A Call for A Federalist Party

I received the following offer from one who identified himself as Publius:
The Republicans are owned by quasi-private bureaucracies called corporatons and the democrats have adopted a fascist governing philosophy. Perhaps it is time for a new party.
Here’s my proposal:
The Federalist Party.
Platform:
1. In economics, we reject both Marxist isms:

“Capitalism” that disregards land and labor when it [...]

Who Should Learn Science?

Prior to the Enlightenment, people who studied the natural sciences did so in order to know the nature of things so that they would know the appropriate way to treat them. During and since the Enlgihtenment, belief in the nature of things has been gradually lost until, now, it stands outside consideration. Science, having lost its [...]

Another reason to love long sentences

There is what cannot be said any other way.
I knew what she meant, and in that moment felt as though I had shaken off some of the dust and grit of ten dry years; then and always, however she spoke to to me, in half sentences, single words, stock phrases of contemporary jargon, in scarcely perceptible [...]

Latin is Practical

At least, it is if you value thinking. Here’s RM Wenley from the University of Michigan, in an essay called The Nature of Culture Studies.
Ability to write decent Latin prose, with dictionary at elbow, simply cannot be acquired without at the same time inducing the kind of mental organization which at length enables a man [...]

The conference program is posted

At least the first draft. Not quite done yet, but it will certainly show you what a great line up we’ve got. visit out web site here to see it.

A Song for the mother of my children

We never named a kid Danny, though I do have a cousin named Danny who has a brother named David (also my cousin) and we named our first born David so there’s the link (see, math helps!). On June 13 he’s marrying Bethany.
Karen grew up on Anne Murray. This is another song for her.
[...]

25 years is not enough time

When you are dealing with all the challenges that life throws at you, 25 years seems like a long time. When you look back at it remembering what you did and didn’t do with the one you love more than anything in the world, it’s swifter than light. It’s the flash of a particular ray of [...]

Why Should We Be First?

Modern schools undervalue what it means to be a human being. Therefore, they are dropping the arts like frozen hamburgers on an assembled bun. When we focus on an art, whether it be painting, dancing, swinging a bat, singing, or writing short stories, demands are placed on us that force us to draw from within [...]

A Tribute to my wife

Today, May 16, is one month short of the 25th anniversary of the day Karen married me. This video is a tribute to her.

And when the cupboard’s bare
There’s always something there
with my love

The Purpose of Literature

Literature is the means by which a community or society embodies its deepest commitments. That is why so many literary “bits” are needed. It is also why literature does not exist autonomously. It depends entirely on the spirit of its culture.
Thus David Hicks: “Literature is only as important as the culture it sustains.”
We have the [...]