Ronald Reagan on Forgiveness, 1981
The 40th President
“Getting shot hurts. Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less and less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all God’s children and therefore equally loved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.”
—Ronald Reagan’s diary, entry for March 20-April 11, 1981.
Roman Catholics for Cruz
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to reporters as he leaves the floor of the Senate after skirmishing with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., over the Affordable Care Act, popularly know as Obamacare, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. The Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate are at an impasse after GOP conservatives approved legislation Friday in the House to keep the government running but at the cost of wiping out President Obama’s signature health care law. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Proud to be on this list.
https://www.tedcruz.org/news/catholic-leaders-endorse-ted-cruz-president/
Feast of St. Joseph
Today is the Feast of St. Joseph, the feast day of my maternal family. The vow:
“O God, whose attribute it is to be always merciful and to spare, protect us through the intercession of St. Joseph from crop failures. In order to make ourselves, at least to a certain extent, worthy of this grace, we solemnly vow to keep the feast of St. Joseph as a holyday of obligation for all time and to spend some hours of that day in public prayer.
. . . to preserve the growing crop, destroy grasshoppers, worms and bugs and finally to mature the grain, allow a bountiful harvest and furnish a high-priced market.”
Jacksonian America: Course Description
America’s finest critic: Alexis De Tocqueville
Excited to announce that I’ll be teaching a favorite (well, to me, anyway) course: Jacksonian America (H302) this coming fall semester.
Description
Probably no generation after the American founding had a more diverse range of powerful personalities—John Quincy Adams, John Randolph of Roanoke, John Marshall, John Taylor of Caroline, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Joseph Smith, Martin Van Buren, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry D. Thoreau to name only a few. These personalities, essentially the children of the Founders, had to deal with the needs, the demands, and the intentions of the Republic. Importantly, they had to live up to what their fathers had given them from 1761 through 1793; they had to reify the ideals of the Republic. An unenviable task, to be sure. During these critical years, Americans wrestled with the formation of entirely new religions (many blatantly esoteric and Gnostic; others quite heterodox); the fragmentation and infighting of Protestantism; democratization in all aspects of American life; expansion westward and the various encounters with (usually outright brutal toward) American Indians; slavery and every one of its associated and attendant evils; reforms from the moderate and necessary to the outrageous and fantastic in all aspects of culture and politics; the establishment of America as a viable power among the nations of the world; the creation of political parties; and the development of American letters. To most Americans, economic and technological “progress” would allow the republic to transcend and overcome the limitations of the past, while the rising spirit of democracy would implant itself in the American West and throughout the world, by example or, if need be, by force. “Progress” and “destiny” and “individualism” became key words in the American vocabulary. Tellingly, the term “individualism” had never even appeared in print prior to 1827. Truly, something very different from the vision of the American founders emerged, a whole new American character–restless, expansive, violent, and suspicious of community.
Books
- Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought (ISBN: 0195392434)
- Lee Cheek, ed., John C. Calhoun’s A Disquisition on Government (ISBN: 1587311852)
- Cooper, Last of the Mohicans (ISBN: 0451417860)
- Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ISBN: 0865978409), 2 vol. LF edition
Carl Olson’s New Books
Carl Olson, Editor and Writer Extraordinaire.
Every one’s favorite Catholic World Report editor, Carl Olson, has two new books coming out. Very exciting. Make sure you order early and often!
- Introduction
- 1. What’s the Point?
- 2. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
- 3. What Is the Resurrection?
- 4. Accounts, Theories, and Explanations
- 5. Hallucinations and Guilty Disciples?
- 6. Contradictions and Conspiracies
- 7. Mythology or Gospel Truth?
