…and Rousseau was wrong about war.
Rousseau was wrong about pretty much everything, and following his flawed philosophy has led to the suffering and death of hundreds of millions since.
Category Archives: Philosophy
The Vegan Diet
…almost kills a kitten.
It’s not good for people, either, but it’s a lot worse for a carnivore.
The Supreme-Court Shut Outs
Thoughts on the constitutional recklessness of this administration:
When a president pursues policies that require such expansive federal power that he can’t get a single justice to agree, something is probably amiss.
Such overreach, though, has become a part of our political culture. Administrations of both parties are often unwilling to accept constitutional limits on their authority.
This administration, though, more than most, finds that pesky Constitution to be an impediment to its goals to “transform society.”
The Reverse-Mussolini Fallacy
Some thoughts on (some) libertarians and the confederacy. As he points out, the south wasn’t opposed to a large centralized government — they just wanted to have one of their own to continue to enforce slavery.
Evoloterra
Clark Lindsey and his wife performed the ceremony with some friends, and has a review. Our experience has been that people who are not generally into space enjoy it quite a bit, if you can get them to do it.
Forty-Four Years Ago Today
…men first walked on the moon. And this past Tuesday (when we did The Space Show on our ceremony, that I hope everyone performs tonight), was the forty-fourth anniversary of the launch, when the Saturn dropped it first stage into the Atlantic. And they’ve confirmed the find of one of the engines.
Obama’s Precedent
If Obama can suspend the employer mandate, why couldn’t a Republican president suspend the capital gains tax?
Or the corporate income tax? Or the whole damn code?
Democrats never think through the long-term implications of their lawlessness, because they assume that through it, they will gain eternal power. We can’t let them.
[Update a few minutes later]
“Repeal the Bill of Rights!” So say Obama supporters. No surprise to me. Just more of that old-time “liberal” fascism.
The Humanities
The decline and fall:
The radical scholars recognized Western Civ had to be erased to achieve their goal of destroying the old order and ushering in the new “inclusive” inclusive manifesto. (Remember Jesse Jackson’s chant at Stanford? “Hi-ho, hi-ho, Western Civ has to go”). In the process, the General College was abandoned – and with it went the foundation of a proper college education.
And out went academic standards, which suited the radicals who adopted grade inflation as a gesture against the Vietnam War. College students found it much easier to remain full time students without contending with the onerous course load, and even easier to maintain a 2.0 academic average – the minimum to avoid losing the student draft deferment. Plus students could now choose courses across the spectrum without having to build a foundation of academic rigor.
By the late 1970s, many radical scholars were gaining tenure — the archaic privilege enjoyed by academics that guarantees a job for life — and the power to push their advantage to mold the curriculum to their purposes. New hires were screened for allegiance to the radical manifestos. Traditional liberal arts course work was re-defined to focus on women, race, sexual technique, gays and the environment. The result has been unsound subjects masquerading as worthy academic pursuits — and college graduates who are unaware of their inherited culture.
The public was mostly unaware of this revolutionary change.
Unfortunately, it probably still is. As noted in the piece,the current “humanities” aren’t worth saving, or worth the cost of the tuition for them. At least more people are starting to figure that out.
If You Don’t Work, You Die
Thoughts from Sarah Hoyt on incentives.
Elections Are Not Democracy
Yes. “Elections are necessary but not sufficient for a democratic republic. You also need limits on state power, and civil society. Frankly, what’s most impressive to me is how resilient and robust Egyptian civil society has been in the face of the Muslim Brotherhood’s clear effort to establish an Iran-style theocracy.”
I’d also add that a republic (which per Franklin’s famous statement after the convention, we have, or at least had until the last few decades) is not a democracy, either.