One harsh consequence of our technological society is a mania for speed and novelty. Most early inventions of the Industrial Revolution, whether train, steam ship, or telegraph, celebrated speed more than any other aspect. These new technological advances helped unleash pent-up disordered passions deep inside man that exploded like fireworks and found their expression in … Read more
One of the problems with the program Common Core is that it places little emphasis to the body of Western literature that has endured over the ages. Rather, it favors what it calls “informational” texts that contain neither moral judgments nor beauty. The great conservative writer Russel Kirk summarizes well why a literary tradition is … Read more
At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 6-8, members of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) promoted the award-winning book, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, How We Got There and Where We Need to Go by John Horvat II. … Read more
I received an interesting email from an Australian reader regarding my book, Return to Order. She correctly notes that the book deals with many errors that America has helped spread throughout the modern world. One of these is the spirit of frenetic intemperance which is criticized in the book as a source of economic unbalance. … Read more
In dealing with today’s economic problems, it should be remembered that the plague of mass unemployment is a modern phenomenon. At the height of Christian civilization during the Middle Ages, unemployment was rare for reasons that were social rather than economic. Economist Joseph Schumpeter notes that, in principle, medieval society provided for all its members. … Read more
The desire of material goods has limits but the desire for money is different. Saint Thomas Aquinas in his admirable logic explains that material goods, represented in the concrete form of food, clothing, houses, land or other products, all have definite limits based on production and consumption. The very nature of these commodities is also … Read more
No method of payment changed the buying habits of Americans more than that of the installment plan. The idea of making regular payments as one uses the product caught the imagination of the nation in the early twentieth century. Starting with sewing machines, farm machinery and automobiles, the practice soon embraced almost every line of … Read more
Throughout the Middle Ages, monopolies were regarded with universal disapproval. Julius Kirshner lists three reasons: 1. By enhancing the price, monopolists sold something for more than it was worth, which was against the idea of equality underlying commutative justice. 2. Exploitation in whatever form was against the precept of charity and brotherly love. 3. … Read more
Celebrate the America we could be with a RETURN TO ORDER. You could win a Kindle Fire plus autographed copies of the new book, RETURN TO ORDER, which explores a new solution to challenges we face in America today. Enter online at: http://a.pgtb.me/t4hm0. All instructions and official contest rules appear when you click on the … Read more
In a mass society, we are defined not by what we are but what we have. A mass society is what Thomas Hobbes long before described as a mere sand-heap of individuals where each seeks his own interest and welfare. When the social ties are loosened, material wealth becomes the main standard of well being. … Read more
