Gerald Russello: It’s Time for Conservatives to Stop Being Content with J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
Posts Tagged → conservatism
The central mode of contemporary progressive politics & the reciprocation of the The Right?
“There is much that is in need of reform in American life. But reform is not very much in fashion among populists, who are ensorcelled by the much more exciting prospect of revolution — and destruction.”
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Where the post-liberals have a point is that humans are happiest in communities, families and institutions of faith. The solution to the culture wars is to allow more freedom for these “little platoons” of civil society from which people draw a sense of meaning and belonging. If Sacramento wants Drag Queen Story Hour, so be it. If some other community holds a socially conservative version of the same, that’s fine too.
What America needs is less talk of national unity — from the left or the right — and more freedom to let people live the way they want to live, not just as individuals, but as members of local communities. We don’t need to move past liberalism, we need to return to it.
Jonah Goldberg
“I suggest that if you must choose, it is better to be poor and free than to be snug and a slave. I suggest that if you must choose, it is better to live in peril, but with justice, than to live on a summit of material power, but unjustly. I suggest that if you must choose, it is better to stand up as a suffering man than to lie down as a satisfied animal.”
Barry Goldwater (in a speech written by Russell Kirk), via Russell Kirk: American Conservative by Bradley J. Birzer
Before You Wake: Life Lessons from a Father to His Children by Erick Erickson
I doubt a lot of people who disagree with Erick’s politics have or will read this book. Which is a shame because we could do with a world where more people got to know each other who disagree. And this book will help you understand Erick Erickson the person rather than Erick the talking head or Erick the radio host. It won’t change your mind but it might change how you see pundits and those in the news.
Continue readingSuicide of the West and Its Critics
Goldberg does not deny the tensions involved in this conservative project within a liberal democratic capitalist system but rather accepts it as the challenge we face. The question is whether we are up to it.
Continue readingHow William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on The Firing Line
For some odd reason I had not really listened to the Federalist Radio Hour until just recently. This despite being a huge fan of The Transom and all things Ben Domenech. But I am now tuning in on a regular basis. He has had some fascinating authors on for extended conversations and it is refreshing… Continue reading
Death's Doors by Lars Walker
I am a fan of Lars Walker’s writing but I confess I really struggled with his latest novel. This dystopian fantasy felt didactic and preachy to me. Ultimately, it was interesting with some well done aspects but didn’t really come together.
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