I love reading Jonah Goldberg. He writes like an angel after a couple of bourbons. But I think he’s confused about my political philosophy, or how I think conservatism should adapt to modern liberal (in the good, old sense) society. In referring to my recent stab at portraying the problems of conservatism after September 11, … Continue reading FREEDOM THINKS
We’re in an end-game here, aren’t we? However you feel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it seems clear to me that Yassir Arafat is perilously close to being irrelevant. He can’t deliver peace, as we found out at Camp David. He can’t deliver even a semblance of order in the Palestinian territories, let alone Israel. So … Continue reading THE END OF ARAFAT?
So many of you asked me to say more about Michael Oakeshott that I dug up a Diarist I wrote for The New Republic after his death. I hope it presuades some of you to read him. The best place to start is probably “Rationalism In Politics,” although it can lead the new reader astray … Continue reading TAKEN UNSERIOUSLY
An Oakeshottian take on George W. Bush’s political style. See my new TRB opposite. CORRECTION: Several readers have pointed out to me that the study forwarded to me by another reader (see “EMBRYO STEM CELLS AND PARKINSON’S” below) isn’t quite as I presented it. It’s about the implantation of neurons from fetal tissue – not … Continue reading NEGATIVES
You read something and a light bulb switches on. I had that feeling reading Stanley Kurtz’s piece in National Review Online about how contemporary liberalism has become a religion. Some of us who still think of ourselves as liberals in a classical sense also have faith in God to provide an over-arching meaning to our … Continue reading EVERY NOW AND AGAIN
Two obits in the New York Times today: the wonderfully fickle philosopher, G.E.M. Anscombe, and Denys Lasdun, who designed, among other things, Britain’s National Theater complex on London’s South Bank. I came across both through their work when I was a college student. Anscombe’s tenacious interest in Thomism was a thrilling rebuttal to the secular … Continue reading AGAINST THE CURRENT
The Dish 