I haven’t written much recently because of a heavy reading load. However, I hope to write a lot this summer. Much of my writing will contain themes from Mahatma K. Gandhi, Leo Tolstoi, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The relations will become apparent as the writing progresses. Hopefully there will be a depth and power in their words that will carry my weak words to my intended point. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was initially a letter to my brother about this book.

The book, The Unsettling of America, is one man’s take on the road that agriculture has taken in the United States and the governmental policies that have led us down that road and the cultural effect it has had and is having on the citizens of the United States. Here is the email:

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I’m not an economist, but I don’t think this is very complicated. Read the rest of this entry »

Just a quick post on Plato’s Republic. Toward the end of the book Plato describes the life which is most satisfying as one in which an object (or a person) is satisfied by real things. For Plato, the most real things are the intelligible mental conceptions of things and therefore the most satisfying life is lived by a person that receives these intellectual pleasures. However, if one adds a spiritual dimension to the these intelligible mental conceptions and defines those eternal and spiritual things as the true reality, there is real power in the following statements:

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Often conservatives (and hawkish liberals like Hillary and Biden and Lieberman) justify the need for secrecy in foreign policy. The following is a great answer to that justification from 17th century Jewish philosopher Baruch de Espinoza (better known as Spinoza).

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I was just reviewing the end chapters of Democracy in America and was reminded of the following from Tocqueville:

 [Warning: it might hit a nerve]

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I don’t know if this movie, Amazing Grace, just hasn’t received much press (or maybe I just don’t watch enough TV) but I hadn’t heard anything about it until my wife ordered it from Netflix. However, this is a movie I would recommend to everyone.

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I’ve been listening to The Lord of the Rings trilogy recently with my son. I re-read the books a few years back prior to the release of the movie series and really struggled to put my finger precisely on what Tolkien was writing about and what the ring represented. I think I finally figured it out.

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In Aristotle’s Politics Book IV, Chapter 12, he makes an important point, that if a society wants to progress and last, it must address the needs of and have a large middle class. If not, the political interest of the rich and the poor end up destroying any sense of political freedom. Read the rest of this entry »

Another quote from Tocqueville:

“For my own part, I doubt whether man can ever support at the same time complete religious independence and entire public freedom. And I am inclined to think, that if faith be wanting in him, he must serve; and if he be free, he must believe.”

What do you think about this? Does true freedom require faith in a Higher Being? Why? How does complete secularism lead to servitude? Is Tocqueville right? I think so, but I need to explore it more completely.