A representative government, however it starts, naturally expands. This is because the elected official's position is dependent on the majority of people voting for him. Therefore, he (or more often his party) is incentivized to offer them anything he can. If they have problems, he'll offer to solve them and try to make them as … Continue reading Thought of the Day: Subsidiarity and Democracy
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Poetry – “Veni Creator Spiritus
Creator Spirit, by whose aidThe world's foundations first were laid,Come visit every pious mind,Come pour Thy joys on human kind;From sin and sorrow set us free,And make Thy temples worthy Thee.O source of uncreated light,The Father's promised Paraclete!Thrice holy fount, thrice holy fire,Our hearts with heavenly love inspire;Come, and Thy sacred unction bring,To sanctify us … Continue reading Poetry – “Veni Creator Spiritus
Low-Effort Blogging: A Breakdown of ’12 Angry Men’
12 Angry Men is one of the great American dramatic films and an absolute master-class in writing: an enthralling story set almost entirely in one room and consisting of nothing but, well, twelve very different men debating back and forth. It's what happens when you have a first-class director (Sydney Lumet) leading a first-class cast … Continue reading Low-Effort Blogging: A Breakdown of ’12 Angry Men’
Thoughts on ‘The Secret of Chimneys’
Dame Agatha Christie was a highly prolific authoress. In addition to her cozy mysteries featuring M. Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, she also wrote plenty of other mysteries and a number of books that could be classified more as thrillers or spy fiction. These tend not to be regarded as her best work on … Continue reading Thoughts on ‘The Secret of Chimneys’
Friday Flotsam: Disney, Kafka, and Lovecraft
1. The Wisdom of Walt Disney re-release went off with very few hitches. There was a close call where I thought none of the updates (including the discount) would be available by the release date, since, at least as far as I can tell, Amazon doesn’t provide the ability to precisely control when the book … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Disney, Kafka, and Lovecraft
Feast of St. Louis
King Saint Louis'sLast Instructions to his Eldest Son, Philip III 1. To his dear first-born son, Philip, greeting, and his father's love.2. Dear son, since I desire with all my heart that you be well "instructed in all things, it is in my thought to give you some advice this writing. For I have heard … Continue reading Feast of St. Louis
Friday Flotsam: Some Aphorisms
1. Loving your enemy does not mean forgetting that he is your enemy. 2. That we cannot judge what we don't know doesn't mean that we can't judge what we do know. E.g. I don't know the state of X's soul, nor the internal motions that lead him to act as he does, but I … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Some Aphorisms
Friday Flotsam: Collective Authority
1. The modern world feels like being walled up in an asylum that's been taken over by the inmates. Except the inmates are not just insane, but smug, sanctimonious, and completely disconnected from reality. 2. Collective ownership cannot work as a system for multiple reasons, but chiefly because someone has to enforce the collective ownership, … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Collective Authority
Quotation of the Day
Boswell: “So, Sir, you laugh at schemes of political improvement?”Johnson: “Why, Sir, most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things.”-Life of Johnson
Brief Thoughts on ‘The Shining’
Last night I watched The Shining for the first time with my family. Though obviously I’ve been familiar with it for a long time and I’ve seen many clips of it (which, unfortunately, meant that I kind of went in knowing more or less what was going to happen). Quick take: it’s pretty good. I … Continue reading Brief Thoughts on ‘The Shining’
Serpent's Den 