19 Burst results for "James Wilson"
Dennis Prager Podcasts
The Decline of Society
"That societies decline can be measured in so many arenas. I have raised this subject periodically over the course of my career. I have raised the issue of public cursing. Neither of which seem to matter to most Americans. So big deal. It's just the word. It's like graffiti, graffiti doesn't matter to substantial percentage of my fellow Americans. What's the big deal? James Q Wilson, correct? James Q Wilson and his associate whose name eludes me. I knew James Wilson pretty well. He was to my great honor, a regular listener to my show. He and his wife would have dinner with me. James Q Wilson was at Harvard and then at UCLA, and he and his colleague wrote the broken windows theory. That if society does not repair broken windows and graffiti, he will end up with beatings rape murder and burglary of homes. The
AP News Radio
Brazil Senate report urges charging Bolsonaro over pandemic
"A Brazilian senator has formally presented a report recommending president James Wilson not off indicted on criminal charges for allegedly bungling Brazil's responds to the covert nineteen pandemic and pushing the country's death toll to the second highest in the world the nearly one thousand two hundred page report is based on six months of work by the committee investigating the government's management of the pandemic it calls for Wilson are to be indicted on a series of charges from Charlton is an inciting crime all the way up to crimes against humanity the report can still be modified for the court to vote on the twenty sixth of October and
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"The judge came briefly. Summarize those competing arguments and how they relate to the battle for the soul of conservatism. Sure so Java had learned about the critique of positive isn't long before he ever got into really deep into his study of america and especially urgent tetris prudence when he studied plato's republic with leo strauss in nineteen forty six at the new school for social research and strauss was giving a course on the republic and explains mrs in one of the transcripts of course that the whole republic is basically socrates making the case against positive. Ism there's a famous character in the republic called for circus. Basically makes the positives argument that to quit the famous line. Justice is the interest of the stronger. And that's the way the argument. That stephen douglas was making the lincoln. Douglas debate sneaking fifty. whatever the majority of the sides. That's what stressed and there's a wonderful story recounted in the book which tells us all the time when he was alive how he read the republic he'd learned about this argument between socrates is about the nature of justice and then a year later. He's a used bookstore in downtown. Manhattan pick up a copy of the lincoln. Douglas debates and his flipping through the house. And he's reading these lincoln onsite. Are you for natural right. Douglas on the other side arguing for basically positive ism pure majoritarianism and he says to himself. Holy cow this is plato. And what was amazing is strauss had taught him that these arguments that the ancient greeks we're talking about are real. They're still true. It's not just some antiquarian curiosity this is. These are living issues of of human life and it was brought home to job tilmann. he's reading. Oh wow you're the here's these two guys running for senate in eighteen fifty-eight basically recapitulating soccer's intercepting and so. That's where java i was exposed to this critique of positive this idea that you know what's justice whatever the law says is just in which is just majority rule. So that's background. Sorry for this long tangent. But that's the background. For where java comes into his critique of work and rehnquist and the others who basically make this anti socratic argument that flaws. Whatever the people decide and beyond that we can't have any understanding of justice and morality and so we just set all that aside and just obey the letter of the law regardless of of any moral considerations him so specifically on on on the role of the judge. Jaffa always understood this argument of lincoln's that.
