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February 27, 2020|Daniel Markovits, Education, elites, Equality, Meritocracy

Overcoming the Evils of Meritocracy

by David Lewis Schaefer|

Iron gate on the campus of Harvard University (Marcio Jose Bastos Silva/shutterstock.com)
Markovits alternates between acknowledging the opportunity for advancement for all and claiming that the system enables only “the rich” to win.

February 21, 2020|Charmides, elites, institutions, moderation, Plato, Yuval Levin

Failures in Moderation

by Titus Techera|

From left, Democratic presidential candidates businessman Tom Steyer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stand on stage, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, before a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Who will mind the public business? Our elites will. After all, busybodying is their job and their job is all they ever do.

October 4, 2019|elites, Eyes Wide Shut, fidelity, Jeffrey Epstein, Stanley Kubrick

Eyes Wide Shut and the Moral Bankruptcy of the American Elite

by Titus Techera|

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in still from Eyes Wide Shut. Image: Warner Brothers.
If we wish to understand what's happening to some of our elites, we had better turn instead to more durable sources of wisdom—poetry and film, above all.

July 18, 2019|Democracy, elites, Federal Reserve, Supreme Court

The Parallel Democratic Dilemmas of the Court and the Fed

by John O. McGinnis|

Aerial view of Washington, DC (Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com).
In our era of elite polarization, these institutions may themselves become the very sources of the instability that they seek to temper.

July 11, 2019|elites, Federal Reserve, Independence, Supreme Court

The “Independence” of the Court and the Fed

by John O. McGinnis|

U.S. Supreme Court (Gary Blakeley/Shutterstock.com).
Ordinary politics is unlikely to dramatically change the behavior of the Supreme Court or the Federal Reserve from year to year.

July 3, 2019|Aristocracy, elites, Federal Reserve, Supreme Court

The Court and the Fed: Our Own Aristocratic Element

by John O. McGinnis|

Federal Reserve building, Washington DC (Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com)
Most modern capitalist societies have both independent central banks and independent constitutional courts—and have them for similar reasons.

February 15, 2019|Aristocracy, Bill Murray, corruption, Donald Trump, Egalitarianism, elites, Harold Ramis, Rodney Dangerfield

Harold Ramis, Unlikely Prophet of Trump

by Titus Techera|

Chevy Chase, Ted Knight, and Rodney Dangerfield in still from Caddyshack (1980). (Image: Orion Pictures/ PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy Stock Photo).
Nobody stopped to think these films were not just comedy, but also stories about a coming class conflict in America.

February 7, 2019|elites, Populism, Tucker Carlson

Escaping Our Ship of Fools

by Mark Pulliam|

Tucker Carlson with James Carville at the fourth annual Politicon in Los Angeles, California on October 21, 2018 (Image: Brian Cahn/ZUMA Wire/Alamy Live News).
Carlson has a serious point: How should the nation’s various maladies be addressed by our political system?

January 30, 2019|Conservatism, economic transitions, elites, Markets

Is There a Viable Conservative Alternative to Markets?

by James R. Rogers|

Image: Nagel Photography / Shutterstock.com
When conservatives blame markets for illnesses generic to all modern economies, they misdiagnose the cause and therefore prescribe faulty remedies.

Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

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The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

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Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

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James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

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Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

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Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

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Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

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America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

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About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
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