Tag: Politics
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The Corporate and the Individual
One of the greatest dividing lines today in terms of social and political visions is corporate vs individual identity. Should we judge individuals as individuals (e.g., judge each man by his own actions and character)? Or should we judge individuals as members of groups (e.g., the characteristics of the racial, national, gender, etc, categories to…
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Reno on the Post-War Consensus, Populism, and Liberalism
A few quotes from R. R. Reno: “Neoliberalism” is the word that gets tossed around to describe our current system. It describes an economic and cultural regime of deregulation and disenchantment. The ambition of neoliberalism is to weaken and eventually dissolve the strong elements of traditional society that impede the free flow of commerce (the…
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The Folly of Racial and Ethnic Arrogance
Racial and ethnic arrogance are just as sinful and foolish as personal arrogance. Humility is a virtue in every domain of life. — Some seem to think natural law teaches races should be segregated (a kind of natural law kinism of sorts). Wolfe leaned this direction in his book on Christian nationalism (though how far…
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The Progressive Coalition: What Are We Up Against?
The rise of socialist Muslim pro-LGBTQ Democrat Zohran Mamdani to the place of apparent lock for NYC mayor raises all kinds of interesting questions about what ties together contemporary progressivism. Set aside the oddity of a city that saw firsthand how destructive Islam can be (has 9/11 been forgotten?) now choosing a Muslim to rule…
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Movements that do not police themselves are bound to fail.
An X thread from October ’24: It is crucial to understand the times and to understand the Scriptures. Many Christian movements have fizzled out quickly because their leaders misunderstood the cultural situation. Or, the movement got traction, grew, and became influential, but did damage because it was more culture-shaped than Scripture-shaped. An example of the…
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A Note on Social Contract Theory
Social contract theory, originating primarily with Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, is not only contrary to a biblical theology of the state, but also tells a story that is so patently absurd it is hard to believe it ever gained credence in the first place. Social contractualists, in brief, assume that men, by nature, are…
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True Political Power
An X post from February: There’s a lot of talk right now about Christians (and conservatives) learning to embrace and wield political power — something we have not really done for quite some time. This is all well and good. Being afraid of power is immature and irresponsible. Christians should seek to gain political power…
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Post-which-war consensus?
An X thread from 2/21/25, explaining that the “post-war consensus” is much older than the post-World War 2 era: The so-called postwar consensus that sought to weaken religious, civic, and familial loyalties as a peace-keeping measure in the aftermath of WW2 was really nothing new. Indeed, this tactic might be considered a post-Reformation consensus, as…
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There’s No Such Thing as Religious Liberty
Just a friendly reminder: there is no such thing as religious liberty. Why? Two reasons. 1. There is no such thing as “religion in general” – only particular religions. Thus, freedom for one religion will often come at the expense of another religion. 2. There is no such thing as religious neutrality. It’s impossible to…
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Living a Red Pill Life in a Blue Pill World
The red pill/blue pill metaphor has gotten mangled to the point that it’s almost useless. I never saw the Matrix movies, but when I first encountered the red pill/blue pill categories, I thought they were fairly helpful interpretive lenses for navigating certain aspects of life in the modern world. I thought the red pill/blue pill…
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