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"I don't know of anyone who wants to go back. To artificial aristocracy some people who sort of pine for the old middle-aged russell. Kurt did that but you know it's it's frustrating away job who you know made this argument all through died in two thousand fifteen and those of us affiliate with the clermont sooner still making this argument that politically quality doesn't mean a gala terrorism and there's just a basic misunderstanding there and so as as far as the sort of the the rift within the right as being much more based on philosophy than practicalities. Because i think oftentimes when i when i'm in discussions with friends of mine on the right who look at the ills of our age. Our disagreements are not so much on what actually ails our our our culture in our politics but more on what gave rise to those conditions. And so i guess i'm i'm still curious if we are to not only convince those who we share broad agreement with but also you know convince are are more apathetic fellow citizens. What is the most convincing case to be made to look to the founders again as as imperfect but still a collection of Men who were channeling that wisdom of the ages and to convince our fellow citizens that now these you know these. These issues are very very much still rooted in the same issues that they had to confront right so java spent a long time articulating kind of comprehensive moral and political theory in the founding which turned on an understanding of human nature. He he made an argument which is often misunderstood. Sometimes teased for it But i think it's valid of almost seeming to equate aristotle and john locke and his point was one of his favorite phrases was natural right this from aristotle natural rights changeable prudence and natch right in his mind. Were almost same thing. Prudence is the virtue of the statesman parks. Lots natural rate is simply understanding. What is the right thing to do. Under these circumstances in a way both of those which come out of aristotle again mean the same thing and joff argument was if aristotle was alive in the modern world in the eighteenth century confronting modern conditions namely the advent of monotheism. What had happened with with feudalism in europe and tried to come up with the best possible decent regime that would secure virtue and happiness. He would have come up with something very like what locked taught and what the founders implemented simply because he was the most prudent way to implement a regime of equality law to promote human happiness. And if someone can come up with a better idea. I'd like to hear it but i'm not aware one that both recognizes thirteen and the direction to use a classical where the teleology of human nature and accounts for the peculiar circumstances of the modern world. You know we're not going to revive the ancient greek police. That's not going to happen. And so the question is if you think you have a better idea than james madison. I'd like to hear it. You mentioned you kind of tease this in in your answer But in chapter four of your book you talk about. The distinction between natural rights versus political rights and i was wondering for the benefit of the listeners. If you give us a definition of each and then why distinction is important in politics today. Sure so we're getting into some somewhat abstruse political theory here. But it's very interesting and important point. So plato had said that no actual regime can ever perfectly implement natural right so plato's famous dialogue. The republic is about the best city in speech and plato..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"To see that there were elements of classical thought. There was a focus on virtue on education on the moral basis of republican government. Already there in the founding and so in a way he came to appreciate that. The founding didn't need to be saved by lincoln he liked to point out later on that the declaration ends by saying that the founders pledged their lives their fortunes and their secret honor. That's a very classical idea. And it's not compatible with this idea that america's just low in modern and we see that argument about the seeds of our current. Societal discontent were were planted by the founders. And we don't only hear that necessarily from the radical left here it from otherwise conservative skeptics on on the founding as well how do you kind of see that block especially those on the right. How do you see them as being convinced that the founding was indeed inhabited by imperfect men but they tapped into true principles right. Yeah i mean it's it's an old argument. Sometimes i despair making progress with certain people because we rehash the same arguments over and over again this turns on what we were discussing a few moments ago about equality and there's certainly an argument among some people on the right that equality will always descend into a gal attorneys you can't have urging based on equality that won't ultimately become debase because people will always want to translate that equal outcomes and my response to that is well. What alternative exactly are you proposing you hear people make these kind of think sort of silly and contrived arguments but we should go back to some form pharisee or something like that. But i mean that's just not feasible and realistic and there's not going to be any kind of regime in the modern world that doesn't recognize the equal rights of all people and if you want aristocracy you should want the kind of natural stock that jefferson talked about in that absolutely requires equality under the law..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"We're pleased to be speaking with glenn. Elmer's glenn is the author of a new book. The soul of politics. Harry jaffa in the fight for america from encounter books glenn holds a phd in politics from the claremont graduate university. Where he studied under harry jaffa. He's visiting research fellow with hillsdale college. A senior fellow with the claremont institute served as a speechwriter for two cabinet secretaries as published numerous articles and essays in the clermont review of books the review of metaphysics modern age lawn liberty national review and american greatness. Also joining us on this podcast. Is seth route. One of our interns with james wilson institute seth. Don't you get started. Glenn omer thank you so much for coming on our program to discuss your great book on harry jaffa. We thought we start things off because many of our listeners are likely familiar. With professor harry jaffa but for the benefit of are those who aren't who was harry jaffa and why should more intellectual conservative intellectuals be aware of his ideas and influence on conservatism. Sure well thanks for having me on the program. Joffo was a very influential studio. Political philosophy taught most of his career at clermont college and graduate school in california people maybe familiar with his main institutional legacy which is claremont institute fairly influential think tank based in california now founded by some of the students and nine hundred seventy nine. Johnson was known really as lincoln scholar and he was an influential lincoln. Scholar wrote to major books on lincoln. As a as a real philosophic statesman his pioneering book in nineteen fifty. Nine was in a way the i really to take lincoln. Seriously as a philosophic statesman and to make the case for that but java was really primarily student of political philosophy especially classical political philosophy and was one of the first students of the great german emigre. Scholar leo strauss who many listeners will know strauss fled nazi germany and came to the united states and in the middle of the twentieth century. Almost single-handedly revived the serious. Study of classical political thought. Meaning the greeks especially play our stuttle not as antiquarian curiosity. he's but as sources of living wisdom Making the case. That truth indeed has transcendent. Meaning strauss very famously rejected. What's called historicism. That all thought is sort of bound up in our particular and place and resurrected in a way. The idea that classical political classical political philosophy could supply wisdom about human life. That's still true. Today and jocelyn away was a fairly political student of strauss and applied what he learned from strauss to the study of america of course are founder and director heavily. Arcus was a student of strauss although.
