Austin Stone

The recent C11 piece about a Red State’s-eye-view of life was, among other things, a juicy piece of blog bait. I’ll bite: Traditional peoples have met opposition from the beginning of history. Our way of life drives some people nuts. We do not subject our values to critical thinking and . . . . Continue Reading »

The uncanny and unsettling distance between what seems and what is pops up again in David Brooks’s latest column . These are my bolds below: If you wanted to pick words to capture Patio Man’s political ideals, they would be responsibility, respectability and order. Patio Man moved to . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t know when Lakeview Terrace will disappear from movie theatres. It features Samuel L. Jackson brandishing a chainsaw, so my best guess is "soon," which is a shame. A Chicago reviewer called it "one of the toughest racial dramas to come out of Hollywood since the fires . . . . Continue Reading »

A key source of misunderstanding in my much controverted Manifesto, I think, has to do with the very nature of my undertaking as respects theory and practice.  Commenters who blame me for not providing a clear set of actionable principles are still working within a modern (post-Christian) . . . . Continue Reading »

Bowing to relentless and overwhelming demand from postmodern-leaning lovers of truth and virtue waiting somewhere out there in cyberspace, I offer this extended version of the Draft Manifesto from a few weeks ago.  (I include the previously published first 8 points here, so you won’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Our own Peter Lawler provides us with some historical context on the presidential election that might produce a glimmer of hope. There seems to be some solid evidence that Obama still hasn’t closed the deal though he’s clearly winning beyond the margin of error. Especially interesting . . . . Continue Reading »

More signs of the coming GOPocalypse . . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at the Confabulum, James has raised the following worry about what people are caling the "New Fusionism": "But both Benedictinism and libertarianism are fairly anti-political worldviews. Any fusion between them would deepen and widen the disconnect between Americans, their . . . . Continue Reading »

Cherry-picking my way through Nicola’s re-rejoinder , here’s what pops out: 1. Nicola seems to agree with me that we can’t be certain about our truths because certainty is the wrong standard of assessment for truths. But she says: I don’t know how truth can function as a . . . . Continue Reading »

Here our friend Pat Deneen draws from the wisdom of the anti-Federalists that we have good reason to fear an excessive consolidation of economic power in the federal government, especially during times of economic crisis. One could reasonably argue that governmentally regulated and subsidized . . . . Continue Reading »