Liberty And Culture

Locke as Subversive?

2012-01-22T17:08:00.004-05:00

The Founding Fathers revered John Locke, the Whig philosopher and supporter of the Glorious Revolution. Classical liberal thought is founded on his political philosophy. The preamble of the Declaration of Independence is a summary of Locke's philosophy of natural rights. Both libertarians and conservatives held Locke in highest esteem, the latter seeking to conserve the founding principles of our

Anti-Anti-Islam

2011-09-11T18:43:00.003-04:00

Back in 2006 I mentioned how anti-anti-Islam is like anti-anti-Communism--an attack on the critics that substitutes for a defense of the indefensible. I explore this in greater detail in my article at American Thinker. I could continue this with an inordinate fear of Islamophobia--Islamophobiaphobia--except that would dignify the anti-concept of Islamophobia. Read my article to see why.

Cultural Genocide

2011-07-25T15:51:00.006-04:00

As expected the European establishment is using the attack by Breivik to further suppress debate and criticism of the growing Islamic problem within Europe. They already deploy legal punishments for criticizing Islam (witness the trial of Geert Wilders) as well as other forms of intimidation. It is times like these that we should remember Kipling’s words:If you can bear to hear the truth you've

War Before Civilization

2010-11-14T12:34:00.009-05:00

Rousseau famous thesis, that "peaceful primitive man" is corrupted by civilization, continues to permeate our culture and undermine our moral confidence. Anthropologist Lawrence H. Keeley demolishes this thesis in his book War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage. He shows that “prehistoric warfare was in fact more deadly, more frequent, and more ruthless than modern war.”To come

What Makes America American?

2010-08-31T21:17:00.002-04:00

Von Steuben has some thoughts on the matter. “Americans may belong more to the West than to Asia, but they are not Europeans, they are different. Nobody expressed this better than the great Prussian officer sent by the French to instill some discipline in Washington’s ragtag troops at Valley Forge in 1775. He was Baron von Steuben: ‘The genius of this nation is not in the least to be compared

Update

2010-07-28T10:13:00.003-04:00

My original purpose in starting this blog was to address the cultural decay that underlies the retreat from the principles that made our country great. In the course of describing the threats our nation faces today, I found the inability to critique foreign cultures and the threats emanating from ideologies hostile to our core values wasn’t limited to the hard core left. Even many of my comrades

Fight for Geert Wilders

2010-01-17T12:07:00.009-05:00

Amazingly, Geert Wilders still faces persecution in Holland for speaking the truth about Islam.“It is irrelevant whether Wilder’s witnesses might prove Wilders’ observations to be correct”, the ‘Openbaar Ministerie’ stated, “what’s relevant is that his observations are illegal”.Holland is proving the Pappas exclusion principle. It is becoming clear that Islam and liberty can not both exist in the

Stand Up For Geert Wilders!

2009-01-26T21:06:00.013-05:00

Geert Wilders, an outspoken critic of Islam, is facing criminal charges by the Dutch government for expressing his opinion. We must come to the aid of this great patriot. We owe it to Geert, to Holland, and to ourselves.Holland was once the home to liberty's founders and defenders. In the 17th century Hugo Grotius advocated religious tolerance and natural law. Holland gave haven to Spinoza’s

Rogues' Island Nation

2008-10-06T15:40:00.002-04:00

Prior to the United States constitution each state was essentially a nation unto itself. Most state governments were overwhelmingly dominated by the legislature. Democracy was unrestrained or if the state constitution had a bill of rights is was what Madison called a “parchment barrier” that was easily ignored when inconvenient. The will of the people was unfettered and impassioned.In New England

Bailout?

2008-09-29T21:54:00.013-04:00

Sometimes others just say it better:Dick Armey on voting no to the bailout.Thomas Sowell on bailout politicians.Alex Epstein on bailouts without reform.Robert Bidinotto on the bailout and the crisis.Martin Masse on the bailout as socialism.Yaron Brook: stop the bailouts.Edward Cline on the history of bailouts, etc.Jeff Perren comments on several aspects of the problem.John Allison against helping

Remember Fort Mims

2008-09-11T01:39:00.000-04:00

One the seventh anniversary of 9/11 I have to sadly report that this day will not live in infamy—not if today’s historians are any indication. Historians will one day argue that we brought death and destruction to Afghanistan and Pakistan for dishonorable reasons. There will be no reference to the WTC attack or the 3000 deaths.Hard to imagine?This past weekend, PBS presented a biography of the

Native Americans in our Nation's Early Years

2008-08-13T09:41:00.006-04:00

I have finished my review of the conflict with aboriginal Americans during the first 50 years of our nation’s history. This history is lost and buried; it has been obscured by contemporary multi-cultural sensibilities. Nevertheless, I have endeavored to extract this history from a combination of contemporary and classic secondary histories of the period because I’ve found no one source that does

Washington's Indian Policy: the Ideal

2008-06-30T20:31:00.001-04:00

At our country’s founding, the most pressing military problem facing the first administration of our “more prefect union” was not the imperialistic Europeans across the ocean but the aboriginal tribes forming the Indian nations west of the Appalachians. Henry Knox, our first Secretary of War, was the major architect of our Indian policy. In which was to be considered a controversial policy, he

Remember Fort Mims!