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"Is tom seru. F- one of our interns at the james wilson institute tom. Why don't you get a started. Dr charles murray. Thank you for being with us. My pleasure i think the most apt place to start is by addressing the reasons that you wrote this book You say towards the end of chapter one. And i'm quoting one. Audience is a special priority for me people on the centre-left who are in the tradition that extended from fdr through bill clinton and included senator. Joe biden. what is your sense of why. This group deserves a special focus right. Now because the centre-left has been cowed into silence. That's the only way. I can read the absence of criticism of the critical race theory. argument the systemic racism arguments. More generally ever. Since the fall the summer. I should say of a twenty twenty after the riots and protests. The mainstream media has been uniformly uncritical of any of that presentation. Not just on critical they bought into it so that it is presented as if everybody knows that the disparities in policing have to be due to racism. What else is going to be the Disparities in the labor market the lack of senior officials major core corporations who are black be racism. What else can it be. So the centre-left knows better. I think i think the centre-left knows that there's been a long history of the existence of disparities between blacks and whites. Whatever their causes maybe and those disparities once you correct. The four i q for example are radically reduced. Once you correct for the difference in violent crime rates in black neighborhoods in white neighborhoods a lot of differences in policing those disparities disappear. A lot of people that are left. no this. This is not rocket science. It is not the case that nobody has ever known. These disparities are out there. But they haven't set up anything. And i've hoped that this book will make it easier for them to say well. I'm not as bad as charles murray. But we've got to recognize that and then start to raise some of these arguments which can be done perfectly consistently from a centre-left philosophy and try and slowly. Try to get the conversation. Back to one in which it is apparent that the mainstream view of america and i'm confident as true across all the races is still that in america..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"Those sources athens jerusalem. I wonder if our judges are prepared to tap into athens and jerusalem. My fear is that many of them don't want it. I certainly share your fear and you know it's true. I mean we are again over a century. Now into the woodrow wilson presidency and kind of You know the beginning of transformative capital p. progressivism. We are so so so far removed From what has to happen that may the term conservative Increasingly doesn't even apply any more actually You know and i you know some of our friends especially You know kind of like map. Peterson and some are minds Or to use the rhetoric of a of a new founding. A refounding of america rather than rather than conservatism I i don't know. I don't necessarily disagree with that. To an extent. This consciousness semantic dispute. I suppose But yeah i mean it. Kind of reminds me again of the star. Decisive debate actually You know i mean it kind of you know when chief justice roberts had that Frankly ridiculous Concurrence in the louisiana abortion case. Twenty twenty explaining. Why is this compelled him to you. Know a apply a four year. Old precedents i mean for goodness sake If that rigid wooden view of of conserving what just happened is conservatism. Then i only want no part of it Know the good news in that in that specific instance. The good news is as i said earlier. That burks views himself on. Start as is actually a little counterintuitive than we might expect. And i really. I really would encourage listeners to check out my good friend jimmy. Roseanne skis winter national affairs article from this year. On start is it was really fabulous but kind of guys back to your question garrett. There's only so much that folks like us who are who are speaking. There's only so much that we can do ultimately. Of course i'm the burden does fall on those who wield the actual levers of power. You know in this case The article three power to do so and I it really is difficult to be. Now i can. I can leave on a somewhat. Cheery note here. It would be a bad idea for me to t to name names but You know just buy buy into the fact that i you know. I did formerly clerk On a federal court appeals. And then i do lots of kind of federal society speaking that i kind of just over the years have Had had the privilege to meet a a good number of federal judges I can tell the audience. Beyond a shadow of doubt that i have found some folks receptive to my arguments some some folks even even more than receptive who Actually i think i someone wants to try to find a time to implement it. Which is deeply Exciting obviously So you know. Look i Just speaking personally here I had any number of sites hawks on this this past year. I i would hope that there will be a lot more this year. Now that the now that the harvard. Gop articles is finally out. you know. Obviously there's Is wonderful new. Anchoring truths Website that james wilson sudas founded and..