What We Must Demand For Our Democracy to Survive
What We Must Demand For Our Democracy to Survive. What Commitments Should Presidential Candidates Make in the Writings Prior to the 2020 Election. Adam Strum and Stephen…
Why Moralize Upon It?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously declared that, “the greatest duty of a statesman is to educate.”[1] The central claim of this book is that it is not only…
Why Moralize upon It? Democratic Education through American Literature and Film
Why Moralize upon It? Democratic Education through American Literature and Film. Brian Danoff (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020). “Why moralize upon it?” asked Herman Melville’s character Amasa Delano…
The Hollow Promises of Democracy
A Folklore of Democracy There are two contemporary understandings of democracy that are predominant in all countries of the world. The two understandings of democracy, merely through…
Reflections on the Capitol Riots
It is strange to read back what I had written four years ago and see how little has changed in our political climate except for the cast…
Rioters Storming the United States Capitol: A Wodehousian Putsch Against the Madisonian Constitution
Please see John von Heyking's interview about rioters storming the U.S. Capitol. It is available here.
The Dangers of Egalitarianism in a Democracy
Most Americans take for granted that democracy is an absolute good. If it can be said of an idea or a program that it promotes equality, Americans,…
Plato on the Fall of Ancient and Modern Greece
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, warned us that there is nothing new under the sun. At least in terms of the current crisis in Greece,…
The Demon in Democracy
Ryszard's Legutko's lecture, "The Demon in Democracy," at the Abigail Adams Institute is available here.
Theorizing Without Theory: A Review of The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It
The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It. Yascha Mounk. Harvard University Press, 2019. The wave of right-wing nationalism…
The Republic’s Purpose: A Few Thoughts Inspired by Cicero and Machiavelli
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he…
Truth as a Democratic Project
I During the Presidential Campaign of 1996, in California, President Bill Clinton said that democracy is “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”…
Is America Devolving into Soft Totalitarianism?
What should a democratic people fear in their leaders? That depends on the character of the people. When the great French philosopher and statesman Alexis de Tocqueville…
The Coen Brothers and the Comedy of Democracy
FADE IN: INT. HOUSE. EVENING. Mother (47) walks down a dimly lit set of stairs into a smoke-filled basement. A circle of candles cast light on a…
Review of The Coen Brothers and the Comedy of Democracy
The Coen Brothers and The Comedy of Democracy. Sara MacDonald and Barry Craig. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018. This is both a thoughtful book and a…