Overlords of The Deplorables

Political divisions in the USA now appear to have taken an unusually rigid form. There are two large blocs, the pro-Trumpers and the anti-Trumpers, who share little except each one’s hatred of the other. Trump’s policies, whatever they have been or failed to be, have relatively little to do with these divisions, which spring from a deeper source in the culture wars.

Randy Barnett: The Structure of Liberty (54m)

This episode features an interview of legal scholar and lawyer Randy Barnett from 2015 by Trevor Burrus and Aaron Powell, hosts of the Free Thoughts podcast. Barnett describes five rights—informed by natural law—that are crucial for properly structuring a society. He also shows how libertarian theories successfully counter the structural societal problems of knowledge, interests, and power.

Kamala Harris’s Problem Isn’t Her Identity; It’s Her Character

As you no doubt know by now, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has chosen US Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate. You’ve probably also noticed  the first salvo of Republican attacks on Harris: She’s “not really black,” and she may not even be a “natural born citizen” as required by the Constitution to hold the office of president or vice president. No one sane or intelligent finds either of these attacks convincing.

Let’s Adapt to Something Positive

Humans are adaptable. More so than any creature other than, possibly, cockroaches. It’s our greatest strength. We have adapted to living almost everywhere on the planet and, soon, with the right technology — an adaptation we’ve created — off-planet, too. We’ve adapted to a different diet than our ancestors ate. In some cases, we probably…

Social Salvation vs. Individual Salvation

From one era to another of human history, human energies seem to be dedicated either to social salvation – think “progress” – or individual salvation – think “enlightenment” or “sanctification”. Sometimes this takes religious guises, other times more secular ones. We live in a time that, despite its frequent pandering to individual *lusts* and frequent spastic efforts to find “enlightenment” (yoga, New Age, etc), does not really have a structure that encourages individual salvation.