Category: Political Theory
On Chosen Family in East Village Vaguely Soviet Speakeasies
Last night, we launched Issue 23 of Plough Quarterly, at the Red Room at KGB Bar on East 4th Street. I went there first when I was probably sixteen or so, for a book launch of my father’s, and I’ve...
Leviathan, Zarathustra, and the End(s) of Liberalism
Enter scene left: House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi harangues the House while pointing to a giant styrofoam board with the pledge of allegiance emblazoned across it. Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff walks the articles of impeachment from the House to the...
There is No Wealth but Life: Rootedness in an Orphaned World
There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings. ~ John Ruskin “You surprise me,...
The Necessity of Nations
Dr. Werntz has argued that the question ‘can Christians be nationalists?’ is largely without meaning, at present at least, because it cannot be answered using the terms given in the debate so far. Our global, neo-liberal order has unmade nations...
Nationalism for a Multi-Tribal People
Myles Werntz’s essay brings us back to first principles by asking in his title question: ‘What is Nationalism?’ He then frames the conception of nationalism as both constitutive (“who a nation is comprised of”) and historical-contextual (“how it comes to...
What are nations for?
Once in college I asked my pastor if he had time to get coffee so I could ask his advice on something that had been bothering me for several months. I was feeling stretched to my limits because I was...
A National Conservative Awakening
I made my way to the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Washington D.C. for the National Conservatism Conference Sunday evening with some trepidation, unsure what to expect, and feeling wildly out of place among what seemed like a crowd of thinktank wonks,...
Rise of the Titans: Fascism, Christianity, and the Seduction of the Brutal
If you visit the Hotel du Lac, an inexplicably French-named bed and breakfast catering to German and British on the shores of Lake Garda, in Italy, you will likely see some of the hotel’s collection of decorative inter-war travel posters,...
In Defense of Nationalism: Notes on Yoram Hazony and His Critics
You didn’t have to be a close follower of contemporary political theory to know that Yoram Hazony’s The Virtue of Nationalism was going to be the equivalent of shooting a paintball into a hornet’s nest. Here was a book with...
On the Liberal’s Incoherence: Responding to Charles C. W. Cooke
In a post over at National Review, NR editor Charles C. W. Cooke has joined the chorus of critics castigating Sohrab Ahmari for giving up on liberalism. Here is the meat of his critique, though you ought to read the whole...