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Pillar

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.

The Protestant Prophet: J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism at 100

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Public Discourse

Mercy for Dylann Roof

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Showing mercy to Dylann Roof by refusing to impose the death penalty would respect the acts of both his victims, who showed him welcome, and their families, who showed him forgiveness. In this way, good could be drawn from evil, and the sinfulness of Dylann Roof’s actions could be overcome by love.

On the Bipartisan Inadequacy of Governing Elites: A General Theory of Trump’s Victory

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A bipartisan record of inadequacy by governing elites incapable of admitting their failures led to the election of Donald Trump. Thankfully, America is vast, diverse, and free enough to give itself a new governing elite if the old one can’t learn.

Who’s on Which Side of the Lunch Counter? Civil Rights, Religious Accommodation, and the Challenges of Diversity

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In many ways, so-called progressives are comparable to lunch-counter segregationists, and proponents of religious exemptions are the heirs of civil rights activists.

Checking the Court: What Can Be Done to Rein in the Supreme Court?

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Michael Stokes Paulsen has identified six courses of action that might effectively curb the Supreme Court’s abuse of judicial authority.

The Liberalism of the Founding Fathers Is Not to Blame for Our Current Problems

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If today we see ill effects of individualism, it does not mean that we should blame them on the founders. Our problem is a cultural one, not some deep, all-encompassing flaw in our political system.

The Constitutional Power of the Electoral College

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The framers of the Constitution designed the elector system to balance the need for the people to have a voice and the desire to have a refined, informed body actually choose the president in order to avoid the election of a demagogue or charlatan.

The Decline of Movement Conservatism and the Rise of the Alt-Right

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Donald Trump’s election has made one thing clear: right-wing politics, conservatism, and the Republican Party are not interchangeable.

The Promise and Peril of Making America Great: On Trumpism and Hamiltonianism

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Donald Trump’s approach to politics has real roots in American political history. Yet, as Alexander Hamilton warned, it is very dangerous to undermine a democratic people’s confidence in their own governing classes.

Make Religious Freedom Great Again

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Donald Trump should commit to protecting the free exercise of religion for all Americans of all faiths.

Tea Party Elegy

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Our Constitution alone will not be adequate protection if we allow the left to sweep through our mainstream culture and our institutions.

What’s Religion Good For? Progressives Weigh In

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The answer many progressives give to the question, “What’s religion good for?” is troubling in at least two ways. Not only does it conflict with traditional understandings of religious freedom, it also does harm to the integrity of religion itself.

Declaring Equality Without Supplying Its Ground: Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration

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Our fundamental equality as rational created beings is the source of our inalienable rights. Failure to understand this makes it impossible to truly understand the Declaration or the principles of limited government.

Unmasking Liberalism

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A new book reveals the crumbling foundations of the myth of liberalism and urges the challenging task of rehabilitating virtue.

Markets, Catholicism, and Libertarianism

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Supporting markets as the economic arrangements most likely to help promote human flourishing doesn’t necessarily mean you accept libertarian philosophical premises.

Calling All Electors: Throw the Election to the House, and You Just Might Save Our Country

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The Electoral College was conceived for just the kind of national leadership crisis we now face.

2016 and the Future of the Supreme Court

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What would happen if a justice with the judicial philosophy and record of Justice Ginsburg were to replace Justice Scalia on the Court?

Better to Give than to Receive: Catholicism and the Enlightenment

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In science and philosophy, politics and society, the Enlightenment and the Faith could and did bring mutual intelligibility to each other, showing no intrinsic incompatibility—“faith cannot collide with enlightened reason,” a new book reminds us, for truth cannot contradict truth.

The Future of Pro-Life Legislation and Litigation

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In her landmark 1971 paper, Judith Jarvis Thomson tried to defend abortion by appeal to norms of justification consistently applicable in a range of other cases. By contrast, the courts in and after Roe and Casey have treated the right to abortion as an unquestionable legal principle. This inverted approach is doomed to fail as it continues to reveal the anomalous character of abortion rights.

No, We Should Not Legalize Recreational Marijuana Use

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Legalizing recreational marijuana use would hurt not only those who smoke—it also hurts children and society as a whole. As a country, if we encourage and profit from this vice, we will be undermining the very foundations of our government.

If Tim Kaine Wins, the Catholic Church Loses

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Many high-profile Catholics like Tim Kaine publicly dissent from Catholic teaching and promote offenses against human dignity. When their actions go unrebuked by Church leaders, it harms both the Church as a whole and the faith of individual Catholics.

The End of the Utilitarian Argument for Trump

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If you have been tempted by the utilitarian, lesser-of-two-evils argument for Donald Trump, then you must appreciate how his latest and most serious scandal changes that calculation.

We Abandon Social Conservatism at Our Own Peril

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Fiscal conservativism cannot exist without social conservatism. Strong families form the foundation of healthy societies and strong economies.

Love, Not Power: Diagnosing our Body Politic

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The deepest wellspring of human action is not power but love—the appetite to love and care for others and to be loved and cared for. Any healing of our broken political system must proceed on the basis of this basic truth about its parts.

Betrayed by Our Leaders: A Young Conservative Responds to Endorsements of Donald Trump

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The leaders of organizations that have shaped a generation of young conservatives are now endorsing Donald Trump, a man who is the antithesis of the values held by each of these institutions.
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