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"But if i understand correctly it's kind of a you know it's more or less kind of an algorithm that looks at dictionaries from a certain time of legal provisions and spits out. What is the the likeliest answer based on that. I my objection to to all that which you know is kind of similar. I think to You know professor. Jerry bradley's objection and a lot of folks who kind of floated in our in our circles is that well it's twofold one is that I i generally do not believe that this is the actual inquiry that the founders actually were calling for on so if you want to like actually take them at their own word If you wanna look You know i would folks like alexander. Hamilton would refer to as those axioms as those anchoring. True says those things that we took for granted that we kind of assumed to be true before we even got to the act of trying to figure out what words on a page mean so from that perspective. I kind of just disagree kind of like a fundamental level. And then the other thing that i find just particularly troubling about this this viewpoint here. It's i think it's a bit of a lie against human nature actually I think it's deceiving human nature to pretend like judges can like You know truly leave their their values at the door so to speak This notion that That that a judge can just completely forsake any and all priors can completely forsake any and all sense of morality virtue or anything like that engage in a straight historical increase getting the one true and correct answer that is bordering on impossible. If not outright impossible perhaps. There are some like superhuman type article three or state court judges who are truly capable of engaging in such a task but not again not only as that task kind of just contrary to the basic I would say both biblical andrews italian view of man as inherently moral creature with moral inclinations..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"Josh hammer. Josh is newsweek. Opinion editor a research fellow with the edmund burke foundation he previously worked at kirkland ellis in clerked for judge james c of the. Us court appeals for the fifth circuit. He'll be s from duke university and a j d from the university of chicago law. School josh is on to discuss his new harvard journal of law and public policy as a common good originalism. Our tradition and our path forward. The essay grew out of a piece that he wrote. As part of symposium with claremont institute's publication. The american. Mind that i our founder and director hadley arcus also contributed to its for a lot of a potential exploration of path forward for conservative jurisprudence. And so we're really pleased to have him with us. Also joining us on. Podcast is one of our interns. Tom's roof tom. Why don't you get started josh. Give us a sense of what you understand. Conservatism to be specifically. How does the common good relate to conservatism as a value. Right because leftism has collectivism as a common good value. But why is that antithetical to your project from the left. And then from the right. What distinguishes you from someone. Like professor adrian mule and his concept of common good constitutionalism. Sure yeah so garrett and james wilson's shoot. Thanks so much for for having me back. I i take pleasure in hinting. A return guests of this wonderful program so happy that you're kicking us off on this. No because i think defining what conservatism is or at least have as i construe it is definitely kind of a necessary precondition of sorts for understanding. Why the our understanding why what is currently offered as a purportedly conservative jurisprudence simply does not rise to that occasion. So you know look i A lot of this is going to be Beyond the confines of what we can talk about here. I think scholars continue to debate. What conservatism is. But you know speaking. Personally my own you of of what. Conservatism is is definitely informed. Quite heavily by my my colleague In many ways kind of One of not my of preeminent mentor Which is a euro-zone as the president of the burke foundation. Where research fellow. And he's understanding. What conservatism is which i think most clearly outlined the twenty seventeen american affairs journal long-form essay with our other colleague for your high avery. Abi i think it's closest to what i have in mind when i talk about conservatism..