The Metaphysical Club, Louis Menard

 https://newcriterion.com/issues/2001/10/ideas-as-anecdotes

A clear case where reading the linked review is much more enlightening than reading the book. As a "group biography"of the initiators of Pragmatism,  the book is "decent" with insights into the life experiences, addictions, loves, families, etc of the subjects, but in knowledge "cash value", it has a very low signal to noise.

It is basically a "Supermarket Tabloid" for Pragmatism. 

... Peirce endowed ideas with the power to convert doubt into belief, annoyance into comfort, while James remarked that wrong ideas can kill us, right ones can save us. Menand recognizes that power—and tames it. He returns all questions to the realm of circumstance, where complexities may be narrated as personal conflicts. The result is an entertaining but superficial exercise in intellectual history, one in which ideas are wheeled on not because of their substance or truth value but because of their anecdotal force.

I'm all for simplification, however it seems likely that converting "War And Peace" to a Meme will leave out a bit! 

... For most people, truth and justice are lofty things best pursued disinterestedly. But for Menand, “making those kinds of decisions—about what is right or what is truthful—is like deciding what to order in a restaurant.” To distinguish between judging what is right and selecting an entrée, apparently, would be to venture outside the world of real human action.

This is a quote from Menard that appears in the review: 

The lesson that Holmes learned from the war can be put in a sentence. It is that certitude leads to violence. The key to Holmes’s civil liberties opinions is the key to all his jurisprudence: it is that he thought only in terms of aggregate social forces; he had no concern for the individual. This [the idea of community] was the conviction at the bottom of all Peirce’s thought. Everything James and Dewey wrote as pragmatists boils down to a single claim: people are the agents of their own destinies.

One might also observe current rioting and conclude that loss if fixed belief and chaotic thinking also leads to violence. Perhaps regression to an unredeemed human state leads to violence? 

I ran into this work because it was mentioned in a NR column. My view would be that mention was "grasping at straws". Yes, Pragmatism was an attempted response to the "failure" of the Civil War. How could BOTH sides be supposedly Christian, Civikized, etc and still have a war that killed over 600K? 

The thinking of that article, and many today is "how can this be happening"? 

To Christians and Constitutional Republic supporters, the answer is painfully obvious. When God and Law are abandoned, POWER is "god", and the establishment of who is most powerful requires violence in many forms.

Clearly, Pragmatism did not prevent war -- see WWI and WWII! 

Next to Hell, war is a walk in the park. As long as human pride is widely substituted for the fear of God, we can be certain that war will be with us! 

James Burnham and the Struggle For the World

 https://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=66

The linked review is quite long and I believe accurate ... Burnham was a fearless, generally non-ideological intellectual genius. His life and thought presents a window into the largely leftist intellectual elite conflict of "control vs chaos" -- veers from being a Trotskyist, to a CIA employee, to a McCarthy sympathiser, to a prophet of "The Managerial Revolution", to an editor of the National Review with close ties to William F. Buckley. 

While he seemed to value not "settling" on any specific world view MUCH more than I, I do much respect his willingness to attempt to always have an open mind. In some cases, it seemed that his mind may have been so open that the brains fell out, his intelligence made his "above the fray of ideology / religion to be believable.  My perspective is that since his fear of being pinned down to a specific worldview became a fetish that was in fact much aligned with a worldview -- that the world is inevitably headed toward a specific ideology that is bureaucratic, "managed", and is quite close to Fascism. (Fascism is NOT "Nazism" -- it is bureaucratically managed collaboration between massive government and increasingly large corporations, with the "common man" increasingly disposed of (physically or metaphysically).   

I think he is essentially correct at a high level, though wrong on the specifics -- he thinks that Capitalism will be replaced by this "Managerial State". I believe what we see is that Capitalism remains as the "engine" that produces the wealth that supports the increasingly centralised worldwide bureaucratic state (Davos World). Trump and Brexit are either the last gasps of actual competition and freedom, or harbingers indicating that Capitalism and the Proletariat are much more elemental to humanity than Marx or Burnham believed. I pray for the latter. 

