Tag Archives: Practical History
In Further Defense of the Classics
Andrew Sullivan expansively responds to Rush Limbaugh’s studied ignorance. Rush: Tell me, any of you at random listening all across the fruited plain, what the hell is Classical Studies? What classics are studied? Or, is it learning how to study in a classical way? Or is it learning how to study in a classy as […]
We Need a New Metonym
Earlier this year, Duane Reade, the New York pharmacy/convenience store chain, opened its “flagship” store at 40 Wall Street, just east of the Stock Exchange, and slightly west of a set of skyscrapers formerly owned by financial giants like J.P. Morgan Chase, now upscale apartments. The banks that used to occupy these buildings long since […]
Profiles in Corporate Responsibility: Triangle Shirtwaist a Century Later
Today’s New York Times ran, as the site’s cover story, a series of pieces on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, an industrial tragedy that killed or injured over 200 workers, and lent urgency to both the organized labor and Progressive movements. The facts of the disaster remain remarkable: a small fire broke out on […]
Our Sharia
Although the protections afforded Jews and Christians by Islamic law were, in many ways, ahead of their time, this grace, such as it was, had its limits. According to the Pact of Umar, which defined the relationship between the Peoples of the Book, [Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians] shall not build, in our cities or in […]
“Clothe Yourselves in the Morals of the Toga”
After the fall of Rome — but before Justinian could sweep away her people and her infrastructure — Theoderic the Ostrogoth used this line, and reference to Roman foundational values generally, to prop up his reign as an invader-king. It strains credulity to think the heroes of Rome’s past would’ve easily suborned a foreign presence, […]
Glenn Beck’s Roman Maneuver
After scheduling a pro-theocracy rally on the date & site of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech, Glenn Beck provides the following: Press already comparing my speech to MLK. What? I’m not MLK. most of speech will be off bullet points. The rest ad-lib. MLK genius.Me? Not. The trick — disclaiming […]
Make No Mistake: Nullification Effects Disunion
RedState is advertising and otherwise boosting a new book by Thomas Woods: “Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century.” In the wake of the Fourth of July, it’s only proper to ask: what pale spectre of patriotism is this, that (here and otherwise) dishonors the legacy of our Founders by perpetuating a […]
The 17th Amendment: What’s (Surprisingly) Up For Grabs
One of the tea party movement’s more radical ideas — the termination of the direct election of Senators, effected by the outright repeal of the 17th Amendment — is easy enough to mock. It’s not every day one of the defining elements of modern democracy comes into question. But perhaps curiously, the argument for a […]
Erick Erickson Gets Blow[back]; Issues Epic Disclaimer
SHOCKING. Elena Kagan wrote her college thesis on the history of the New York socialist party. It’s kind of interesting (pdf), but never makes a value judgment about the movement. Scholars will know that studying a topic doesn’t mean you’re a fan of it. My Criminal Law professor was a rape scholar who did not […]
Thomas Jefferson on Financial Regulation
From his correspondence: Your idea of the moral obligations of governments are perfectly correct. The man who is dishonest as a statesman would be a dishonest man in any station. It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings collected together are not under the same moral laws which bind each of […]
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