2008-06-29T06:35:00.002-04:00

Two hundred years ago we responded to savage attacks on civilization in a very different way. It is worth looking at the war on terrorism during the early days of our republic and the nation's response to the 9/11 of its day. Below I describe the Fort Mims Massacre and our immediate response. I'll continue to describe the changes in policy that followed in future articles.

Andrew Jackson and the Creek War

2008-06-28T15:39:00.000-04:00

When Andrew Jackson arrived in Nashville in October of 1788 it was a frontier town with a few stores, several taverns, two churches and a distillery. Warring among Creeks, Shawnee, and Choctaws, had left this fertile land uninhabited until arrival of settlers a decade before. Now a small town of a few hundred inhabitants it was continually terrorized by Indians. The settlements “lost a man, woman

Jackson’s Indian Policy

2008-06-27T23:01:00.001-04:00

To understand Andrew Jackson’s Indian policy it is necessary to understand his view of the proper role of the federal government, the constitution, and the rights of the states. Jackson’s self-proclaimed political philosophy was anti-federalist in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson. He was a strict constitutionalist, as the term is currently used. He was an ardent defender of the Union as the only

The Original Trail of Tears

2008-06-25T22:59:00.000-04:00

Jackson’s life spanned the early years of our nation's history from a loose association of rebellious colonies that hugged the Atlantic coast, to the emergence of a major continental power about to extend its reach to the Pacific. He lived to see the election of James Polk (“Young Hickory”) but not Polk's incorporation of Oregon, California, and the vast South West. Physically the nation matured

From Washington to Jackson: the Expansion West

2008-06-24T07:50:00.000-04:00

Washington and Jackson viewed westward expansion as necessary to the growth of the country. Both knew the frontier firsthand where the expansion of civilization was challenged by the savagery of the aboriginal inhabitants. When Washington was President and Jackson a young man the frontier lay beyond the Allegany and included the western parts of the great states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, North

And the Expansion South

2008-06-23T23:13:00.007-04:00

Jackson’s racked-up victory after victory: Talladega, Horseshoe Bend, Pensacola, Mobile, and finally New Orleans in 1815, where the spectacular defeat of the British is a legendary triumph in American military history. Even though it technically occurred after the Treaty of Ghent, it was a morale boost for the nation and career boost for Jackson.With hindsight, one can argue that the War of 1812,

Tocqueville on American Indians

2008-06-01T09:08:00.000-04:00

The plight of the Indians in the first third of the 19th century is captured by an astute foreign observer during his study of American culture. Alexis de Tocqueville has an extensive description in chapter 18 of book 1 of his monumental study “Democracy in America.” It is worth considering his description as it differs completely from the highly politicized narratives of the last thirty years.De

Codevilla on Statecraft

2008-04-30T10:14:00.002-04:00

Codevilla has written another thought provoking essay on our war policy that goes beyond the standard boilerplate posturing of mainstream politicians. He’s a critic of our policy of nations-building and the on-going occupation of Iraq. “Because the U.S. government's occupation of Iraq violated the principles of statecraft, America is on the verge of losing a crucial round in that long war.” To

Freedom of Speech and the Islamic Threat

2008-03-31T07:01:00.014-04:00

Freedom of speech is under assault. First and foremost is the threat to Wafa Sultan (hat/tip AOW). Like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, she is a vocal critic of Islam. Very few step forward to speak the truth; few of us become public figures. The blessings of liberty that we, as listeners and readers require if the truth is to prevail, can only be as secured by protecting the few brave souls

History Repeating Itself

2008-03-16T17:41:00.005-04:00

In the aftermath of the dissolution of the First Bank of the United States the individual states continued to charter and regulate banks. Paul Johnson writes [P285]: “Each state bank was allowed by the state legislature to issue bills up to three times its capital … literally a license to print money. During the War of 1812 America was awash with suspect $2 and $5 bills … Such gold as there was

Muslim Women Expose Islam

2008-03-07T23:32:00.005-05:00

Muslim and ex-Muslim women are in the forefront of exposing the threat of Islam. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one notable example. Wafa Sultan is another courageous woman speaking out against injustice.Defending those who criticize Islam in the West, she says:“Any belief that chops off the heads of its critics is doomed to turn into terrorism and tyranny. This has been the condition of Islam, from its

"I Hate Islam"

2008-03-04T22:30:00.006-05:00

From the New York Times:"After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.'I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us,' said Sara, a

Pakistan Censors the World?

