By |2021-06-18T15:15:25-05:00June 20th, 2021|Categories: Equality, Rule of Law, Supreme Court, Thomas R. Ascik|

The principal basis of the reparations, systemic racism, and Black Lives Matter policy agenda has been the planned and deliberate ignoring of the federal constitution (“any person”) and federal civil rights laws (“no person”), both of which create and guarantee the rights of individuals against racial discrimination by private and public institutions and programs. Now, [...]

Controlling Student Speech… On and Off Campus

By |2021-06-18T13:13:22-05:00May 19th, 2021|Categories: American Republic, Education, First Amendment, Free Speech, Government, Senior Contributors, Supreme Court, Thomas R. Ascik|

Will elementary, secondary, and university students, off campus as well as on campus, be forbidden to criticize, for example, critical race theory and the new American history curricula? And will that prohibition be extended to parents? The grandiose and centralized cradle-through-college education plans of Joe Biden and the Democratic party have now been plainly stated. [...]

A Mandate for a New Great Society?

By |2021-06-18T13:14:04-05:00April 13th, 2021|Categories: Politics, Presidency, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik|

The only apt comparisons to the Biden-Harris law-and-policy agenda are the New Deal and the Great Society. But how does the political and popular mandate for the current administration's agenda compare to those of these past programs? President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris purport both to rule expansively and permanently alter the country [...]

After Trump’s Trial, What Next for Due Process Under the Democrats?

By |2021-05-25T08:25:32-05:00March 9th, 2021|Categories: Constitution, Donald Trump, Presidency, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik|

According to the Constitution, due process, and everyday legal practice, Donald Trump did not receive a fair trial in the Senate. And beyond that: What did the impeachment trial look like? According to the Supreme Court, “Justice must satisfy the appearance of justice” (Offut v. United States). So, what’s next for the courts under Democratic [...]

Impeachment Inferno: Can President Trump Be Tried After Leaving Office?

By |2021-01-20T11:07:40-06:00January 18th, 2021|Categories: Constitution, Donald Trump, Presidency, Thomas R. Ascik|

In passing its resolution impeaching President Donald Trump just seven days before he leaves office, the House of Representatives has embarked on a new American legal, constitutional, political, and historical journey. An End Without a Means In its political haste to impeach President Trump, the House Democratic majority (along with ten Republicans) decided that an [...]

Is Derek Chauvin Truly Guilty?

By |2021-04-20T17:21:34-05:00July 19th, 2020|Categories: Justice, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik|

The police body-camera video confirms what the autopsy reports show: Derek Chauvin and his fellow officers had to subdue a large man resisting arrest, whose system was overwhelmed by the kind of drugs that routinely cause violence, and who died of a heart attack, not choking or strangulation. Along with the tens of billions of [...]

Can No One Be Left Alone? The Little Sisters of the Poor Case

By |2020-05-05T17:42:45-05:00May 5th, 2020|Categories: American Republic, Constitution, First Amendment, Government, Politics, Religion, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik|

The Catholic order of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, are apparently not little enough or poor enough to avoid governmental coercion and interference with their works of charity. For almost a decade now, they have been involved in court cases resisting governmental attempts, first federal and now state, to require them to incorporate [...]

The Dark Road From Abortion to Infanticide in American Law

By |2022-05-07T15:18:36-05:00February 3rd, 2020|Categories: Abortion, Conservatism, Donald Trump, Government, Liberalism, Politics, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik|

The contemporary frequency of parents, especially mothers, killing their children—not only newborn babies but toddlers too—is a new phenomenon. Does this have something to do with the relentless loosening of abortion laws in America since Roe v. Wade? We live in an era where we pretend that we do not know when life begins, but [...]

Debating the Benedict Option

By |2021-12-07T17:12:01-06:00November 1st, 2019|Categories: Books, Christian Living, Christianity, Culture, Senior Contributors, St. Benedict, Thomas R. Ascik|

Rod Dreher’s book, “The Benedict Option,” has gone on to become an international cultural event. Yet, today, it is not clear whether the book has had any influence on Church institutions and leadership. Has the Benedict Option then been a failure? Should other “options” be considered? Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option, a New York [...]

Juries, Judges, and Justice Thomas on Defamation

By |2019-09-15T22:17:38-05:00September 15th, 2019|Categories: American Republic, Justice, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik|

This summer saw the resolutions of two high-profile civil lawsuits involving accusations of defamation and libel against two pillars of the media-academic complex. In the suit against hyper-liberal Oberlin College, Ohio state jurors rendered a judgment against their neighbor, the college. In the other case, a lawsuit against The Washington Post, the federal district-court judge [...]

Asylum, the “Right” of Immigration, & the Rule of Law

By |2019-09-12T11:28:22-05:00March 28th, 2019|Categories: Immigration, Politics, Rule of Law, Senior Contributors, Thomas R. Ascik|

Presidents of both parties, and houses of Congress controlled by both parties, have for decades tolerated and thus implicitly encouraged and provided an incentive for illegal immigration. What has been sacrificed along the way is the rule of law. Will the federal judiciary not only change central provisions of American immigration statutory law pertaining to [...]

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