War and Ideology
There can be no more central question to studies of war and terrorism than that which looks to the root of human conflict in pursuit of its most fundamental causes. In so doing, modern scholarship has cultivated numerous popular hypotheses, each thoroughly written of and critically discussed: nationalism, ethnicity, greed, grievance, poverty, and the role … Read more
On Judicial Activism
Identifying the proper role of the judiciary is an integral aspect of the continuing struggle for a rational government. Contemporary analysis of the courts often obfuscates a clear solution to this issue with overlapping and frequently imprecise terminology. Academic scholars of the courts speak of judicial activism and restraint, conservatism and liberalism, legalism and realism … Read more
The Law is Above the Lawyers
The following originally appeared here at The American Spectator. Do not let its girth fool you: Reading Law by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and legal writing guru Bryan A. Garner is an accessible and straightforward clarification of originalism and textualism.* A guide for the perplexed and a manual of sorts for judges, this book presents 57 … Read more
A Culture of Fascism – Ideology as a Motive Force Behind German Support for the Nazi Regime
“Existence or nonexistence” (Fritzsche 265), “…belonging to a Nazi society, or giving up on organizational life altogether” (Stephenson 107) – these were common dichotomies with which average Germans felt confronted throughout World War II and the twelve-year rule of the Nazi Party. With bitter memories of 1918 and Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War I … Read more
America’s Culture of Collectivism
This essay was originally submitted to the Pi Sigma Alpha 2013 essay contest for the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs. It received first prize on the question of whether American culture tends to emphasize being an individual as more important than being a citizen. It was published online in the Georgia Political Review … Read more
Towards a Philosophy of Journalism
“Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist’s metaphysical value-judgments. Man’s profound need of art lies in the fact that his cognitive faculty is conceptual, i.e., that he acquires knowledge by means of abstractions, and needs the power to bring his widest metaphysical abstractions into his immediate, perceptual awareness. Art fulfills this … Read more
An Open Letter to Georgia Tea Parties
We have before us an immense opportunity – an opportunity which has not occurred in the state of Georgia since before the existence of the Tea Party Movement: a vacancy in the United States Senate. The recognition and protection of individual rights is the cause of all rational men and the aim of all just … Read more
Obamacare Religious Exemptions Avoid the Actual Problem
It has been less than a year since Chief Justice Roberts erred in upholding the vast majority of Obamacare, including the individual mandate, as constitutional. With President Obama’s reelection campaign complete, the president is no longer bound by the Democratic Party’s tradition of paying lip service to the raucous interest groups and single-issue activists at … Read more
Useful Idiots
During the rise of socialism in the early 20th century, a term emerged from among European communist commentators and leaders to describe those individuals—largely British or American—who had but a faint conception of the nature and intentions of the ideas being enacted in Russia at the time, yet who praised it without reservation as … Read more
String Theory: When Philosophy Fails
A rational philosophy is a necessity to every aspect of one’s life. Poor philosophic systems can lead to misdirected and often dangerous, self-destructive actions. “All… fields of knowledge and areas of life – from something as abstract as quantum physics to something as trivial as commuting to and from one’s employment – are left unprotected … Read more
The Authors
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