2008-02-25T22:41:00.001-05:00

Upset with the trailors for a film on Islam by the Dutch politician and filmaker, Geert Wilders, Pakistan disrupts YouTube worldwide. From AP:"On Friday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority ordered 70 Internet service providers to block access to YouTube.com, because of anti-Islamic movies on the video-sharing site, which is owned by Google Inc.The authority did not specify what the

War Then and Now

2008-02-23T11:38:00.004-05:00

Diana West: (Hat Tip: Nicholas Provenzo )"Writing in the Winter 2007-08 issue of the Objective Standard, John David Lewis offers an illuminating analysis of another U.S. occupation, this one thoroughly successful, in Japan (1945-1952). President Bush, of course, frequently refers to the democratization of Japan as a model for the democratization of Iraq (and the wider Islamic Middle East). But,

Hollywood Then and Now

2008-02-01T10:57:00.000-05:00

Andrew Klavan reminds us of the days when Hollywood was patriotic and what it has become today. From Libertas: Our Founding redefined nationhood along social-contract lines that Europeans can still only theorize about. Our love of nation at its best was ethical, not ethnic. Our patriotism was loyalty not to race, or even to tradition, but to ideals of individual liberty and republican

Another Form of Cultural Relativism

2008-01-12T11:46:00.001-05:00

Are we a slave to our culture? Is our culture fixed? Are our cultural virtues and values right for us and only us? Is there no objective right and wrong inherent in human nature?These questions were debated in Athens during the 4th century BC. The Greeks were aware that other cultures had different values. They asked what is true by nature and what is true by convention? The Sophists argued it is

Ali vs. Harris

2008-01-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

Ayaan Hirsi Ali takes on Lee Harris and wins in the first round. In a new book Harris examines the West and declares that its main problem is its reliance on reason. Harris gives his reasons in a recent article on the conservative website, TCS Daily. Harris’ final paragraph sums it up: “In a world that absurdly overrates the advantage of sheer brain power, no one wants to be seen as a member

The New Religion

2008-01-04T13:54:00.000-05:00

Socialism is often described as a religion that replaces God with society. Socialism is passé; in concentrated form it has led to the deaths of over 150 million. Besides, socialism, as the word suggests, is too people-focused for the adherents of the newest form of transcendental experience. John Baden explains it here: “All religions have a litany and the Greens have theirs. We are sinners

The Tribal Roots of Islam

2007-12-13T16:19:00.000-05:00

Anthropologist Philip Carl Salzman analyzes Islam by examining its origin. He shows many of the cultural conditions that influenced the formation of this religious political ideology are still operative today. These include tribalism and its distinctive honor dynamics; conquests, domination, and the need to humiliate; warmongering and seeking validation in military victory. For example: “Only

Which Country Is This?

2007-12-06T15:37:00.000-05:00

Today, the President proposed that the government nullified contractual agreements, an action that obliterates the rule of law. The measure he introduced relieves home owners from paying interest on adjustable mortgages upon rate-reset as required by the mortgage contract.Why stop there? If he wants to be popular why not exempt borrowers from any interest payment? Why not exempt them from

The Right's Response and the Right Response

2007-12-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

NRO symposium on the Teddy-bear Intifada has some modest proposals but they don’t go far enough. In response to the alleged insult, we should deliberately and emphatically insult Islam: it is a vicious supremacist ideology that has brought 14 centuries of oppression. As I once explained, what we need and what is missing is a moral condemnation. We should not be intimidated into silence; we should

The Real Insult

2007-11-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

English school teacher was arrested and threatened with torture for calling a Teddy Bear “Muhammad” in a Sudanese school. This gentle teacher, appearing “shaken and ashen-faced” was led to Sudanese court today to face charges of insulting Islam and using hate speech. The school was shut “to avoid protests like those that greeted the publication of notorious cartoons of the Muslim prophet in a

Our "George Mason"

2007-11-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

It’s been several years since I first met “George Mason” and his wife “Cubed” in our virtual world. The clarity of their thought and the relief that others understood the nature of Islam’s threat kept me coming back to their suite of websites for intellectual and moral insight. Those of us who started blogging in the winter of ’04-’05 enjoyed George’s and Cubes comments from the beginning. Indeed

