Peter Lawler

Here’s a short article that outs the truth about the Democrats’ health care strategy. They know the “reform” isn’t going to save money. They also know that it’s a huge leap with unpredictable consequences. But they don’t care, and their moment, they know, . . . . Continue Reading »

Next April 15, we’re going to have a one-day conference on the general topic of the teaching of American politics. Here are some possible themes: the relationship between civic education and liberal education, the use of literature and film, the heroic approach (Washington, Lincoln, etc.), . . . . Continue Reading »

So I was more than a bit astonished to see the web attention given to my previous post on David Bentley Hart’s book. I didn’t know that my “screed” would require James’s spirited defense, and I certainly didn’t know I was accusing metaphysical Mormons or Humeans . . . . Continue Reading »

So I’m reading the brilliant and provocative ATHEISTIC DELUSIONS: THE CHRISTIAN REVOLUTION AND ITS FASHIONABLE ENEMIES by David Bentley Hart. It begins as a criticism of the naive stupidity of the “new atheists” such as Hitchens, Dawkins, and Dennett from the perspective of the . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, I’m teaching the rights part of con law this semester. O’Connor’s big contribution to constitutional interpretation, I’ve concluded, is try to bolster bad precedents because people have gotten used to them. Example one: Justice Powell’s opinion for the Court in . . . . Continue Reading »

Here is a bit more from the article I’m working on (slowly) on the defenders of the nation (such as Scruton and Manent) in Europe today. It has something vaguely to do with our president and his Nobel Prize and even Krauthammer’s article in THE WEEKLY STANDARD about the dangers in . . . . Continue Reading »

So I’m going to resist the cruel temptation to comment on David Letterman (hasn’t been funny for more than a decade) or say more on whether Beck and Limbaugh are worth defending. Instead, I’m sharing with you a bit of an article I’m writing on Scruton’s and . . . . Continue Reading »

I wrote this for another channel. Naturally, I thought YOU would want to read it. . . . . Continue Reading »

HARPERS thought Peter Minowitz had some more explaining to do in his defense of Strauss and Straussians. And I think his answers will be helpful to non- and anti-Straussians. We learn, for example, that Strauss became less Nietzschean and less militaristic over time, but not less pro-American or . . . . Continue Reading »

Here are some thoughts by a thoughtful social scientist on our next national election. I hate to taint the refined pages of postmodern conservatism with mere partisan politics and empty political speculation. Still, there are as many Democrats in Republican leaning districts as there were in 1994; . . . . Continue Reading »