Don’t trust people who claim to speak for God or people. “Hitler never commanded majority support. This is common for populist authoritarians – while they claim to speak for ‘the people,’ they generally only speak for their own supporters, who… Read More »New Acquisitions: 1933 and the Definition of Fascism
When judging history, you need to know the context. “whereas today, national independence movements often take it as a granted principle that a people ought to be free to make its own government, ought to be free of the domination… Read More »Collections: On the Declaration of Independence
Stating you can rebel against a government so you can rebel against the government of. Declaration of Independence. “A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of… Read More »Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
So short. So powerful. “A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.” https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp
Reading Magna Carta is quite interesting. Most people, like me, think it is about freedom as such, but in the end it is a business contract. And war was necessary to have it written. “Neither we nor our officials will… Read More »Magna Carta, 1215 – The National Archives
Profesional military has its downsides. “an overweening executive that now most endangers the bargain, threatening to break the American civil-military bargain by dragging the military into politics. Remember, the civil-military bargain is not merely a pact of submission by the… Read More »Collections: The American Civil-Military Relationship
Interesting way to look at your life economic standing. “I have never once considered myself part of the working class.Why not? Because I have never thought of class as being defined by a present snapshot of someone’s lifestyle or material… Read More »I have never been working class
We are not in a normal society in terms of history. “We are often so used to liberal societies – or illiberal ones that use liberalism’s language as a mask – that we miss the radicalism of that vision. As… Read More »Collections: The Philosophy of Liberty – On Liberalism
There is login in the madness. “Once balancing fails, everyone’s interests suddenly recalculate in a diametrically opposed way. So long as balancing was possible, it was in most state’s interests to oppose the leading power in an effort to contain… Read More »Collections: The Status Quo Coalition
Adverbs matter. “‘great’ is not the superlative of ‘good’ (that, as a reminder, is ‘best’); I am not asking if the United States has had a positive impact on the world here (once again a deeply subjective question). Instead ‘greatness’… Read More »Collections: Is the United States Exceptional?