As Carl Schmitt comes back into fashion, I am reading all his works. This is his very first, from 1919, an excoriation of those who prioritize ethics over politics, and who refuse to make decisions when decisions are necessary.
The written version of this review can be found here:
https://theworthyhouse.com/2017/01/19/book-review-the-demon-in-democracy-ryszard-legutko/
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"To my excitement, Carl Schmitt is coming back into fashion, or at least into notice. Last week, for example, an excellent piece by the Swedish renegade leftist Malcolm Kyeyune received wide attention. It revolved around Schmitt’s concept, from 'The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy,' that when a regime must prove its legitimacy empirically, it is doomed. Kyeyune concluded that, just as the 'bourgeois kings' of Schmitt’s analysis were doomed because they had lost intrinsic legitimacy, so has, and is, our own regime. Now I wish I had thought of and made that point in my own recent review of that book. Ah well. Instead, today you will have to be satisfied with my reflections on another book, Schmitt’s first, Political Romanticism." . . .
An academic study of something with great relevance for today—the seizure of necessary weapons by a tyrannical occupying state. (This article was first published November 21, 2018.)
The written, original version of this article can be found at https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/11/21/book-review-gun-control-in-nazi-occupied-france-tyranny-and-resistance-stephen-p-halbrook/
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"This is an academic monograph, rather than a work of propaganda or political inspiration. Those looking for a rabble-rousing polemic in the style of today’s mass-popular conservative authors, or of a Wayne LaPierre speech, will be disappointed. What the reader gets instead is far more valuable: an understanding of modern history as it relates to gun control, and illumination of how gun seizures may work in practice if our own government turns criminal.' . . .
As the Wuhan Plague has exposed many jobs as substantively valueless, Matthew Crawford's classic work on work, manual labor, and craft has assumed more relevance. (The written version of this review was first published April 17, 2018. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, [are available here](https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/04/17/book-review-shop-class-soulcraft-inquiry-value-workmatthew-b-crawford/).)
Of Ethiopia—mostly of modern Ethiopia, a fascinating country. But what role is it likely to play in the future?
The written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2022/05/08/a-gallop-in-ethiopia-wax-gold-the-abyssinian-pony-yves-marie-stranger/
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"It has been a long time, a millennium and a half, since Ethiopia was a relevant player on the world stage. But I sometimes wonder if, as the present age grinds to its stupid end, the time of Ethiopia, with its ancient, self-confident Christian civilization, has come round again. Out of the corner of my mind’s eye, I see the Ethiopians sweeping northwards to dominate the Middle East, then replacing much of what is left of the decayed Europeans, perhaps linking up with their Orthodox brethren, expelling the Turks, and returning most of Eurasia to the Christian fold, igniting a new syncretic civilization. Probably not, but why not? That’s what we’re going to explore today." . . .
A corrective to the mushy thinking often offered about animal capabilities.
The written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2022/07/11/the-children-of-men-p-d-james/
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"When I was growing up in the 1980s, a staple belief of socially-correct thinking was that many non-human animals, not only apes but also dolphins, whales, and elephants, had, if we could only understand, minds functionally indistinguishable from ours. Children were told constantly about Koko the gorilla, who could supposedly speak, albeit in sign language. But all this was false, part of the Left project to convince us mankind is nothing special. Herbert Terrace, who has devoted his entire career to ape cognition, here puts the spike into the lies of my childhood, demonstrating that no ape (or any animal, primate or otherwise) can communicate in any way similar to humans." . . .
Our future, if we have the will to grasp it, in a nutshell.
The written version of this review can be found here:
https://theworthyhouse.com/2021/06/17/the-foundationalist-manifesto-the-politics-of-future-past/
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"I am here to give you back your future. Like Yeats’s golden bird, I will tell you of what is past, and passing, and to come. Here I offer an exposition of my, and what should be our, political program, both philosophy and movement, Foundationalism." . . .
Thoughts on elite theory, through an update of James Burnham's "The Machiavellians." And most importantly, of whether overthrow of our current regime depends on the prior development of a counter-elite (sneak peek—it does not).
The written version of this article can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2022/09/05/the-populist-delusion-neema-parvini/
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"What is populism? The snap answer is rule by the people. The more accurate answer is rule by an elite who strongly claim that they govern on behalf of the whole people. That claim is sometimes true and sometimes false, but as Neema Parvini’s The Populist Delusion, a compact summary of what is often called elite theory, pithily shows, it is always an elite who actually rules. Thus, the key question for a society’s flourishing is whether it is ruled by a virtuous elite, who rules for the common good, or by a rotten elite, as America is ruled by now. Embedded in this question is another question, however—how an elite can be removed and replaced. This latter question is the most important question in 2022 America." . . .
In these times of turmoil, why the 1960s were not just a mistake, but a societal evil, and how we can take advantage of today's circumstances to get back on track. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, [can be found here](https://theworthyhouse.com/2020/03/16/great-society-a-new-history-amity-shlaes/).)
Everyone talks about conformity; Cass Sunstein tries to break it down and offer useful tools for examining the mechanisms of conformity, when it is good, and when it is bad. He even succeeds, in part.