Abraham Lincoln: Dog Whisperer
Lincoln came down to us like Cesar Millan: he tamed the South like Cesar tames poorly-behaved dogs, only to head back to Los Angeles once the episode is finished, leaving … Continue Reading →
Category: commentary
Strauss it up, I’ll take it: Leo Strauss & Straussianism
Leo Strauss was born on this day in 1899. Counterfactuals can’t happen, but he probably saved the world from the monopoly of interpretations of Plato like Karl Popper’s. Probably the … Continue Reading →
Hayek, Nietzsche, Aristotle & the mincome
So, I was talking to some people about the mincome last week. I sorta support it, but with Hayek’s condition: in order to have the largest amount of wealth to … Continue Reading →
Richard Posner’s phony apology for saying that studying the Constitution has “no value”
Celebrated Appeals Court judge Richard Posner recently caused quite a stir when he wrote for Slate that, “I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, … Continue Reading →
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Founding Myth
This is a writing that I did for the Fourth of July in 2015 on Facebook, with some added emphasis since Facebook doesn’t allow italics. It is followed by an … Continue Reading →
#CaseStudy Status Anxiety and the Question “What Do You Do?”
When you meet someone at a party, you should think twice before asking “what do you do?”–at least that is the message of a short video Alain de Botton did … Continue Reading →
Socrates: the Ironic Midwife
I hear about the Socratic method quite often. Doncha know? You have a discussion based on asking questions to explore a topic more deeply than you could if you were … Continue Reading →
#CaseStudy Vox’s ‘The rise of American Authoritarianism’
Donald Trump: the man who’s rise is, for many, the first interesting development in American politics in their lifetime—in their opinion for better or for worse. Trump has the world’s … Continue Reading →
Is Having Public Services Socialism?
Are public services such as police and fire departments, and public libraries examples of socialism? Was the public influence in the development of the interstate highway system and the invention … Continue Reading →
Supposing children should be ruled by their parents, what then?
Supposing children should be ruled by their parents, what then? Can there be any genuine knowledge about how people should live their lives? Or, are we limited to having, just, … Continue Reading →