Pisa: Rise and Decline
What the Good Men of Pisa and their Archbishop had in mind was a duomo beyond the dreams of Theoderic or Charlemagne
Category: Fleming
The Government We Deserve Part III (of 4)
Among the many reasons why a regime would wish to eliminate all knowledge of antiquity and the insights ancient writers offer is the desire to shield the subject masses from anything that might make them uneasy. We might view it as a kindness on the part of the ruling class.
“You Shall Be As Gods.”
Pico della Mirandola’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man” is celebrated by leftists and conservatives as a classic statement on human dignity. In fact, this confused product of a a brilliant young mind is one of the opening shots in the rebellion against God and human nature. There is, however, a happy ending.
The Prince, II
As a rational and classically trained writer, Machiavelli begins with definitions. He first distinguishes the two types of government as republics and principalities.
Of Cabbages and Kings, Pizza and Confucius, Part II
Artificial Intelligence is the operation of a machine programmed by dullwitted aliens posing as human beings.
The Prince I: Historical Introduction
The dates of Machiavelli’s life are significant: He was born in the year Lorenzo “the magnificent” succeeded his father as ruler of Florence and died in the year the Medici were again expelled and when the Emperor Charles V sacked Rome.
The Prince
Anyone who does not own a copy of the work can easily get one online from many sources including gutenberg.org. It is a short book, which can be read in the matter of a few hours. We’ll take a few weeks.
The Government We Deserve, Part II (of 4)
In the off chance that this screed might be read by people who do not already know the score, I ask such imaginary readers to imagine a visit from Jefferson or Twain or Mencken or even some reasonable politician like Robert Taft or Sam Ervin, who asks us to take him on a guided tour of these United States. We might begin their tour by taking them to see New York or San Francisco or Chicago or Portland, in fact to any major city in to witness the complete breakdown of law and order, sanitation, and public decency.
Trump-Musk in ’24
A lot of my friends, wife included, are outraged by the purge trials against Donald Trump. I certainly agree with them that the American legal system is making a flashy display of its contempt for law, confirming the global expression that the US has joined the ranks of the banana republics.
BOMC
I am reviving our Book of the Month in a less pedantic and exhaustive format. We’ll put up a list of books in the probable order in which we shall take them up. I’ll post an introduction. We can have as much or little commentary as readers wish to provide, though I do ask everyone who is reading one of the books to put up a brief comment to that effect.