- 8. The Apostle Paul and the Resurrection
- 9. Physical and Spiritual
- 10. Conclusion: Two Challenges and One Question
- Bibliography
iamthemorning’s Lighthouse: Neoclassical Beauty
Imagine, if you will, a world where Aerial-era Kate Bush, Dumbarton Oaks-era Igor Stravinsky, and Sketches of Spain-era Miles Davis got together to compose a song cycle. They might come up with something to rival iamthemorning’s new album, Lighthouse, but it’s doubtful. A work of astonishing beauty, Lighthouse is also deeply moving. The songs chronicle […]
http://progarchy.com/2016/03/10/iamthemornings-lighthouse-neoclassical-beauty/
Authenticity and Politics at Cato Unbound
As children, we are taught the American founding and the Constitution as though they were sacred documents and sacramental events crafted by demigods. If so, our own Twilight of the Gods must have occurred sometime between 1787 and today: Loki has re-emerged and seemingly rules all. Whether murdered or banished, Odin, Thor, and Heimdahl long ago departed our realm.
Did Mr. Smith actually ever make it out of Washington? Maybe Loki got him as well.
None of this should suggest that one could never find an honest man in the politics of a free society. Yet, when one is found, he is most likely the anomaly that proves the rule. Though certainly far from perfect and often deeply flawed, Pericles, Cato the Elder, Cato the Younger, Cicero, Sir Thomas More, Edmund Burke, John Adams, Robert Taft, Justin Amash, and a few others might make the list of those whom we respect. But, really, so very few. And, each of these men had their own failings as well (I exclude Amash from the failings part).
http://www.cato-unbound.org/2016/03/14/bradley-j-birzer/authenticity-ancient-virtue
The Christianity of Harry Potter
“Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing that Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that The post The Christianity of Harry Potter appeared first on The Imaginative Conservative.
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2016/03/the-christianity-of-harry-potter.html
Vital Dates for American Slavery
For my Founding of the American Republic students:
1619: Africans sold in Virginia: Forced “indentured servants”
1669: First institutionalized slave code (Carolinas)*
1669-1761: Chattel slavery
1761-1793: Radical #s of manumissions
1793: Eli Whitney’s cotton gin
1793-1863: Chattel slavery radical #s increase
1863: Emancipation Proclamation
1863: 54th and 55th Mass. Regiments
1865: 13th Amendment
*107. “Since charity obliges us to wish well to the souls of all men, and religion ought to alter nothing in any man’s civil estate or right, it shall be lawful for slaves, as well as others, to enter themselves, and be of what church or profession any of them shall think best, and, therefore, be as fully members as any freeman. But yet no slave shall hereby be exempted from that civil dominion his master hath over him, but be in all things in the same state and condition he was in before.”
110. “Every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves, of what opinion or religion soever.”
Hunter Baker for Congress, 2016
Witty, intelligent, conservative, and he wears a bow tie. What more do you want?
I’m extremely proud of my close friend and ally, Hunter Baker. He’s just announced he’s running for Congress. I’ve known Hunter for many years, and I can state with not the slightest amount of hesitation: he’s a man of the highest intellect, integrity, and humor.
If elected, he will be as great as the best person in the House, Representative Justin Amash. I will certainly do everything I can to support Hunter. Please help in any way you can and see fit.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/hunter-baker-missionary-religious-liberty/
C. Bradley Thompson on the American Revolution
An indispensable book on an indispensable republican.
I am thrilled to see that Professor Brad Thompson has commented on my American Revolution/Crises Timeline. Though I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, I’ve known of Brad since my undergraduate days. As early as my junior year at Notre Dame, one of my professors–Bruce Smith; then a graduate student–praised Brad to the skies. He almost had a mythical presence in my life.
Since, folks I respect beyond measure–such as Michelle Le and Roger Ream–have continued to praise Brad to the skies.
Thirty years after Bruce first told me about Brad, he is, simply put, one of the greatest living scholars of the American Founding and of American history.
He’s written expertly and beautifully on Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and abolitionism.
His book on neo-conservativism (co-authored with Yaron Brook) is one of my favorite books of the last decade. In other words, you need to know him!!!!
Here’s a link to his books at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bradley+thompson
Anyway, there’s no way in the world that I’ll chance having his thoughts buried in the comments. So, here they are–for all to enjoy! Thank you so much, Brad. What an honor!
Comment 1:
Hi Brad:
Great timeline on the imperial crisis.
