The Fleming Foundation

Category: Fleming

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Fleming / On the House

30 Sep, 2016

Shine, Perishing Republic  

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This was my second Perspective in Chronicles, June 1985 Murray Rothbard, [with a nod to Milton and Pope] described American conservatism as “chaos and old night.”  Apart from the nasty implication that we are all dunces, there is something to what he says. It is getting harder every year to figure out just what it is that makes a conservative. Consider Newt Gingrich—the Carl Sagan of politics.  He wants to colonize the stars, mine the galaxies for precious minerals, and open up the entire universe to free trade and economic opportunity.  In between star treks, Gingrich plans to overthrow the...

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Diary of a Jerk-Hunter / Feature / Fleming

29 Sep, 2016

Jerks I: Home of the Free, Land of the Jerk, Part C–

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Overgrown Children The exaggerated display of emotions is not limited to children.  Adults who throw temper tantrums are no longer despised, as they once were.  They are often celebrated for their spontaneity or, in the case of successful athletes, adored for getting away with doing as they please.  There was a time when tennis was a gentleman’s game, when the loser congratulated his victorious player and did not blame  the umpires.  Even in the 1970’s, when crybabies like Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe were staging their amateur theatricals on the court, Arthur Ashe was still acting like a grownup, on...

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FF / FFP / Fleming / Free Content / Podcasts

27 Sep, 2016

FF Podcast, Special Edition Trump

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On this special edition of the podcasts of the Fleming Foundation, our founder, Dr. Thomas Fleming, shares his impressions of the first Presidential Candidates’ Debate of the 2016 Election. If you’re new to the Foundation and our work, please register as a free user and get access to some of our content. Show Sponsor: Members Who Support Our Work Original Air Date: September 27, 2016 Show Run Time: 37 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner Podcast Player – Click the Cloud to Download Episode Also available on SoundCloud The Fleming Foundation Podcast℗ is a Production of...

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Feature / Fleming / Properties of Blood

26 Sep, 2016

POB I. 6: In Defense of Honor, Part E– Bullying

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This chapter has got out of hand–up to over 90 pages of double-spaced text, and I am still working.  Therefore, I am dividing it into two parts:  Chapter 6: In Defense of Honor, and 7:  Dueling for Honor.  Attentive readers will note that I have renamed the chapters and sections as posted.   I have also decided to end the former chapter with a passage I was working on for the conclusion to the whole thing, namely, a rather informal meditation on bullying.  For continuity’s sake, I have included the final paragraph of the previous section. Bullying Athens had a...

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Feature / Fleming / From Under The Rubble

22 Sep, 2016

“We Out Like Taliban”

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Indeed. Charlotte is burning.  Social media on Tuesday night were  lit up with messages of defiance:  “This ain’t no one day action, ” screamed one rioter, as others were venting their righteous outrage on a conveniently located Walmart.  Still others carried signs saying, “It’s a Book,” which will no doubt eclipse, for the time being, “Don’t Shoot”  and “I Can’t Breathe” as the battle cry of the underprivileged citizens who in pursuit of justice will loot any store, shoot any fireman, tell any lie, do anything but get jobs, support themselves, and lead law-abiding lives. Charlotte Police say that they...

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Feature / Fleming / Properties of Blood

19 Sep, 2016

Properties of Blood I.7: Dueling for Honor, Part B

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Military Duels Frontiers and unsettled times attract reckless men, who are going to shoot it out, one way or another.  The pretense that Abilene after the War Between the states or the Chicago ghetto of today can be run according to the rules of an Oxford College can lead only to anarchy and the death of law-abiding people who are minding their own business.  Where a community maintains a civil order, most men will be content to keep the peace most of time, relying on the forces of the law for protection and redress of injury, except on the exceptional...

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Fleming / From Under The Rubble

14 Sep, 2016

Hooray for Hollywood!

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According to a virtual reality rag called The Hollywood Reporter, both Stephen Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein are planning separately to base one of their schlock movies on “the true story of the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara.” Their true story is “about a 6-year-old Italian boy who in 1858 was taken from his Jewish parents by police and raised [sic!] Catholic.”  The villain in the piece is Pope Pius IX, who will be played—if Weinstein has his way—by Robert de Niro!   “Are you looking at me?  Are you looking at me?”  It’s too bad the Christophobic Christopher Hitchens has left...

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Feature / Fleming / From Under The Rubble

14 Sep, 2016

Trump:  The Lesser Evil, Episode II

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Reading the leftist responses to Hillary’s condemnation of us “deplorables,”  I was struck by the uniformity of tone.  They run the gamut from self-righteous astonishment to self-righteous indignation.  Occasionally, they tip their hand:  People who use “politically correct” as an insult, they say, are bigots, and so is anyone who thinks there might be something amiss with affirmative action, open immigration, same sex marriage, and men in women’s clothing hanging out in the girl’s locker room. There is a curious contradiction in the American “liberal” mind.  On the one hand, they are “all about” (an expression worth a few pages...

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Feature / Fleming

13 Sep, 2016

Jerks I: Land of the Free, Home of the Jerk, Part B

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Though they are one of America’s distinctive creations, Jerks have been observed throughout history.  Meet one from 17th century France, described by one of the most acute observers of human folly, Jean de la Bruyère: Gnathon lives for no one but himself, and the rest of the world are to him as if they did not exist. He is not satisfied with occupying the best seat at table, but he must take the seats of two other guests, and forgets that the dinner was not provided for him alone, but for the company as well; he lays hold of every...

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Fleming / On the House

12 Sep, 2016

…Who Help Themselves

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This piece appeared in the first number of revamped Chronicles, in  May 1985.  Some readers found it alarming at the time.   It now seems quite moderate, though many law-and-order neoconservatives would still deplore the call for self-help.   We take too much for granted in America. Whenever we have a problem, we assume that somebody else is paid to solve it, somebody from the government. All the ancient burdens of the human flesh—poverty and envy, greed and arrogance—have been turned over to one or another bureaucratic agency.  We sleep better at night knowing that somewhere someone is busy making life...