From the linked review on the Burnham path from Trotsky to "management". I am reminded of one of the things that tech people used to say about the last and supposedly greatest management "Flavor of the Day" idea to "improve"  -- "Management for management's sake". Hey, they needed to feel that they were doing SOMETHING! 

Kelly writes, “It is tempting to write off Burnham’s Trotskyist phase as wasted time, a six-year detour into the sterile world of left-wing sects. But this judgment would be wrong” because “the involvement prepared him for what would be his real career” (pp. 87–88). In 1940, Burnham’s first major work appeared and sold well. Called The Managerial Revolution, it showed the influence of Machajski, Rizzi, Berle, Means, Veblen, Thurman Arnold, and Lawrence Dennis, as well as of Trotskyism (pp. 95–96). Burnham argued that bureaucratic management was the wave of the future, even if it took such forms as fascism, communism, and the New Deal, depending on circumstances. Only a cold, empirical, social-scientific approach could tell us where we were headed.

This quote from the linked is a valid summary of the book -- though, as always, the map (summary) is NEVER the territory! 

Burnham’s books do have interesting and important insights—especially The Managerial Revolution, Congress and the American Tradition, and Suicide of the West—but the Cold Warrior Burnham constantly undermined the conservative Burnham (if conservative is the right word). He embraced empire, constant frontier wars, managerialist determinism, and the warfare state, while complaining occasionally about Caesarism, the decline of Congress and other intermediate institutions, the growth of federal bureaucracy, and the loss of traditional liberties. This circle could not be squared. Burnham seldom considered that anything other than big impersonal historical forces might be causing the things he bewailed, that actual human agents might be driving some of the seeming inexorabilities. As a result, his rather willful disregard of economic theory and his battles against “doctrinaires” such as Frank Meyer look like symptoms of a larger failure of vision.

Consilience Revisited

https://quillette.com/2020/09/09/at-the-intersection-of-art-and-science-revisiting-eo-wilsons-consilience/

I reviewed Consilience here -- naturally, you would be well served to go view that review! ;-) 

I enjoyed the linked as well. The basic thesis of Wilson is that randomness randomly happened in a universe in which humans randomly evolved to somehow acquire a innate "environmental imperative". 

For Wilson, evolution is "god", so naturally, since any "god" will have infinite powers, "anything is possible" ... and believable, to believers -- even "scientists". 

Postmodernism’s popularity, he argues, may be explained by the possibility that its “love of chaos” is part of a universal human nature. He sees postmodernism as possessing “a surge of ‘revolutionary spirit’ generated by the real—not deconstructed—fact that large segments of the population… have been neglected for centuries and are only now beginning to find full expression within mainstream culture.” But instead of it having “exploded human nature into little pieces…” he sees its rise as an opportunity to “set the stage for a fuller explanation of the universal traits that unite humanity.” In the sciences, he sees consilience as a necessity in order to gain full insight into human behavior: “Works of art that prove enduring are intensely humanistic. Born in the imagination of individuals, they nevertheless touch upon what was universally endowed by human evolution.” For the scientist, the desire to know the real world, to answer the “how” and “what,” is paramount, while for the artist, it is a desire to take that real world and expose it to imagination, intuition, and experience.

I firmly believe that "love of chaos" is part of Satan's nature, and one can detect the Satanic by “a surge of ‘revolutionary spirit’". 

Old Adam is indeed by nature sinful and rebellious -- and since we are created in the "image of God" our nature includes a desire to seek the order of God. Wilson seems to have a clue, however Satan is helping him mistake disorder for created order. 

How Many "Americas" Are There? And What is "Normal"?

 https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/coronavirus-pandemic-americans-divided-assessing-risk/#slide-1

Many of us realized a good while ago that we were not in "America" anymore -- you know, the one that built the Bomb, won WWII, landed on the Moon, created the PC and the Internet -- THAT America. 

"The Decadent Society" is one good book that covers our degree of lostness ... there are others linked there. 

I'd argue that we have been divided from the beginning, as everyone and every human institution is -- between "Control and Chaos" ... we "boiled over" in the Civil War, to some degree in the 1960's, and it looks like we are at it again. 

I think the linked is a worthy read if only as a root for some books that appear to be good .., I have "The Metaphysical Club" on order. 

