We Still Need the Declaration Of Independence

When human will becomes sovereign, unencumbered by nature and divorced from God, we are left with movements—people organized to impose their will on their adversaries. This is the terminal product of historicist philosophy and modern social science: the war, not of all against all, but of movement against movement.

At the bottom of the rot is a set of doctrines that have remade the American government and are remaking the society. These doctrines are the abnegation of the Declaration of Independence. Under these doctrines there are no truths that last, no commands from above that must be obeyed. There is only what people do to one another, and by this process they shape the society and each other. What they ought to do does not enter into it.

Today’s Firestorm and the Declaration, by Larry P. Arnn. Imprimis 11/25, Volume 54/Issue 11

What Culture Has Become

Gloria Steinem attributes the feminist saying, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” to a 22-year-old Australian, Irina Dunn,… Such ignorance leaves boys free to become useless wimps or dangerous predators. It leaves too many women to themselves even if they wish to face the fulfilling trial of children. Little wonder we are not reproducing even at a replacement level. Little wonder that so many boys and girls gravitate toward different, if ultimately indistinguishable, wastelands.

Today’s Firestorm and the Declaration, by Larry P. Arnn. Imprimis 11/25, Volume 54/Issue 11

How to Preserve Liberty

To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.

Richard Henry Lee.

Public Schools Indoctrinate, Not Educate

We see a generation in which too many have been taught that the only truth is in the human will, which then becomes sovereign. The past is presented to them as a dark time, now happily superseded; therefore they learn no edifying or useful history. The quest for truth dies not only in the humanities, but increasingly in the sciences. To think there is one right answer to a math problem has been derided as a racist concept. And of course we confuse the sexes.

Today’s Firestorm and the Declaration, by Larry P. Arnn. Imprimis 11/25, Volume 54/Issue 11

Is God Dead?

People tend to misunderstand Nietzsche’s “God is dead” comment by taking it at face value, but his warning was a bit more pointed — famously warning that once Christianity lost cultural authority, Europe would become irrational and inhumane — it would become morally unmoored. Without transcendent standards, moral language survives but becomes raw power dressed up as compassion. He predicted the rise of what he called slave morality: resentment reframed as justice.

Michael Smith, A Civilization Losing Its Moral Compass

LEFTISTs Are Lawless

One of the mysteries of the ages is why the political left has, for centuries, lavished so much attention on the well-being of criminals and paid so little attention to their victims.

Thomas Sowell

Importance of History

History is the study of the way people, based on various religious worldviews, act through time to accomplish their goals. The study of history is vital because by looking back on the past, we can see how people’s decisions affected their fellow humans’ ability to flourish. As George Santayana famously admonished, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We thus need an accurate view of the past if we are to sustain trends toward greater wealth, justice, and sustainability. History can guide us to learn from our mistakes, act rightly in our current circumstances, and get better over time.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.472

Economics

In Latin, the word for “economics” comes from the Greek word oikonomos, meaning “the art of running a household.” Economists study institutions and human beings, especially how they compete, cooperate, and distribute goods, services, and information. But economists don’t just study the world as it is. They also make claims about how it ought to be. Unfortunately, some economists are captive to utopian visions based on wrong assumptions about God, humans, and the world. This is why the answers to life’s ultimate questions matter so much in making economic decisions. 

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.470

Post-modernism and the End of Justice

Postmodernists focus on structures of society rather than the heart. They view as unjust anything resulting from traditional power structures, such as Christianity, the Enlightenment, heterosexism, or patriarchy. Therefore, the postmodern understanding of justice in relation to the law is not actually connected to any objective standards. Rather, it is the process of uncovering the various forms of oppression. This way of thinking continues to creep into judicial decisions, most recently—and notably—through the decision of Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy to overthrow the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA) because he viewed it as oppressive to people experiencing same-sex attraction. In a similar vein, New Mexico Supreme Court justice Richard Bosson recently wrote an opinion reflection the view of the court that the refusal of a New Mexico photography studio to photograph a gay wedding violated the human rights of a gay couple. In these cases, the battle against “heterosexism” was seen to trump religious and economic freedom.

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.468

Survival of Society Requires Family Unit

Societies can survive tragedy and economic disaster, but if the family falls apart, societal collapse is inevitable. Such unraveling is now a statistical reality. At its most basic level, the Christian sociological claim is that society functions best when organized around the natural family (father, mother, and children).

Jeff Myers & David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, pg.466

DemoKrats Promote and Support Lawlessness

The intense blowback against Trump’s efforts to restore law and order rams home the point that it is a deliberate choice by progressives to preserve lawlessness in their cities. When you think about it, the strategy seems to have paid off, if all you care about is power, since progressives have a generational stranglehold on the cities with the worst crime.

Lawlessness Is a Choice, by Miranda Devine. Imprimis, 10/25, Volume 54/Issue 10

Sad State of American Schools

In progressive schools today, rarely do children read “chapter books” before junior high or high school, if at all. Mostly they read “readers,” or short booklets written specifically for the classroom by ensconced educators, not recognized authors. These readers offer hollowed-out stories  of little artistic value. Recently, many of these stories have been saturated with LGBT and CRT influence. They simplify reading skills to offer a manicured experience that can best be described as tedious. It’s no wonder so few children love to read in our age!

Battle For the American Mind, by Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin, pg.204