Let's Give Thanks

2007-11-21T19:29:00.000-05:00

Ralph Peters, in his latest column, praises the individuals responsible for the success our troops have had in the Iraqi theatre over the last half year. Peters: “The tenacity of our soldiers and Marines in the face of mortal enemies in Iraq and blithe traitors at home is the No. 1 reason why Iraq has turned around.”Ralph, who is usually critical of the brass, singles out the exceptions: “Key

Elizabeth

2007-11-01T10:43:00.000-04:00

It is amusing to see a passing reference in National Review to the movie Elizabeth: the Golden Age as a “Catholic-bashing costume party.” Having seen the movie I don’t remember any discussion of theology (although the costumes were excellent.) I generally find movies inferior to the theatre because of the lack of dialogue and scant verbalization of the character’s thoughts. After all, it’s

Islam is Islamo-Fascism

2007-10-25T14:55:00.001-04:00

As part of the “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” David Horowitz tried to give a talk at Emory University. Prevented from speaking by thugs in the audience, he finally had to be whisked away by security. Horowitz said, “I've spoken at Emory University several times and I've never seen it this bad … This is exactly what the fascists did in Germany in the 1930s.” (Hat Tip LA). Lawrence Auster

Unholy Alliance Revisited

2007-10-16T14:17:00.001-04:00

The children of Che Guevara were in Iran joining forces with the jihad when an Iranian speaker said that Che was “a truly religious man who believed in God and hated communism and the Soviet Union.” At this point Che’s daughter, Aleida, said “My father never mentioned God; He never met God.” (H/T Fausta.)The Guevara children were quickly

Individualism, Capitalism, Egoism

2007-10-15T10:55:00.000-04:00

Venezuela’s government follows the standard communist line that holds the state must mold a “new man” for socialism. The Economist notes: “Venezuelan parents can have any schooling they like for their children—so long as it's red.” Chavez launches a new campaign aimed at “the formation of the new man.” He says, “The old values of individualism, capitalism and egoism must be demolished. New values

Atlas at Fifty

2007-10-10T11:20:00.001-04:00

Fifty years after the publication of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s controversial philosophy continues to inspire its readers. Alan Greenspan, a long-term admirer, gives an accurate summary of her philosophy in his recently published autobiography. No summary, however, can do justice to Rand’s original ideas and her grand synthesis; but I’d like to give an indication of

The Dream of Moderate Islam

2007-10-05T09:53:00.000-04:00

A reader mentions the debate surrounding Ayaan’s Reason interview. The question is whether there is or can be a moderate Islam. In the debate between Daniel Pipes and Lawrence Auster, I’ve taken Auster’s side that Islam can’t be moderate. I’ve discussed it further here and suggested that Muslims can moderate by becoming secular. In the recent Reason interview Ayaan is clear: Reason: So when

Whither Conservatism?

2007-09-22T21:56:00.000-04:00

Robert Bidinotto’s article, “Up from Conservatism” has been nominated for an Eddie for best single article in a publication of a non-profit organization. Bidinotto explains why conservatism can’t or won’t stop the growth of government and steady loss of individual liberty. And why it never could.Among the problems are hostility to explicit principles, an admission that reason can’t support its

Knowledge Isn't the Point?

2007-09-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

The New York Sun reports that: "Students at many of the country's most prestigious colleges and universities are graduating with less knowledge of American history, government, and economics than they had as incoming freshmen, with Harvard University seniors scoring a 'D+' average on a 60-question multiple-choice exam about civic literacy. ..."Prof Eric Foner is unperturbed. "'History has a

Sowell Reviews Agresto

2007-09-19T08:47:00.000-04:00

One of the themes of this blog is that cultural change is a painstakingly slow process. As my masthead notes liberty – individual rights – was the result of a tradition going back millennia. This is why I questioned nations-building. In an early post, back in 2005, I noted that “the generosity of the American people is praiseworthy and the mission is honorable” but in nations-building “we are

Appeasement Continues

2007-08-08T09:09:00.000-04:00

We continue our fifty years of appeasement of Arab and Islamic enemies. Diana West points out that few in Washington are outraged at our government's selling state-of-the-art weapons to the leading sponsor of Sunni terrorism, Saudi Arabia (Update: Glick). It goes from bad to worse. Both parties are politically and intellectually bankrupt. There's room here for new and bold leadership. But who?

Who Supports the Troops?

2007-07-10T20:25:00.000-04:00

One of the most important issues after when to fight a war is how to fight. Regardless of whether one agrees that Iraq or Afghanistan or Iran or Kosovo is the place to fight, one must support our troops by allowing them to fight to the fullest. They must be allowed to defend themselves first and foremost. Previously, Cubed, has written on the topic. Brook and Epstein published an important piece

Follow the Links

2007-06-26T09:32:00.000-04:00

These quotes may encourage you to read the whole article. You'll be better for it!Vaclav Klaus: "As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism, not in communism. This ideology wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a

Secretary of What State?

