What lies at the root of the totalitarianism that seems to be asserting itself in free societies in today’s West? The answer to this question reveals a fascinating affinity between Ryszard Legutko, a 21st century Polish Catholic philosopher and the 19-century Dutch Calvinist historian and statesman Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer.
Todd Huizinga —
The Midwit Meme claims that the uneducated and the very educated are natural allies. The real problem is found with those towards the centre of the spectrum, the slightly educated lot.
Sebastian Morello —
Western governments are become more controlling, behaving like overbearing mothers rather than the aloof arbiters they are supposed to be. This is the nanny state at its worst, deciding its naughty citizens did not know what was good for them and, therefore, needed to be kept away from harm.
Daria Fedotova —
One December 9th while walking near the foot of Tepeyac hill, Juan Diego was visited by a young woman who revealed that she was the Virgin Mary. After healing his uncle from what had seemed like a fatal illness, the Virgin bid the future saint to climb a hill and collect the flowers that were blooming there despite the Mexican winter. These were strange flowers, for they were European, but had apparently found fertile ground on American soil.
Carlos Perona Calvete —
If conservatism is about love for the society that is ours, what are conservatives to do when they look around and find their society increasingly unlovable?
Harrison Pitt —
Pre-pandemic, I flew at least one long-haul flight a month and regularly clocked 150,000 air miles annually for the previous twenty years. It was novel for my wife to see me ‘in a flap’ over simple things like checking in online and fretting over the contents of my bags.
Roger Watson —
What I saw in Derrida was a man of equal genius whose affirmative understanding of home redeemed French thought from its obsessive oikophobia.
Mark Dooley —
Our ancestors were far wiser than we; they knew that a legal system cannot be an end in itself. It must serve a higher power. If to-day’s courts and judges are to be allowed to retain the prestige and trappings of their illustrious predecessors, let them be once more made to serve what those judges of the past served.
Charles A. Coulombe —
Reigning or not, it is far from beyond the realm of possibility that one or more Royals may one day find the situation forcing or inviting them to mobilise precisely those traditions they embody in order to save their people from whatever dire fate otherwise awaits them.
Charles A. Coulombe —
With the Roger Scruton Memorial Lectures, conservative thinkers and ideas will finally have a space at the University of Oxford.
Paul du Quenoy —
We are, then, in a rather odd situation. It seems that conspiracies are deemed believable when they arise in fiction. It also seems that conspiracies are thought to have really happened, and are considered an essential component in even a superficial understanding of history. But anyone who suggests that we may be in the grips of a conspiracy now is a ‘conspiracy theorist,’ a pejorative term that denotes a person who does not assent to all he is told by mainstream media outlets.
Sebastian Morello —
Our institutions of higher learning nevertheless reveal how, even within a formal meritocracy, entrenched privilege can co-exist with an appearance of fairness. When the lower rungs of the ladder are kicked away by those already on top, social mobility grinds to a halt and the meritocratic promise loses its capacity to inspire.
Harrison Pitt —
The mere hint that a point of view is outdated serves as a signal that it need not be taken seriously. It can be legitimately vilified and condemned.
Frank Furedi —
It is customary for a politician to chase popular opinions, putting partisan interests first and shying away from confrontation. However, Castlereagh was not a politician, but a statesman: an undaunted leader who took a stand when it mattered, carried the burden of power with pride and confidence, sacrificed everything for his country, and established Britain’s role for decades to come.
Daria Fedotova —
The picture that has been emerging of today’s papacy is one of a pope, with little or no regard for law and due process, governing a Church that has made disregard for law and tradition part of its ecclesiastical culture.
Sebastian Morello —
The “Graveyard of Empires” seems a fitting name for the nation. Afghanistan does not destroy them; it measures their willingness to fight for their interests and, thus, their vitality. It is the heart of Asia, it is a barren land of blood and dust, the ultimate test of ambition.
Daria Fedotova —
The ‘Theology of the Body’ focuses on the conjugal act and marriage and sees them as mutually inextricable. The conjugal act consummates marriage—and sex outside marriage is not conjugal.
Andrew Cannon —
Although I myself have not hunted for any game in decades save what can be found in restaurants, I do not approve of these limitations; in fact I cannot really trust any leader who does not hunt. It would be much better if they all did.
Charles A. Coulombe —
In Putin’s words, one can see the fusion, in his mind, of the roles of the Church and the state. I asked a number of Orthodox clergy as well as several Russian journalists what they thought Putin actually believed, and their answers amounted to a collective shrug.
Jonathon Van Maren —
The process of loosening, trivializing, and ultimately abolishing all the cultural institutions, expectations, and shared meanings of Western culture is the great project of Enlightenment liberalism.
Joseph Shaw —
October once more brought us that festival called in the United States Columbus Day, in much of Latin America the Dia de la Raza, and in Spain, the feast of Hispanidad. Call it what you will, it commemorates the day upon which Christopher Columbus—Genoese sea captain in the service of Their Most Catholic Majesties Ferdinand […]
Charles A. Coulombe —
Vox is not against Europe but is in favor of truly sovereign states within the framework of Europe. It will stand with others against the intolerant “European Taliban” of the Left: “We will reconstruct what they destroy and rebuild what they demolish.”