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"And thomas lloyd and daniel carroll would have gone to the same church saint peter's in new york It's my speculation i think i'm fairly Right in saying that. There was correspondence between lloyd and carol on a personal level daniel carroll To make sure that his remarks would have an outsized importance in the official register. Now james madison denno. Carol were good friends At least in a political sense During the ratification debates Of the us constitution. They exchanged multiple letters to each other and geno. Carol is a very Watchful witness of the state ratification in maryland. And he sends william packers set of grievances against About the first the current constitution a at a to james madison and one of the grievances is that There's no language about The fact that we shouldn't have an established church no federal church and general. Carol sends this This list of Grievances to james madison says look. It's it's these amendments. Have no use year right because the federal is have one but may be of use to you in virginia So i see this as a coordinated effort between daniel carroll and james madison to appease anti-federalists On the question of these amendments. And i see this as a coordinated effort in the halls of congress at the time in which general unambiguously sports it now. The language of godfather is not to suggest that denno carol is the father of the first amendment. He is of course not james. Madison was the one who i started. the the manson of course they went through several rounds of of contested debate and and redrafting but he is godfather sense the fact that he supports right the first amendment in this way provides a kind of theoretical justification for it right and sponsors it in that way so i see this is not as a singular feet of james madison but as a coordinated effort between daniel caroline and madison so in in the book the section. You talk about Traditions that predate. John locke though explicit influences on the founders especially after of the bill of rights in the first amendment and so is one. If you could talk about some of those traditions that you referred to and How we know that. They haven't explicit impact on the founders. Well the one the the tradition. I haven't in mind when. I say that That there are traditions. That predate john locke is is the anti papal tradition so john locke argues in the letter concerning toleration and many other documents One of which was just recently uncovered in Saint john's college in annapolis on the question of of whether to tolerate catholics in all these documents john carroll sorry john locke comes down quite decisively on the fact that when should not tolerate catholics for for these two reasons right that they ultimately that they deliver themselves up to a foreign prince the pope. Now john locke knows Of a previous traditions within the catholic church that Militate against this position He has several pamphlets in his library that he notes and.
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"They wanted profit And so they in some ways the kind of toleration that we find in early america is in some ways pragmatic they simply needed settlers and insofar as Those are quite difficult to come by given the dangers and disease involved in a lot of colonial projects They needed all hands on deck at the same time. It's clear based on the public documents of that the carols issue calvert issued This was also of a religious project but we have to be very careful in how we understand that they understood that maryland for instance had to have The kind of resources necessary for their faithful settlers so calvert for instance wanted Enough catholic priests to serve the settlers and the priests went along with this because this is their task to offer the sacraments and spiritual resources for for For their for catholics. But also to evangelize the native americans At the same time the culverts were very insistent that this would not be an established church They had to make vague noises about expanding The the church in the new world but that did not have sectarian overtones to it. They couched it in very ambiguous language to extend god's holy religion And you could interpret that either as the church of england or the catholic churches kirsch andy in general so this is not an established church project and in fact the jesuits required surprised when Cecil calvert refused to give the jesuits d. kind of ecclesiastical privileges and immunities they were used to in europe not having to pay taxes not having to serve in public office Being tried in ecclesiastical courts rather than civil courts and so on sesa cover was insistent that these jesuits would be considered to be gentlemen in the first instance rather than a religious members of religious orders. And so that's the kind of secular project i think at foot here now maryland. Of course Is is named for a charles. Firsts wife henrietta maria and It's often told that this is named for Jesus mother mary In distant sense Maryland is named for for for her. But in the first instance it was to as it were ingratiate themselves to the crown by naming this colony after the queen consort. So in this sense. It's a very much a royalist project. But but everything in politics in the early modern period has religious inflection to it and so this is the as it were uncomfortable drama of religion and politics in early america and the calvert have to toe of very very fine line between at the one hand being faithful subjects. But also not so much to Perpetuate a church that they do not subscribe to any more.