2007-06-19T08:55:00.000-04:00

Condi Rice has pledged $86 million to Fatah, the Palestinian terror organization formerly headed by Yasser Arafat. Condi’s claim, that Fatah is a moderate bulwark against Hamas, hinges on Arafat’s tradition of lying through his teeth while supporing Israel’s destruction with wave after wave of suicide bombing. That Fatah and Hamas are made of the same cloth is undeniable. Hamas just refuses to

Nuclear Attack On American Soil?

2007-06-12T16:12:00.000-04:00

A few recent articles briefly broach the topic of a nuclear attack on America. Given that an attack on an American city is a religious aspiration of our jihadist enemy, the near silence on this topic points to the difficulty we have facing the threat. The threat isn’t a technology; it is an enemy likely to use this technology which raises the difficulty we have discussing the problem. The enemy

The Blame-America Libertarians

2007-05-27T22:54:00.000-04:00

One wouldn’t normally comment on the absurd notion, put forth by one Ron Paul, that we brought the Islamic attack of 9/11 on ourselves; but the Paulist version comes from an obscure source on the right and is worth noting in passing. First let me note that I argued that the cause of 9/11 is religious in origin. The Paulist faction of the libertarian movement holds that these attacks were the

Let's Take Them On!

2007-05-08T14:45:00.000-04:00

Ayaan Hirsi Ali spoke to a libertarian audience today, at the Waldorf-Astoria. Her opening line was: if I were talking to a Muslim audience the first thing I would say is “Islam is bad for you.” But instead she wanted to remind us about what is right about the West and why we need to fight for our core principles.The freedom of Holland allowed her to leave Islam and live a much better life. Yet

The Second Amendment

2007-04-22T09:11:00.000-04:00

I haven’t posted much recently in part because others are saying what needs to be said. In the past I tended to contribute to the debate when I thought others were missing a point or an emphasis was misplaced. I usually don’t talk about specific legal matters or individual acts but one concern that continues to resurface and which reveals the sorry state of today's debate is the 2nd

Cicero on Private Property

2007-03-26T12:03:00.000-04:00

Cicero’s views on private property reveal in a nutshell his political worldview. In De Officiis he continually returns to the topic to reiterate that the “right of ownership is inalienable” (Book I paragraph 37). His reasons are rooted in natural law and the “laws of human society” (I 21) but his exposition has a very different emphasis from contemporary libertarian arguments. Instead of the

Limited War

2007-03-25T22:08:00.000-04:00

In Clausewitz Revisted, the author, Tom Snodgrass, argues that we are fighting a limited war and that is a losing proposition.

The Anglosphere

2007-03-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

Interesting thought: “…almost all the advances of freedom in the 20th century have been made by the English-speaking peoples — Americans especially, but British, as well, and also … Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders.”I remember a similar quote at the end of this article: "... the values that made America, and our sister nations of the Anglo-sphere, civilization’s bulwark against tyranny

What the Subprime Crisis Shows

2007-03-16T10:17:00.000-04:00

Here we go again. In any economic upheaval the government seeks scapegoats. Today it is the “subprime lenders.” A good economic analysis takes into account all simultaneous interacting factors and this is extremely difficult. But let me take a stab at it.The structural problems with the housing market stem from over-regulation. Zoning and anti-growth laws limit supply in the face of demand

Culture Is the Explanation

2007-03-15T11:04:00.001-04:00

The centrality of culture doesn’t mean that other elements – economics, war, natural disasters, plague – don’t play a role in the evolution of human societies. My thesis is that a healthy culture is robust; it can deal with unforeseen challenges.Most historians focus on events. Implicit in this analysis is a rejection of identity: it isn’t the character of a nation, the culture or dominant

The 300

2007-03-12T11:35:00.000-04:00

I haven't had time to see the 300 yet. Some rave: VDH TH JA. Some have reservations: RB. We'll just have to see it and decide. Update: superlative review: GJ. Update2: but wait: DF.

Ayaan Again

2007-03-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

During the Motoon uproar last year the general response was that free speech should be defended but the cartoons should be condemned. I argued that the cartoons are in essence true and should be defended not grudgingly but with the full vigor that one fights for the truth as well as fighting for the right to speak one’s mind. Almost no one talked about “fighting for the truth” as if that were a

Cicero on Man, Society, and Nature

2007-03-05T10:28:00.000-05:00

Cicero’s moral philosophy had a profound influence on Western philosophy and he was a major influence on our founding fathers. Yet he is almost completely ignored by professional philosophers today. His best thoughts were absorbed by other philosophers. Here’s a small sample of the ideas in his once widely-read treatise on ethics: De Officiis.Following the Stoics, the core driver of ethical

