fbpx

Pillar: <span>Politics & Law</span>

Politics & Law

The third pillar of a decent society is a just system of politics and law. Such a government does not bind all persons, families, institutions of civil society, and actors in the marketplace to itself as subservient features of an all-pervading authority. Instead, it honors and protects the inherent equal dignity of all persons, safeguards the family as the primary school of virtue, and seeks justice through the rule of law.

Post
October 1, 2020October 2, 20202020 Election, Liberalism, National Conservatism, Politics

Donald Trump and Our Heritage: Confessions of an Anti-Anti-Trumper

By

No amount of high principles or decorous manners can exempt conservatives from the responsibility to continue the work that Donald Trump has begun. President Trump somehow has attached his robust self-love to a love of our country. He can use help articulating the meaning of this country, but he knows what it doesn’t mean, what it is opposed to: the pincer movement of cosmopolitanism and identity politics. Recognition of this threat is the one thing needful at this moment, for the conservative movement and for the United States of America.

Learn more about Politics & Law: get your free eBook today!

Post
September 27, 2020September 28, 20202020 Election, Conscience Protection, Liberalism, National Conservatism, Nationalism, Politics, Voting

How Trump Has Transformed the GOP—and Why Conservatives Should Vote for Him Anyway

By

In the past, disparate groups on the American right were united by their opposition to communism. Today, fears of the threat of an ascendant China, the growing boldness of cancel culture, and the enervating philosophy of the “woke” proselytizers form the basis of new right-wing coalitions. If Trump succeeds, the big government of the American right will be one that embraces American ideals, American history, and American religion rather than tearing it down in pursuit of some post-religious techno-secular utopia.

Post
September 26, 2020October 30, 2020Politics, Sunday Long Reads, Voices of Reason

Conservatives Should Embrace Labor Unions

By and

If we think there’s too much government regulation, then the authentically conservative solution is not to say, “Well, let’s just try to operate a landscape of isolated individuals jostling in a competitively economic marketplace,” but “Let’s create institutions of countervailing power so that where exploitation is happening, the people themselves are equipped to resist it, and the government doesn’t need to intervene to fix it.” If designed correctly, a system of sectoral labor unions can actually help achieve the conservative goal of limited government.

Post
September 21, 2020September 22, 2020History, Human Dignity, Politics, Race

Dueling Anti-Racisms: Two Views on Promoting Racial Justice in Twenty-First Century America

By

The pitfall of standard anti-racism is its simplistic attribution of all such disparities to systemic racism or racist policy. Simplistic analysis suggests simplistic solutions, some of which may be detrimental to black people. Heterodox thinkers challenge simple diagnoses and solutions, steering us toward constructive endeavor to achieve genuine progress.

Post
September 20, 2020September 21, 20202020 Election, Abortion, Bioethics, Voting

The 2020 Election: A Clear Distinction on Abortion

By

While both presidential candidates have changed their views on abortion over the past decades, their actions in recent years clarify the direction that they would likely take while in office. President Trump has maintained a consistent pro-life record in office that affects the regulations of various executive agencies and American leadership on the world stage. On the other hand, former Vice President Biden has moved to support his party’s current position of actively promoting federal funding for the abortion industry and cementing abortion as a constitutional right.

Post
September 14, 2020September 14, 2020Culture, Politics, Race

Racism Is Real. But Is “Systemic Racism”? That Time I Was Published by Newsweek—For Two Hours

By

The opinion editor of Newsweek should be commended for striving to publish a diversity of views at the site, but its editor-in-chief committed journalistic malpractice by taking down an essay already published in order to reschedule it when it could be “balanced” by a view less challenging to the site’s readers.

Post
September 10, 2020September 11, 2020Book Reviews, Natural Law, Philosophy, Politics

Natural Law for a Lawless People

By

Hobbes’ thin conception of natural law cannot sustain all the activities of a fully flourishing community, but it does appeal to those who live in fear of losing their basic security. Many people are possessed by that fear today, as many were in Hobbes’ time. But we have much to lose if the Hobbesian view of law prevails.

Post
September 9, 2020September 10, 2020Economics, Liberalism, Politics, Public Discourse, Socialism

A Tale of Two Countries: How Norway Embraces Markets While Venezuela Does Not

By

When people quickly compare the Norwegian and Venezuelan economies, they tend to see the one trait they have in common: a big public sector. However, when we study these countries in depth, it becomes evident that the two follow opposite economic principles. While Norway’s economy is among the freest in the world, Venezuela has become a prime example of what a socialist economy looks like.

Post
September 7, 2020September 11, 2020Human Dignity, Philosophy, Politics, Religion

Ingratitude, Mob Violence, and Providence

By

Our culture’s deep ingratitude is the long, nihilistic outworking of the logic of modern thought itself. When human experience is reduced to only will and power struggle, there no room for gratefulness. Those of us who have not renounced cosmic order and the providence that brings that order to fulfillment, by contrast, know that all things willed or permitted by God work for good. Thus we should be grateful—profoundly grateful—for everything.

Post
August 28, 2020August 29, 20202020 Election, American Founding, Isolation Bookshelf, Politics

Isolation Bookshelf: Hail to the Chief

By

Can the American people and their representatives set aside their immediate interests and attachments and “think constitutionally” about the presidency, and about how we choose presidents? Some scholars hope so. But the passionate partisanship of the most attentive Americans, and the inattentiveness and apathy of the least partisan Americans, make this hope seem forlorn indeed.

Post
August 26, 2020August 26, 2020Abortion, Bioethics, Constitutional Law, Hadley Arkes, Human Dignity, Natural Law, Politics, Supreme Court

Josh Hawley and the Advantages of Jujitsu

By

Senator Hawley should turn the tables during confirmation hearings and force Democrats to defend their abortion extremism. What’s more, he should act on precedents stemming from the days of Lincoln down to our own, precedents involving the authority of the political branches to counter at times and limit the holdings of the Supreme Court.

Post
August 23, 2020August 23, 2020Conscience Protection, First Amendment, Foreign Affairs, Human Dignity, Politics, Public Discourse, Religion, Religion and the Public Square

The Role of the United States in the Revitalization of the International Human Rights Project

By and

We must not forget that there were stark disagreements over what human rights consisted of at the dawn of the international human rights project in 1948. It was the focus on a common denominator upon which all States could agree that allowed for an international human rights framework to emerge. The US Commission on Unalienable Rights is right to encourage a recommitment to this vision if we are to save the international human rights project.

Post
August 20, 2020August 20, 2020Bioethics, Healthcare, Human Dignity, Marriage, Parental Rights, Politics, Public Discourse, Science, Sexuality, Surrogacy, Technology

Poly Parenting and the Value of the Family

By

The emerging discussion about in vitro gametogenesis and other types of multi-parent technologies demands renewed attention to why children do well with only two parents, and why those parents do best to procreate in the ordinary way, even with all its inefficiencies, burdens, and failures.

Post
August 11, 2020August 12, 2020Abortion

Why the U.S. Commission on Unalienable Rights Should Not Ignore Abortion

By

Despite many excellent elements, the Commission’s first report falls short where it matters most. The right to life is the most fundamental right, the one on which all authentic human rights depend. The commission may revise the initial draft of the report following a public comment period. If the foremost experts on human rights in the United States could not agree that international human rights law affords children in the womb any protections at all, how can Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his team be expected to contradict them in American diplomacy?

Subscribe to Public Discourse!