Alberto M. Fernandez —
The issue here is not Eastern Europe vs. Western Europe, or even traditionalist Europe versus progressive Europe. The issue is preserving real cultural diversity within a European Union.
Brandon Zicha, Joes Gordon de Natris —
The conversion of Michael Nazir-Ali, at this point in the life both of the established Church of England, the Catholic Church in England, and the wider Catholic Church, is plausibly the most significant conversion since the now St. John Henry Newman knelt at the feet of Bl. Dominic Barberi in Littlemore, Oxford, in October 1845, and asked for reception into the Catholic Church.
Fr. Benedict Kiely —
Christians are being driven out of their communities, particularly in Nigeria’s north and middle belt, bit by bit, and many of the villages are being abandoned. This is what has been called a “slow-motion genocide.”
Jonathon Van Maren —
There is a path forward, but it is a narrow and tricky one that winds along the knife-edge between revolution and reaction.
Jonathan Culbreath —
Europeans have a fascinating relationship with dogs, a relationship that does not seem to exist in any other civilisation.
Sebastian Morello —
The Battle of Lepanto needed strong leadership. Today, Europe is searching for similar leadership. Europe needs statesmen: men and women who think about the next generation, not the next election; people like Don Juan of Austria and Blessed Emperor Karl, animated by a deep sense of service, ready to put the interests of their peoples before their own.
Imre von Habsburg-Lothringen —
All is not yet lost for those who believe in Christendom. Saner leadership seems to be emerging in Hungary and elsewhere in Central Europe. So, too, in Western Europe a new generation is looking for answers.
Charles A. Coulombe —
One of the West’s problems is that at the end of the Cold War, it has been uncertain of its purpose—which has engendered a moral and political crisis, especially in the face of the threat of Islamic terrorism.
David Martin Jones, M.L.R. Smith —
We continue to find insights into the power of music to arouse emotions—even about armed conflicts and military triumphs like the Siege (and later Relief) of Vienna on September 12, 1683.
David Boos —
The defence of Christendom against the Turks—together with the fight against heresy—was a dominant feature of the pontificate of Pius V.
Roberto de Mattei —
We are all Germans now. What started out as the uniqueness of German guilt has mushroomed into an all-encompassing Western guilt, now tied to the legacy of imperialism and the transatlantic slave trade. And apparently, we can never finish atoning for our ‘sins.’
Kurt Hofer —
For the development of Swedish conservatism, a return to its deep cultural roots provided by Catholicism and the vibrant civil society formed by its Protestant free churches is essential. A relativistic or secular approach will not suffice.
Clemens Cavallin, Lars Eklund, Johan Sundeen —
Beyond the mere personalities involved, the fault lies with the hubris that has dogged us from our political beginning—the idea that we could or should remake the world in our own perfect image.
Charles A. Coulombe —
Post-Soviet countries have experienced their fair share of socialist utopia and have decided they do not want any more of it. But in the West, socialist movements like BLM are gaining ground.
Daria Fedotova —
The idea of an “authoritarian personality” is not a myth. It just so happens to exist primarily in those who wish to diagnose it in others.
Niall McCrae, M.L.R. Smith —
Fear of nature will rule every meaningful decision regarding life and death. Viruses and climate change will justify continued social isolation and an increasingly totalitarian government.
James Bryson —
Christopher Dawson is an enigmatic character in the history of Western thought. No scholar of his generation was a greater champion of the idea of a united Christian culture, yet few were as sensitive to the problems such unity entailed. Although his influence waned after his death, Dawson’s reputation has been experiencing a broad revival, […]
Glen Austin Sproviero —
We can now recognize a clash of two opposing views, indeed two clashing interpretations of reality: that of the local Syrians and that of the Western media.
Erwin Wolff —
The human heart will ever desire a family life, a life of meaning within a community, and a life in consonance with nature, ultimately ordered to the Divine.
Theo Howard —
The northern Irish state was born in 1921 as a political compromise. The circumstances of its birth bear certain similarities to the issues and conundrums thrown up by Brexit 100 years on.
K.V. Turley —
A natural fortress in a perfect location, Gibraltar—or “the Rock”—is a priceless strategic asset. Its fate after Brexit put it in the middle of an intense struggle.
Daria Fedotova —
Young Fogeydom is not a new phenomenon in the Anglophone world. Indeed, Young Fogeys may have made their first appearance at Oxford University during the Tractarian Movement of the mid-19th century.
Jesse Russell —
Establishing anew the cause of nationhood by situating its defence in the moral life of its members was one of Scruton’s achievements. The conservative movement of the future would do well to concentrate on this facet of his philosophy.
Sebastian Morello —
The politically successful VOX is such a new beast that its full story is yet to be written, particularly in English. Thus, any attempt to understand it is a welcome contribution.
Alberto M. Fernandez —
Not all the ideas that public intellectuals have are valuable. Far from it. For ideas to have value they must be based upon and capable of being tested by experience. Too often, they are not.
Frits Bolkestein —