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"It's kind of the go back on the first generation of post nine hundred eighty two kind of federal society luminaries Then attorney general. Ed meese the in the reagan administration was of course one of them bringing alongside Scalia and bork and in the eighties they asked Train general meese. If he could overturn one case what would it be and his answer was miranda versus arizona. I mean how anachronistic does that answer look from a contemporary perspective right so i could not agree with the thrust of What jesse say more here Look one of the things that i am deeply involved in I would actually probably save. Come the locus of my professional commitments. For which you know the jurisprudential areas just kind of one cog in the broader constellation. The locus of all that i'm trying to do is to try and put the pieces back together. Any more cogent than substance direction after the hurricane that was the trump presidency. That's kind of what orrin cast describes trump has called a hurricane. A hurricane is very good at exposing rotting foundations. But it's not very good not very good at gaza time to build But i i do think that it better originalism very much a place in that building process. I agree entirely very well all right. Well this was. This was a real treat. to To jesse josh. We can't thank you enough for taking some time to chat with us. Today and for the benefit of our listeners will make sure to push out links to all of jesse's and josh's recent work on this important discussion and we look forward to You know we're just emerging now to be able to see all of our friends in public again so we're looking forward to seeing both of them You know soon very soon of course Josh based out of denver on his way to dc and jesse. Hopefully even sooner now that jesse your local and affiliated with clermont's new center on the american way of life so Thank you both and will level chat again soon. Appreciate it. Thanks so much pests. This program has been brought to you. By the james wilson institute on natural rights in the american founding. If you'd like to learn more about the james wilson institute please visit james wilson institute dot org. Thanks for listening..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"But i something that i've been calling for for a while now is kind of an actual reform especially of the one of the first year of the of the legal curriculum It it it just seems so kind of utterly silly to me. Frankly that we throw these one l.'s. Into common law courses contracts property and so forth Without any kind of understanding as to what the sources are that that the common law is is derived from. And you know obviously we're talking about natural law on the one hand we're also frankly just talking about the bible as the point that You know my burke foundation Colleague has only makes repeatedly I mean it's very. It's almost farcical that we expect one also kind of intuit. The intellectual trajectory of the common law without actually experiencing the bible itself. I guess jesse. I'd be curious if we if we actually made some of these Curricular adjustments and and you know maybe there was some sorts of judicial training academies You can kind of exp- extrapolate from there. Would you at that point. Get a little more comfortable with kind of what we're getting or still now. Yes that'd be great. It's hard to imagine that happening in any law school of importance in the country To get the scalia law. Where where i am an evening student i will say but you know for the the elite law schools country talking about not just the top five or top ten or top. Fourteen top fifty. It's hard to imagine getting that change and that's for many reasons One of which at a professional school. So i don't know how you change the curriculum to make it more grounded in natural law laws and then of course there's the political issue You can't even get a attorney general. Georgetown law school without a massive protests being led by not just the students but the faculty members to change in the curriculum seems extremely unlikely at this point yet but obviously that's a great idea and one that i would welcome But we would need more than merely change in in one l. curriculum need a litigation organizations You know the aclu as hundreds of millions of dollars At its disposal it was you know almost handedly able to stifle just about every part of the trump immigration agenda however the census issue whether on daca asylum every single feature of trump's immigration agenda with suppressed by aclu force. Working with federal judiciary It so i think you need more than a mere change in educational curriculum and more of a focus on institution building and getting particular issues on a substantive agenda the way that the failure or nwc pitas. It's interesting you bring up the aclu and and the focus that they have made. I read somewhere that their budget went from one hundred million dollars in two thousand fifteen to last year. Two hundred three hundred million and It just shows you how an organization And by the way during that time they still had the same four attorneys doing free speech meanwhile they certainly exploded their immigration practice and transgender practice. And i think you can. You could probably make the argument that what the was doing was following the money and following. What their donors wanted them to focus on instead of What you might call it. Principled free speech jurisprudence. They were going wear antagonism with the trump administration was going to garner the most attention and therefore the most dollars. But i'm drawn to an argument that's been made within the conservative Legal family over the past few months By one of our james wilson affiliated scholars. Josh craddock And the eminently. John against another palo. Vars ed whalen..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"Today. We'll be speaking with so rob. Mari so rob the author of a new book. The unbroken thread discovering the wisdom tradition in an age of chaos so robs the op-ed editor of the new york post and also contributing editor to the catholic herald. He's also a columnist for first things born in tehran iran. He lives with his wife. And two children in manhattan. This is the second part of a two part series on maris new book joining us on the podcast as well is guy denton. One of our interns. At the james wilson institute guy. Why don't you get a started. Also if we couldn't move into chapter two of a pot to the book i should say. I was quite intrigued. Particularly intrigued by the chapter on how we should set up errands. But i had a question in mind as i was reading it and behalf of good quotation. The lead us into that by clocked out as follows. You write quote if we agreed without. Parents aren't just a random accidental fact about us analyses an existence then it follows that obligations to the different from others that we might choose to accept or reject as we please but i i have to wonder boo. Old parents deserve piety simply by virtue of being parents. Of what if you were fathered A rapist there. I never had an extreme example equally if you had parents who were horribly abusive or abandoned you. At a young age they owed the same. Piety is truly wonderful loving parents who may have contributed enormously to you. A flourishing is pie at the really justified in all circumstances. Yeah i mean this is one of the very difficult aspects of the confucian tradition and really all all philly. -ality norms You know there's there's no there's no writer or or a special exception to the mosaic commandment to honor your mother and father does not say you know. Honor your mother and father unless they disappointed you in various ways..