Am. History & Culture
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An Alternative to the Feckless, Purposeless, Weak-Kneed Dems?
E.J. Dionne on Democratic malaise: . . . the GOP seems to be doing all it can to make itself unelectable, veering far to the right and embracing a tea-party movement that, at its extremes, preaches the need for revolution. That sounds more like the old New Left than a reinvigorated conservatism. Oh yes, and
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Deneen’s Two Cents
I came across this recent talk entitled “Sensus Communis and Nature’s Law: Why Communities Know Natural Law Better Than Philosophers” given by Patrick Deneen at a conference at Princeton. It supports Mike McG's dissent to my posts about the perils of allowing our social lattices to disintegrate and why kids' attitudes, and those of society
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Quote of the Day: Michael Lind
That is what my fellow Texans of younger generations should learn about the Lost Cause. Under British protection, the CSA might have evolved into a squalid banana republic run by landlords for the benefit of investors and industrialists in Britain. Without British protection, the CSA might have survived as a proto-fascist regime, with an economy
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Dying Traditions IIIb
The past is an abusive spouse that cultural conservatives have to divorce and then befriend for the sake of the children. Let me explain. A couple of weeks ago I posted Dying Traditions II which argued that Southerners who are trying to maintain their Southern Heritage are fundamentally mistaken, and then in a short post
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What Libertarians Don’t Get
“I think the two of them were having a bit of good time having a debate like you had at 2 a.m. in the morning when you’re going to college, but it doesn’t have a lot to do with anything.” Jon Kyl on Rand Paul's appearance on the Maddow show. Kyl seems to support the
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Dying Traditions III
Since no one attempted to rebut my previous post on Dying Traditions, I'll do it myself: We're from somewhere, and you aren't. We have roots. We have memories. We have a cultural heritage and identity that you have no idea about. You cannot even begin to understand what we feel because it's not something you
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Dying Traditions II
In the neo-Confederate view, North and South went to war because they represented two distinct and irreconcilable cultures, right down to their bloodlines. White Southerners descended from freedom-loving Celts in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Northerners–New England abolitionist in particular–came from mercantile and expansionist English stock. This ethnography even explained how the War was fought. Like
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Ideas Matter II
I embrace the idea that we humans never know the truth in any direct way, and that all we have is provisional "interpretations". But some interpretations are better than others because there is a Good that those interpretations bear a closer or more distant relationship to. I know that this is not how moderns think,
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Heartache
Commenter Bubba in my previous post describes how what is happening to our country makes his heart ache. Heartache is a good word to describe how I feel, too. It amazes me how easy a time the forces of greed and powerlust are having, how weak the resistance. About a 1/3 of the electorate is