Barnsley Gardens, GA May 19, 2023 Last week we contemplated fear. Today we lighten the mood, and consider contentment. What makes us happy? The question has animated philosophy since systemic thought sprouted on Aegean shores. For centuries since, the hunt for happiness has followed countless trails of reflective contemplation and empirical inquisition. Today, under a cool […]
Atlanta, GA May 1, 2023 “US Constitution either permits the government we’ve had or has been unable to prevent it. Either way, it’s unfit to exist.” _ Lysander Spooner Today we mourn a paper tiger. Aside from administrative niceties like biennial elections, a fixed inauguration date, and two senators per state, the US Constitution is […]
Atlanta, GA April 9, 2023 It’s said that when a man enters a crowd, he exits civilization. A man in a mob doesn’t think for himself; the mob thinks for him. For evidence, we summon recent reckless reactions to viruses, riots, wars, and the weather. As new “crises” roll out like beer bottles from an […]
Atlanta, GA March 15, 2023 We recently republished our assessments of the best (here, here, here, and here) and worst (here, here, here, here, and here) US presidents. It’s almost as if Jimmy Carter waited for us to finish the lists to see if he was on them. He wasn’t. Safely omitted, he entered hospice… […]
Atlanta, GA March 1, 2023 For my parents who got me out and on behalf of all the children who never did – Michael Malice, dedicating The White Pill Years ago, after dinner in Toronto, some colleagues and I went to a bar. When we walked in, I was startled by what I saw. Murals […]
Atlanta, GA February 8, 2023 “America is becoming again a house divided against itself. In the savagery of our politics we imitate the Third Republic; in our social and cultural life, we begin to resemble Weimar.” – Pat Buchanan, Right from the Beginning (1988) I awoke in the middle of the night, on the floor, in a […]
Orlando, FL January 22, 2023 “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” – Edmund Burke A quarter century ago, Harry Browne wrote a wonderful book about how to attain liberty in an ocean of hostility. Since the publication of How […]
Atlanta, GA January 6, 2023 It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future. – David Whyte Today is the Feast of the Epiphany. With any luck, we’ll have one. So let’s hop on our horses, grab the gifts, and seek our star. […]
Atlanta, GA December 25, 2022 In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moanEarth stood hard as iron,Water like a stone;Snow had fallen, snow on snow,Snow on snow,In the bleak mid-winterLong ago. Our God, heaven cannot hold HimNor earth sustain,Heaven and earth shall flee awayWhen He comes to reign:In the bleak mid-winterA stable-place sufficedThe Lord God Almighty […]
Atlanta, GA December 20, 2022 A few years ago, over breakfast with a mentor who’d recently retired, I lamented being middle-aged. Having three children as old as I was, he responded by providing perspective…and putting me in my place. “How do you think I feel?”, he asked. “My kids are middle aged!” Like drops of […]