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"The don't participate in the hookup. Culture that is that that men and women can lose a case for one another that is that men will end up liking other kinds of ways of satisfying themselves aside from Spending time with and learning to love a woman so you know. I think the the the shattering of those old morays the old culture what i call in the book. The old wisdom is Is something that That it explodes a lot of different directions and were only really beginning to understand all of the ways in which that explosion compromises human thriving. I wince got when i hear for example. Some of the worthy pro-life groups talk about the decline in the abortion rate. Because i'm convinced that some of that drop has everything to do with on not only wider use contraception on but also for some of the reasons that you've just described. I think that there's just general lack of interest in starting a family earlier and that of course we're avoiding the tragedy of abortion but the means by which we're doing it where Creating more socially isolated individuals who lack the capacity for intimacy. What a what. A terrible cost to bear. I mean it's lacking the capacity for intimacy but also lacking the capacity to form a community with another person and if it's a deep human need you know i mean it's right there at the beginning of genesis right that it's not good for man to be alone and and i assume that the same holds true for women and And you know if those are true. Things than undermining our ability to form lasting communal relationships where human beings can trust one another implicitly and were sacks is subordinate within a larger relationship is just crucial to human thriving and And we can compromise that in a lot of ways and You know. I think it's it's we do humanity. I dunno i feel like. I shouldn't even say something this broad but we do humanity a disservice when we don't consider all of the various implications of destroying what was and Because some of them are you. Know we don't care about the state of guys in the modern world and Don't care to investigate the problems that go along with the destruction of these old mores and how that affects men. I think those are really crucial in coming up with a maybe a casualty list of the sexual revolution. And and you know the the insofar as we live in a politically correct age. Where certain kinds of questions can't be asked and certain kinds of victims can't be identified. It's a real tragedy in the final chapter of your book. You talk about the importance though of addressing some of that tragedy with positive action. And you note that Positive law on law that we can enact at the state and federal level is an educator of people. Something citizens look to for a guide as a in their lives. As you know. James wilson institute were concerned with natural law and its role in informing public discourse and legal opinions to connect your book to our mission. Here at the james wilson institute. I wanted to ask your thoughts on the proper relationship between positive law natural law in the context of family policy. Do you think that positive law especially positive law on marriage and family life on issue. These are issues. Running to the core should be explicitly rooted in natural law. Or do you think that..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"He's also the author of two other books. David hume's humanity and family politics. The idea of marriage in modern political thought scott grew up in wisconsin and married his college sweetheart. He's also a father of five joining us on the podcast. As well as peter spence one of our interns the semester. At the james wilson institute peter. Why don't you get a started. So the first question usually start off with in these podcasts is. Why did you write this book. Could you give our listeners. A little background on the book. And what led you to throw yourself into the recovery of family life. Well this is my second book on the family. I wrote a book in two thousand ten called family. Politics which traced the idea of marriage and modern political thoughts from john locke all the way up through the twentieth century and ended with both modern feminism and John paul the second and What i developed in that book was an approach to understanding. The i would say the polls of family life that is things that were attacking it in the modern world and i said are identified Those things as the desire to conquer nature and the hope to remake marriage as a contract and the logic of those two ideas really worked at south out through the modern period as a thinkers Conquered more and more nature conquered more and more of human nature in their ideas. What the family was so that the end of it modern feminism called for the abolition of the family. Also the idea of contract. We traced it In that book from lock who thought that contract was between a man and a woman and the state all the way through until it was just the man and whoever was making the contract for marriage or whatever it was going to be so what. This book does is kind of pick up where that first book left off and and tries to give an account of how those two principles are now working themselves out in our life in the daily life of the modern regime. So i think of it as a sequel. And i think of it as a as an attempt to show what the end point of the modern project of conquering nature and thinking of human beings as contractual beings is so i thought it was really important but the reason really i got into the whole deal. That is writing the first book. And the second book Is that you know. I just felt like on family policy. Conservatives were Not understanding all that they were up against. They were treating kind of technical problem and not taking the high road and the road of moral philosophy in defending the family. And so we were frittering around the edges of earned income tax credits and family tax. Credits never touching the large ideologies that were affecting roiling family life In our regime. So i thought it was necessary to give an account of why one cannot ever really defend marriage and family life Within the modern world without taking on the major ideologies that are born of modern philosophy and those major major ideologies are a modern feminism contemporary liberalism and sexual liberation theory. They they constitute what i call in the second book the rolling revolution so i just think that conservatives have been behind the eight ball and And rank must recognize that without taking on these ideologies that will end up being really impossible to defend marriage and family life.