India and Her Critics

2007-03-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

Amity Shlaes notes that India’s phenomenal 9% yearly growth has its critics: leftist egalitarians. Unhappy that some succeed as long as others struggle, egalitarians damn India’s capitalist-driven success on moral grounds. This, of course, is part of a pattern. Israel has created a vibrant economy and liberal democracy, but is damned because so-called Palestinian Arabs are as poor as those in

Honor in Western Civilization

2007-02-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

In our last post we discussed honor in Arab culture. A few brief remarks on the notion of honor in Western culture makes for an interesting contrast.The dynamic of honor and shame originates in the tribal need to bind the individual to the group’s norms; it dominates in more primitive orders but still has a subsidiary role in all societies. In Ancient Sparta, a warrior was expected to return from

Arab Honor and Shame

2007-02-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

Stanley Kurtz has an article in the National Review on honor and shame in Arab culture. He notes that the preference for the marriage of cousins “serves as a fail-safe protective device to secure collective family honor, and linked the honor-based function of cousin marriage to a broader appreciation of super-charged, in-group solidarity as a social strategy.” Recently it was reported that

It Takes An Individual

2007-02-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

In a review of Ayaan’s autobiography, Claire Berlinski writes: “The curious thing, however, is not that Ms. Hirsi Ali came to reject Islam and embrace modernity, but that she seems to be one of so few immigrants to Europe to do so.” Why is this odd? Dogmatic religion is antithetical to independent thought. Muslims around the world maintain a duty-bound slavish devotion to their religious

Denmark the Model

2007-02-11T21:17:00.000-05:00

Over at Gates of Vienna, the dynamic duo has been blogging on the anti-Islamic resistance in … Denmark. There may be those that would write-off Europe as hopelessly submissive in the face of the Islamic threat (i.e. Mark Steyn) or fearful that Europe will become a repeat of the 1930s (i.e. Ralph Peters). A more likely course of action is emerging in Denmark.In “The Danish Model” the Baron notes

Why do we fund Islamic terrorists?

2007-02-09T16:11:00.000-05:00

“Hamas and its rival movement Fatah signed a deal on Thursday … hoping this would lead Western powers to lift crippling sanctions imposed on the Hamas-led government …” the New York Times reports. Why is our government contemplating funding these savage Islamic terrorists?Remember when our government was going to turn over port operations to a UAE subsidiary? There was an instant outcry. How can

Russian Bear Opens an Eye?

2007-02-08T09:21:00.000-05:00

The New York Sun argues that Russia is returning to her old ways by embarking on a weapons build-up and by returning to domestic repression of dissent. Unable to embrace a liberal order, Russia needs to lessen the disparity between her corrupt post-Soviet society and the prosperous West. Russia’s humiliating failure to re-establish hegemony over the Ukraine and her failure to aid fellow Slavs in

Islam Tops List

2007-02-05T06:35:00.000-05:00

I reported that communism was responsible for the deaths of 148 million people. Now Bill Warner of the Center for the Study of Political Islam says "Approximately 270 million nonbelievers died over the last 1400 years for the glory of political Islam." Hitler comes in third.

D'Souza: Denial on the Right

2007-01-25T09:03:00.000-05:00

Last April I broke the D’Souza story by carefully analyzing his National Review article of the year before. On Dec 12 I briefly wrote a followed-up before the book came out and others have commented since (see links in my Dec 12 post.) D’Souza 15 minutes of fame is almost up but in the last few seconds it is worth reading Jamie Glazov’s “debate” with D’Souza. Case closed!Update: A final nail on

The Speech

2007-01-24T19:52:00.000-05:00

To recall the image of true intellectual leadership, masterful oratory, and real statesmanship, re-read Patrick Henry's speech, "The War Inevitable." I haven't read it in years ... powerful and profound. To comment further would require rhetorical skills to match Mr. Henry's and I must decline the temptation. Read it all. ... Oh, you thought I meant another speech?

Freedom of Speech: Going, Going ...

2007-01-23T23:43:00.000-05:00

Ed Cline has a few thoughts on the continual erosion of our right of freedom of speech. "The First Amendment has been abridged, and the issues that have nickeled-and-dimed it to bankruptcy have so atomized the subject -- one might even say vaporized it -- by such a prodigious volume of non-conceptual thought and politically-biased interpretation by theorists, jurists and legal philosophers, that

Ahora en Español

2007-01-20T13:32:00.000-05:00

Las gracias a Martinito usted puede leer mi resumen de la ideología del Islam en español. Y los gracias a BabelFish sé hablar español.

