Mission Statement: The Solid Quarry of Relatively Sober Reason takes its name and mission from Abraham Lincoln’s 1838 Lyceum Speech. The Founders were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now that … Continue Reading →
What Constitution?
I’m quite happy to say that “I support the Constitution,” but as I’ve read about it for years and years, I’ve become increasingly interested in what other people mean when … Continue Reading →
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 →
Ta-Nahesi Coates Puts His Foot in His Mouth on the Civil War
We have, as the basis for the latest skirmish in the perpetual relevance of America’s Civil War, the appearance by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on the October … Continue Reading →
Reports That Mark Zuckerberg Wants Your Soul Are Greatly Exaggerated
Facebook, not content to be the receptacle of your selfies and meal pics, has decided to be the object of your soul. Or at least, that is what you would … Continue Reading →
Dana Loesch’s NRA Video Reveals the Left’s Good Cop, Bad Cop Routine
An NRA video featuring Dana Loesch recently went viral, & the reaction to it provides a fine microcosm of our public discussion for us to consider. Commentators for mainstream websites … Continue Reading →
Dennis Prager and the Coming of Civil War 2
Certainly, we might say that our society is in a political crisis—the transfer of power following our recent election may have been the least smooth such transition since 1861. How … Continue Reading →
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 →