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Originalism as a Model of Political Communication

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The Faulkner murals of the Declaration and Constitution, on display in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives.
Strang’s exploration of natural law as a justification of originalism is provocative and could move the debate in a new direction.

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Thomas Aquinas versus the Economists

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The lunette of one of the side doors depicting St. Thomas Aquinas, detail of the facade of the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy (Zvonimir Atletic / Shutterstock.com).
Rather than seeking to submerge economics into Thomistic inquiry, present-day dissatisfaction with economics might be better taken in another direction.

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Originalism Is Beside the Point

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US Supreme Court (shutterstock.com)
Most lawyers today seem to believe that they must make new law because the one they inherited was in fact fundamentally unjust.

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How to Defend Limited Government and the Common Good

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A Vindication of Politics helps us remember that there are as many kinds of common goods as there are kinds of human association.

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The Logos of Western Civilization: A Conversation with Sam Gregg

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Sam Gregg explores how the West is built on the union of the God of the Philosophers and the God of the Bible.

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Ordered Liberty and the Demands of Law

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Self-governing people make—design, craft, and promulgate—law to govern their own and others’ choices and actions.

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Born-Again Paganism: A Conversation with Steven Smith

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Steven Smith talks with Richard Reinsch about his provocative thesis that a modern form of paganism is becoming public orthodoxy.

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Edmund Burke: Natural Lawyer

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Statue of Edmund Burke, Trinity College, Dublin (deadlyphoto.com / Alamy Stock Photo).
A conservative politics faithful to its Burkean heritage must be rooted in more than an emphasis on prudence or skepticism: it needs natural law.

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To Sustain the Anglo-American Tradition, Conversation Is Not Enough

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Statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square Garden in London, U.K. (Pajor Pawel / Shutterstock.com).
Why is it that the English-speaking peoples historically combined a deep love of liberty with a passionate devotion to their political duties? Can it last?

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Natural Law and Democracy: The Philosophy of James Wilson

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Engraving by J.B. Longacre after "miniature in possession of Mrs. Hollingsworth." Published in John Sanderson, Biog. of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia, 1823. (Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com)
Thoroughgoing philosophical skepticism undermines liberty by denying that law can be reasonable, and that justice can be known.

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