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"The relationship between civilized society in commerce general the general do comers theory. Is that again. A commercial transactions will tend to promote civility uncivilized relations within our social order burke according to pocock i think he's. He's he's a large correctness for him civilized society as manifested as As nurtured by the spirit of the gentlemen the spirit of religion would establishments This aristocratic moderation This idea of chivalry. Courtesy towards one one fella man these these characteristics provided the foundations for commercial society as opposed to the opposite now given this He certainly understood as he describes in foshan details on scarcity that mutual economic transactions within domestic trades on did promote this depressed property and also encouraged the practice of commercial virtues industry diligence pretty being on time for work fulfilling your work responsibilities of all these did arise from this The incentive structure of market economies but broadly speaking Burke thought that. I believe burke thought that in this comes out french revolution Chapters again that there was a civilized basis already in place before the rise of commercial society and the rise of commercial society was indebted to this this pre commercial foundation at the columbus foundation. So how's like the foreign policy free trade. I think for him. It's it could be characterized as the idea that commercial relations could enhance peaceful relations. But those pusa relations did not depend on commerce per se. But because of these prior shared at the coal commitments of character of constitutional liberty. And i'll say with regard to china. Certainly there are. We've had commercial relations with them and But the do commerce thesis take cannot explain cannot make up for the absence of these shared values shared principles of in his time. Great britain our time in america. That for him was ultimate basis four forging peace civilized relations among people and among nations..
James Wilson Institute Podcast
"james wilson" Discussed on James Wilson Institute Podcast
"So i actually took a chunk out of this already long book. On burke burke shoes on slavery and i turned into a separate article actually fall Followed response to someone who was criticizing my first article as well on this issue. So burke oppo first burqa post lavery meszaros chocolates of humanity in his thought. It violated the natural law. The moral law he also thought however that immediate abolition would be counterproductive and wreak havoc. There was a time period and Late seventies eighties or seventy days in which. He did support immediate abolition but he reverted after that when he thought that that would provoke social upheaval reverted back to his prior position. Which was at the gradual. The grad gradual. Abolition was a pathway for a ten slavery in the slave trade in a should add that incident around seventeen eighty. He drafted a sketch of nego code which was perhaps the first comprehensive detailed plan for the graduate abolition of slavery in the bush pyre in i mean people are aware of that that aspect of slums well And i wrote my piece on this issue he. I think it's safe to say. He influenced later debates about abolition in the nineteenth century Oversleeping throughout the british empire but for him trafficking human beings the moral law. human beings are rational beings And they were not even though the time period There were more than a few slave owners who did think that They should be treated as cattle and Had the same souls as englishman and this leads to difficulty hovering burks thought if sleeves if africans shopping treat us commodities but he defended the headed price system which inevitably to some extent does treat humid labor as labor as commodities right. Yeah right house. He he house able to reconcile these two positions and Because he he did not draw these treatises. he's not sufficiently do so in in my judgment but one can connect the dots and and provide this. I think this explanation. I also touch upon in his calm turn french revolution. These relations can be commodified and so far has won. The liberty of the.