Dictators Discover Religion

2007-01-15T16:21:00.000-05:00

Saddam Hussein’s embrace of Islam was an example of the power of the Islam Revival. The Baathist dictators, who were once thought to be bulwarks against Islamism, no longer had the power to resist the revivalist movement that’s sweeping the Muslim world.Even Communist dictators can’t ignore religion. We no sooner hear that Hugo Chavez calls Jesus “the greatest socialist in history” (HT Classical

Napoleon and the Arabs

2007-01-13T15:06:00.000-05:00

The exhibition “Napoleon on the Nile” has on display prints, books, paintings, and letters of the period. Napoleon saw himself as spreading the ideals of French civilization. One proclamation had the following explanation next to the display: Napoleon brought to Egypt an Arabic font requisitioned from the Vatican, along with people who knew how to set it. This proclamation to the Sheiks of the

What does Judeo-Christian mean?

2007-01-09T17:43:00.000-05:00

There is probably no term used so often without any explanation, description, or definition than the term Judeo-Christian. What does it mean? A search on the internet shows that few writers clarify the meaning of this term. Dennis Prager, the conservative commentator, is an exception. With the claim that Judeo-Christian values are under attack, might one explain what those values are? And what is

Our Roman Heritage

2006-12-27T22:35:00.000-05:00

"There is a true law, a right reason, conformable to nature, universal, unchangeable, eternal, whose commands urge us to duty, and whose prohibitions restrain us from evil. Whether it enjoins or forbids, the good respect its injunctions, and the wicked treat them with indifference. This law cannot be contradicted by any other law, and is not liable either to derogation or abrogation. Neither the

Cicero on Just War

2006-12-10T23:14:00.000-05:00

The great Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher, Marcus Tullius Cicero is a father of the theory of “just war;” but Cicero’s version differs substantially from Augustine, Aquinas, and Hugo Grotius. For Cicero, war has a clear purpose which determines when to fight and how each enemy should be fought. From De Officiis: “The only excuse, therefore, for going to war is that we may live in peace

An Eloquent Man and a Patriot

2006-12-10T14:52:00.000-05:00

A promising read (from Michael Lind's review in the Washington Post):With the possible exception of Jesus of Nazareth, the Roman statesman and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) is the central figure of Western civilization. Cicero's republican political theory influenced both the American and French revolutionaries -- and through them, contemporary democracies everywhere -- far more

Liberty and Culture in Iraq

2006-12-09T21:52:00.000-05:00

John Agresto, former president of St. John’s College’s Santa Fe campus, served as a senior advisor in Iraq from September 2003 to June 2004 and has kept in close contact with friends and colleagues since he left. He describes the situation in Iraq in the journal, Academic Questions, of the National Association of Scholars, of which he is on the board of advisors. He was eager to help his country

What gives with D'Souza?

2006-12-09T13:51:00.000-05:00

In a soon to be published book, D’Souza argues that the Left shares blame for the Islamic attacks on 9/11 according to John B. Kienker, at the Claremont Institute. Surely the guilt-infested PC left, that has made it taboo to criticize a foreign ideology or culture, has blinded us to the threat. But this isn’t his point. D’Souza apparently holds that “the Left caused 9/11 because Muslims at once

Jefferson On Education

2006-11-30T23:21:00.000-05:00

Jefferson gives advice to a young man. First he starts with matters of character: And never suppose, that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly so it may appear to you. … Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises; being assured that they will gain strength by exercise,

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

Visitor #50,000 to this blog is from Brooklyn and found my “explanation for 9/11” via google while searching for a quote that AOW put in my comments section. Thanks google, thanks AOW, and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.Speaking of Thanksgiving, apparently the Pilgrims learned the hard way that communism doesn’t work. After learning to respect individual initiate, private property, and

Darfur?

2006-11-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

Jack Wheeler echoes my thoughts: If there is anyplace in the world that America has no interest being involved in, this is it. And yet, liberal outfits like SaveDarfur are repeatedly taking out full page ads, … demanding "President Bush, Stop the Genocide Now!" … There are no good guys here - not the government, accused of supporting the Janjaweed, not the tribal crazies. But for liberals, that's

The Will to Fight

2006-11-16T09:01:00.000-05:00

Besides having my computer in the repair shop, I been writing less because others often say it better. Take Thomas Sowell:Having overwhelming military force on your side, and letting your enemies know you have the guts to use it, is being genuinely antiwar. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement brought on World War II and Ronald Reagan's military buildup ended the Cold War.The

Articles to Read

2006-11-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

An online "reader's digest" has an excellent selection of articles including one by yours truly.

