John Jay as the most conservative of the Founding Fathers

John M. Pafford makes that argument in this book review posted over at The Imaginative Conservative: John Jay: Man of Order, Justice, Freedom.  As Pafford points out, Jay's work and contribution to the Founding were substantial, and he deserves far more attention than he usually gets in discussions of the Founding period.  Personally, I would rank Jay alongside Samuel Adams and Fisher Ames as the most overlooked of the Founders.

More thoughts on the distinction between conservatism and libertarianism

Brought forth in this post by Nathan Schlueter over at The Imaginative Conservative. Essential reading for those who seek a richer way of understanding government and social polity than the cramped and crabbed "no harm principle" proposed by libertarian dogma.

How Burke and Adam Smith saved western civilization

Bradley Birzer explains it in this article over at The American Conservative:  The Celtic Mind.  The Irish Burke and the Scottish Smith both had a solid grasp and commitment to the Christian and classical roots of western civilization, incorporating the wisdom of the Christian faith and ancient Rome into their political, moral and economic worldviews.

Yet, in addition to these strong roots, both Burke and Smith participated in something uniquely modern:  the Enlightenment.  But not the radical version that found fertile and bloody soil in France, or the shallow version that briefly flared in America, or the utilitarian version that thrived in England, but a uniquely Celtic version of the Enlightenment that took shape in Scotland.  And what a difference that made, as Birzer explains:

The Celtic Mind recognized and extended the Western vision of man. It sought not, like those of the other Enlightenments, to put man in a box as this or that. Even in its skepticism, the Celtic Mind embraced humility, not ego. If those of us who love order and liberty, labeling ourselves either conservatives or libertarians, did the same, we might have a chance to reclaim the field now possessed by the heirs of those darker Enlightenments—the neoconservatives, the militant liberals, and their legions of corporatist allies feeding Leviathan at home and bloody imperialism abroad.

Sunday culture moment: "The Glory of the Lord" from Handel's "Messiah"

Usually this piece is performed during the Christmas-season, but as with Handel's Messiah in general, I always think of it as more of an Easter piece.  So, on this the close of the Octave of Easter, I thought it would be worth listening to.  Christus vivat!

Traditional Catholicism is winning

On this Feast of Divine Mercy, that's some good news for the faithful, reported in this article over at the Wall Street Journal online. As the old cultural Catholicism fades away, liberal Catholicism has fewer supports.  The children of many liberal Catholics simply don't see the point of a water-down faith that has little to distinguish it from the left-wing of the Democratic Party.  And those dioceses that have embraced a liberalized approach to the Catholic faith have suffered disastrously as a result.  Vocations down.  Bankruptcy.  A lack of evangelism.  Dynamic Catholicism by definition will be orthodox Catholicism -- and also joyous Catholicism!   Know hope.

Related item:  Daniel Larson has a great post on his blog over at The American Conservative explaining the link between the traditional Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity and the equally critical social doctrine of social solidarity.  Well worth a read.  I would add that along with subsidiarity and solidarity, there is a third aspect to Catholic social teaching:  the common good. A revival of traditional Catholicism must of necessity involve a recovery of the fullness of Catholic social teaching as well.  Not the watered-down version found in Leftist Catholic circles, nor the wide-spread "la-la-la can't hear you" approach that many libertarian Catholics employ.  A good place to start in educating oneself about actual Catholic social teaching?  How about the Church's official summary of that teaching, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church?  That would be a good start!

Another reminder that conservatism is not ideology

From Brad Birzer over at The Imaginative Conservative comes this very good reminder of one of the key intellectual contributions made by the late Russell Kirk: Conservatism is Not an Ideology. As Birzer explains, Kirk stood well within the tradition of Burke and others in denouncing ideologies masquerading as principles, beginning with the great disruption in western civilization caused by the French Revolution. To all the 'isms that have sprung up since the French Revolution, 'isms of both the Left and Right, conservatism stands athwart, upholding tradition, custom, religion and family. Those virtues of conservatism in the West -- principles not ideology -- trace back to both Rome and Jerusalem, the foundations of the western world.

Back blogging

Well, I just couldn't stay away. So, I'm going to blog some more, but my plan is to blog more about ideas and less about day-to-day politics. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to discuss political theory, it just means that I'm going to try to take a longer view about the political &  legal debates in our society. So, less day-to-day partisan writing, and more big-picture stuff. I'll still be providing links, of course, to other worthwhile stuff to read on the web. And I want to provide a run-down on the critical legal decisions that our courts make about our liberty &  rights. So, with that in mind, I'm back blogging here. I hope you will continue to stop by and read my thoughts from time to time!

Russell Kirk on the differences between the American and French Revolutions

That's the topic of this post by Darrin Moore over at The Imaginative Conservative. As Moore explains, Kirk understood that the Americans had a much stronger sense of continuity at the heart of our revolution, rather than the violent and frankly barbarous discontinuity that lay at the heart of the French Revolution.  Well worth a read.