Western Civilization

The Dutch Are Awake. Are We?3
- International, Politics, Western Civilization
- July 25, 2022
“Who’s there?” That challenge by a guard at Elsinore Castle is the first line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. “Who’s there?” is a question that pervades the play. We in the audience ask each of the play’s main characters—the ghost of Hamlet’s father; the ghost’s murderer, Claudius; Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, now married to her husband’s killer; the
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Is There Any Such Thing as a ‘Good Divorce’?8
- Family, Culture, Western Civilization
- July 22, 2022
If you ever want to get an interesting—sometimes shocking—glimpse of today’s culture, try reading the advice columns that populate many of the nation’s newspapers. A letter to Slate’s “Dear Prudence” column caught my eye today. The letter writer explained that a friend (“Chrissy”) in her late 30s was still dealing with the effects of her
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Want a Life of Adventure, Drama, and Comedy? Have Kids.5
- Culture, Family, Western Civilization
- July 21, 2022
Only “61 percent of the able workforce is currently officially employed,” Victor Davis Hanson writes in a recent Epoch Times article. “In just 14 years,” he notes further, “the fertility rate has crashed to 1.64 from 2.12—meaning that both citizens and resident aliens in America aren’t replacing themselves.” That replacement rate without immigration is approximately
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Are We Living Under a Kakistocracy: Government by the Worst?5
- Politics, Culture, Religion, Western Civilization
- July 21, 2022
In 1787, as Benjamin Franklin left the final session of the Constitutional Convention, he was asked what form of government the delegates had given America. “A Republic,” he answered, “if you can keep it.” Spoiler alert: we didn’t. In 1963, Leonard Read warned Americans that “our once-upon-a-time Republic” was degenerating into something else; “we are headed into
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Why Country Bumpkins Will Win the Day 9
- Culture, Politics, Western Civilization
- July 18, 2022
My neighbors hunt. These so-called “country bumpkins” can survive in the forest, hills, lakes, and rivers here in Indiana. They understand the world of nature, its vicissitudes and barbarism. Appreciating its transcendent beauty and cadences, they also accept its fierce cruelties. These country bumpkins do not worship nature. Rather, they seek reconciliation with it, desiring that their loved ones
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No Place Like Home to Help Freedom Grow 6
- Culture, Economics, Family, Philosophy, Western Civilization
- July 12, 2022
While having dinner with a Chinese couple several years ago, I listened as they described their visiting parents’ response to the American landscape. Having recently arrived from China, the parents’ amazement about the Dakotas was particularly amusing. “So much space!” was the loose translation. “They could build so many apartments!” I laughed heartily at the
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