Poem: Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift, D.S.P.D.
This poem is one of Swift’s masterpieces. His savage wit, his ruthless dissection of human motives, his arrogance–and his self-contempt–all combine to produce a masterful satire.
Author: Thomas Fleming
Platitude of the Day
I am forever seeing posts and columns by conservatives who speak of the need to defend the democracy established by the “founders” of America. The United States were not founded as a democratic nation but as a confederation of republics run largely by educated aristocrats.
Art For What’s Sake? Part One
An untechnical conversation on the meaning of art, set in a Middle American saloon with pop music blasting over the speakers.
Restricting Self-Defense
To most of us living in postmodern times, these Germanic customs seem crude and dangerous, and the reluctance to consider the moral questions is a fatal weakness:
Carl Sagan’s Endarkenment
On FB and elsewhere I have been reading tributes to Carl Sagan from people who praise him for his prophetic insight into America’s cultural decline. In fact, Carl Sagan was a primary symptom of American cultural declin
Restricting Self-Defense, III: Our Barbarian Roots
There was no justice for a murder victim without a family to demand vengeance. Before we rush to condemn the Germans as savages, we should recall that even at Athens during its Golden Age, it was the family’s responsibility to bring charges against someone who had murdered one of its members.
Restricting Self-Defense, Part II
Every animal seems to “know” the two commandments of nature: Survive and propagate, and each creature seeks to preserve its own identity and to transmit it genetic heritage through time.
Ask The Autodidact:
The civil right to choose the sort of education your children receive remains of paramount importance….
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Restricting Self-Defense
Ancient Romans, more than any other Indo-European people, attempted to restrict the natural duty of self-defense and the natural desire for revenge, but even there the primitive traditions of self-help yielded only gradually to a centralized legal apparatus.
Another Year of Reading
A number of friends, real and virtual, on Facebook have listed the books they most enjoyed or profited from reading this past year. I was surprised how many were books about books, that is, tertiary rehashings of movements or developments for which there are superior first-hand sources.
