The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Wednesday’s Child: Architecture as Confession
The gentle reader may recall that I was once a student at Yale. There, unforgettably, a preternaturally astute classmate named Steve (where is he now, I wonder? In a nuthouse, most likely, along with everybody else who is preternaturally astute) once buttonholed me to deliver a lecture on the architecture of the university, specifically the residential colleges, the Sterling Memorial Library, and other structures of the 1930’s.
Fire and Sword, II
I am not sensing a great deal of interest in this great novel, but I shall raise one question to see if it receives a response. If readers have got at least a fourth of the way through the work, they will have read the account of Pan Jan’s diplomatic journey, his capture, and his trials.
Shakespeare the Moralist, a Video
This talk was given early last year at the Immaculata Classical Academy in Louisville.
The Impossibility of Democracy, Part IV: The End of Private Life
There are countless books and articles on the press: its history, its role in defining democracy, its problems, its scandals. What is hard to find is a serious discussion of the fundamental dishonesty, the trivial huckstering that characterizes even the best newspapers. I once had dinner with a distinguished European scholar, who, with a little encouragement, asked me why there was so little freedom of discussion in the United States. Was it due to the village mentality described by Tocqueville? Or was it merely the effect of the tight grip of the media oligarchy? If the latter was true, how...
I’m Ready to Lead
My campaign manager Red Phillips, recovering from a COVID infection that sent him recently into the ICU, arose from his bed of suffering to create our first poster
The Lord’s Prayer, a Conversation: “Who Art in Heaven”
Why is the Father in heaven–or rather in the heavens–and what and where are they? Listeners are advised to cut off the podcast before the castrato sings at the end.
The Impossibility of Democracy, Part III: The Religion of Propaganda
“Black History Month, which used to be known as February…”
Sam Francis’ witticism has been repeated ad infinitum, by friend and foe alike, usually with little appreciation of the broader implications, which extend far beyond the politics of race. The politics of race, let us never forget, is merely one comparatively small part of the Revolution against Western civilization and human nature.
Wednesday’s Child: The Paradox of Interest
I have often wondered about the principle of disclosure, which is so easily taken to interesting lengths. Of course like others I can applaud when a journalist doing a story on some Fortune500 company is criticized for not revealing that the CEO is his brother-in-law, or when a juror is prosecuted for concealing an intimate connection with the man on trial. But beyond that?
The Impossibility of Democracy, Part II: The Fourth Estate
Most Americans are convinced that they live in a democracy. Who can blame them? They have been told nothing else throughout their lives. Until not too long ago, there had been a remnant of conservatives who insisted that the Founding Fathers had established a republic, but the constant jeers from the Leftist Mainstream have apparently forced them to drop this affectation.
