10 Essays That Will Improve Your Mind

The following, in no particular order, range across the political, literary, virtuous, and philosophical. They lack a thematic coherence, but capture something valuable in a process, thought, or method. Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much …

The Cult of Economic Progress Isn’t Always Progress

I always dismissed “people before profits.” It sounds reactionary, an economically ignorant slogan rather than anything meaningful. Hippies or “artists” living in the city on trust funds from suburban parents shout it at rallies. However, it deserves more than flippant disregard. Uttered in a more nuanced light, it’s a commentary on progress. Or, as Orwell understood the …

Thoughts on political discourse and its coarsening

It isn’t the disagreement that I mind with my progressive/liberal/socialist friends. I’m fine with that. What’s offensive is their derogatory and unfair approach when we discuss anything. As much as my leftist friends disparage conservatives for theocracy, they’re the ones primarily slinging sin on individuals who disagree with their worldview. They’ve crafted such a pure, …