Most people today have forgotten the second half of the Americans’ opposition to the Sugar and Stamp Acts. Yes, there was the development of the “no taxation without representation” principle that resulted from the Stamp Act. John Adams, however, considered the “most grievous innovation” of the Sugar and Stamp acts to be the extension of the power of the vice-admiralty courts in America, which he thought violated the basic tenets of Magna Charta. In his “Instructions of the Town of Braintree to their Representative” he wrote: “We cannot help asserting, therefore, that this part of the act will make an essential change in the constitution of juries, and it is directly repugnant to the Great Charter itself; for, by that charter, ‘no amerciament shall be assessed, but by the oath of honest and lawful men of the vicinage;’ and, ‘no freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized of his freehold, or liberties of free customs, nor passed upon, nor condemned, but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.’”
And, comment 2:
Let me also suggest that American Patriots considered the Massachusetts Government Act to be the worst of the Intolerable Acts.
The Massachusetts Government Act altered the Massachusetts charter in several respects: (a) it changed the Mass. Council to a body appointed by the Crown rather than by the colonial legislature, with each councillor continuing in office at the King’s pleasure; (b) The Mass. Governor was now given complete power to appoint and dismiss all executive and inferior judicial officers, including justices of the peace and sheriffs; (c) Superior court judges were to be nominated by the Governor for appointment by the King; (d) Juries would now be chosen by the sheriff instead of democratically by the people of the towns; (e) Finally, town meetings were barred without the consent of the Governor, except for annual election meetings.
It was the last blow for self-government in Massachusetts.
Why I Support Ted Cruz
The Cruz Family.
When I met Cruz in person for the first time nearly a decade ago, I was quite taken with him. At the time, he was running for the position of Attorney General of Texas. I found him personable, sharp as one could possibly imagine, and a man of incredible integrity. Immediately following our meeting, I wrote a piece about him for the History News Network believing that within a decade or so, he would be ready for the presidency.
I had the chance to meet Ted Cruz, Republican candidate for the Attorney General of Texas, this past Wednesday morning. Cruz was M.C.ing the annual breakfast of Winston Elliott’s FREE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE. I’m not one to be impressed by many politicians, but I was thoroughly impressed with Cruz. Articulate, smart, principled, and a believer in liberty. Happy to know there are guys like him out there. Gives me great hope for the future. And, I assume that he’ll move into national politics as well at some point.
As this point, March 2016, I won’t in any way pretend to 1) know or care much about modern politics; 2) know or think much about politics as a form of study; and 3) offer anything more than the opinion of one relatively well-read citizen of the American republic.
But, I also know that if I say nothing now, I’ll be angry with myself later. Not that I expect to persuade any of you of anything. Indeed, if you read this blog (and, thank you!), and if I only had one chance to convince you of anything in this world, it would be to pick up and read something like Willa Cather!
These caveats stated, I will be supporting Ted Cruz until the bitter end of this election. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I do believe in his belief in them, and I believe in his integrity. Where he would be conservative, I would be libertarian. Where Cruz would be evangelical, I would be Catholic or humanist. Where Cruz would be restrictive on the movement of peoples, I would be incredibly open. In an ideal world, I’d be much more in the Rand Paul camp, but Paul is currently without a camp. So, while Cruz has always been my second choice, he’s also always been, at least to me, a very strong second choice, if for no other reason than his honesty and frankness.
A few other things have persuaded me to speak up as well at this point.
- First, I think of the Republican candidates left in the field, Cruz has the best chance of defeating the Democratic candidate (here’s hoping it’s Sanders—another man of ideas and, from what I know, integrity).
- Second, he’s really the only viable pro-life candidate left in the running.
- Third, my all-time favorite Congressman, Justin Amash, has endorsed him.
- Fourth, my all-time favorite lover of wisdom and the great books, Winston Elliott, supports him.
- Fifth, my all-time favorite wife (well, only wife!) supports him.
- Sixth, Cruz is incredibly funny. Watch his bedtime stories with Hillary or his Hillary/Office Space ad. Holy schnikees, does this guy make me laugh!
- Seventh, as a lawyer in Texas, he went after the sex abusers and other freaks of nature.
These are good enough reasons for me.
Stormfields 