McCarthy on Rumsfeld plus

2006-11-09T11:52:00.000-05:00

Andrew McCarthy, at National Review, is critical of the President's war policy: "Americans were certain to have limited patience for a mission that appears more about building another nation than securing our own." ... "Perhaps more importantly, it may soon be in the nation’s vital interests to confront Iran. Are we going to have the stomach — the public support — for doing what must be done if

A Savage Enemy

2006-10-17T10:33:00.000-04:00

The inability to believe in evil, contrary to modern belief, is not an enlightened stage in cultural evolution but a sign of dilution and decay that is often a prelude to events unimaginable. In the 1930s, few could believe the evil unfolding in Germany and Russia, nor the savagery of Japan which was actually evident in the decades prior to Pearl Harbor. We wanted to believe all human beings

Pipes

2006-10-16T10:30:00.000-04:00

Daniel Pipes has a reasonable proposal. George Mason has a variation on the theme. He seconds Diana West. Update: Ralph Peters says one more try. Frederick Kagan, however, disagrees that we should give up on the Iraqi people. All for your consideration!

The Pronoun Police

2006-10-14T08:25:00.000-04:00

Recently at work, I was taken to task for using inappropriate language. No, it wasn’t the use of gritting colloquialisms – references to fornication – that were the all-purpose adjective of my childhood classmates. I tended to be well-behaved and besides it took too much mental energy to speak one way with friends and another at home. Nor was it ethnic humor; I’m fairly business-like at work. Nor

No Art For You. Next!

2006-10-09T08:28:00.000-04:00

Apparently, a public school teacher was suspended for taking her children to a museum specializing on 19th century art of the French Academy. The Dahesh Museum has sculptures and paintings of nudes, which has upset the school authorities.The times have changed since I was a child in New York City in the 1950s. When my mother took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, there was a

France Rejects Voltaire

2006-10-04T11:52:00.000-04:00

France rejects Voltaire, or more exactly, a modern philosopher who has dared to criticize Islam. France’s history of religious criticism is second to none in the Western world. Harsh criticism, indeed, offensive anti-religious tirades seldom elicits a response. Non-religious movements, even atheist in nature, attracted wide following. The French Communist Party, officially atheist, received 25%

Liberty and Independence

2006-09-29T16:38:00.000-04:00

In the post below, I wrote how the concept of liberty is rarely understood and found so seldom in human history. Slavery is the ultimate loss of liberty but being nominally free, in a legal sense, isn’t enough to say that one possess liberty (as we’ve seen in 20th century communism and fascism.) Often when a nation is fighting for independence journalists will write that the people are fighting

Arab Culture

2006-09-26T20:19:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I quoted conservatives from the 1950s who argued that Communists don’t think the way we do but they are immersed in a completely alien mindset antithetical to the liberal order that we take for granted. This guy explains how those in the Arab/Islamic world don't think the way we do and we in the West can't come to grips with that fact. If his observations come as a surprise, I

Bernard Lewis and the Myths of Islam

2006-09-23T15:36:00.000-04:00

Bernard Lewis summarizes how, in his view, the Islamic world has degenerated first by importing European totalitarian models and now as it returns to Islam. It’s an article worth reading even if it is flawed. Or perhaps because it is flawed! Lewis, we should remember, is esteemed by today’s conservative establishment.Lewis repeats themes typical of European

The Truth Needs No Apology

2006-09-19T21:19:00.000-04:00

The New York Post headline read “Amen: Al Qaeda Thugs Prove Pope’s Point.” (New York Post, Sept. 20th edition) Indeed, very little needs to be said at this point. This is the same mentality that would kill over a cartoon as we’ve seen in response to the Danish cartoons. At that point, I argued that we must be able to speak the truth. But it is so important that it warrants repetition.Free speech

What's Our Excuse?

2006-09-16T08:10:00.000-04:00

I have long watched the moral posturing of the boomer generation that with the advantage of hindsight claim they wouldn’t have been fooled by Hitler in the 1930s. David Pryce-Jones has some thoughts on the matter.In WWI, France lost 50% of its men between the age of 20 and 32 years of age. While we may be tough critics of the French, it is good to remember that for four years most of the fighting

Oriana Fallaci, RIP

2006-09-15T08:34:00.000-04:00

From AP via the New York Sun: Fallaci's recent publications -- including the best-selling book "The Rage and The Pride," which came out weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks … sold more than 1 million copies in Italy and found a large audience elsewhere in Europe ... Her next essay, "The Strength of Reason," accused Europe of having sold its soul to what Fallaci described as an Islamic

Brook vs. Buckley

2006-09-12T15:59:00.000-04:00

Khatami, former President of Iran, spoke of tolerance at Harvard. Brook comments, “But there can be no “free exchange of ideas” between … between a brutal dictatorship and the free nation it seeks to annihilate.” However, Buckley is smitten with Khatami; he's impressed with the latter’s claim that “there is, actually, an overlap in teachings from the three world religions that descended from