The other big division is between being a practicing Christian and not being so. Everyone has a "god", and for a much larger percentage of the population today, the "god" they believe they have is government -- sadly, they are wrong in that assumption. The Bible makes it clear, you either serve God or Satan, when you cease to regularly participate in the Divine Service with the Body and Blood, Satan, like the dog waiting for table scraps, is there to take your reins.  

Government is a particularly nasty false god, since it has the power of the sword and the purse. Our Constitution split government into three branches with the hope that "faction" -- jealousy of power, would limit the dangerous "Leviathan"  and keep government as the servant of the people, who were in turn servants of God. It was a wonderful architecture -- but it required a religious people in order to continue to operate.  

So we are sadly divided with no shared foundational belief as to what this territory of N America formerly the "United States", holds as "truth" -- clearly in this failed state, there is no such thing for a majority approaching "self evident" truth. We are supposed to be "woke" to the tragedy of "Critical Theory".

Well, at least it isn't critical "fact" ;-(.

Fake Sturgis Covid "News"

 https://reason.com/2020/09/09/no-the-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-didnt-spawn-250000-coronavirus-cases/?fbclid=IwAR0kOsLKAezeW63NDr2K4WrLTXF0hiPuuwNwHmikCeUQkC64_0gctsieWhE

Why can't we all get along? Formerly somewhat respectable sites like "The Hill" put up headlines like Sturgis cost public health 12 BILLION dollars! 

We live in the satanic mirror world of Austin Powers, though this is supposed to "reality". 

We are so far gone from any sort of sanity that the MSM picks that up and spreads it! And people still look at the MSM???? 

Reason does WAY more work than the sane require to understand this is less credible than UFOs ! 

The old supermarket tabloids were more credible. 

George Floyd Update

 https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/09/what-killed-george-floyd.php

If you are still not convinced that George Floyd died of a fentanyl OD, go to the linked and listen. 

When the Floyd death occurred, NPR "reported" on it thusly. 

The HEADLINE says "homicide", which the "NEW" medical examiner's report says ...

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner released a new autopsy report Monday, ruling George Floyd's death was a homicide. The office said Floyd's heart and lungs stopped functioning "while being restrained" by law enforcement officers.

The autopsy original said ... 

In charging documents released last week, prosecutors said that preliminary results from an autopsy "revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation."

As the podcast makes clear, there is no way this is "asphyxiation"  -- but it needs to be, because that fits the narrative that the Deep State / MSM / Democrat "party" is pushing. Apparently we need RIOTS as part of their takeover plan!

Voting Coup, War? 2020

 https://americanmind.org/essays/the-coming-coup/

The linked Anton article is EXCELLENT ... go there first! 

I've been concerned that US elections had become unreliable since the "apparently close one" of 2000. If you want to dig deeper, start here. 2000 likely wasn't all that close really ... just rigged. "Popular Vote" has been meaningless for a LONG time ... the big urban Democrat strongholds run up the numbers so big that they exceed the number of live voters. 244 counties in the US have more voters than live residents!

Naturally, the Democrats are VERY proud of their popular vote "wins" -- and if they "win" in 2020, those manufactured  totals are going to have even more impact as the Electoral College and the power of the Senate go away. 

If you are more a podcast sort, this will cover a lot of what is in the excellent linked article.  As those who know me will guess, I'm also reading Anton's book. 

The bottom line is:

• The Democrats, Deep State, MSM (but I repeat myself) are setting up to TAKE the presidency by ANY means, including military. 
• They have a lot of actions underway -- mail-in voting, already in place for 3/4ths of US voters and being pushed HARD for more, being just one. 
• Maybe most concerning -- and surprising, at least to me, is that the Democrats believe they have the military wired to support their coup (more on that in the linked)

From the linked ... 

Two more data points (among several that could be provided). Over the summer, two former Army officers, both prominent in the Democrat-aligned “national security” think tank world, wrote an open letter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in which they urged him to deploy the 82nd Airborne Division to drag President Trump from the Oval Office at precisely 12:01 PM, January 20, 2021.

About a month later, Hillary Clinton declared publicly that Joe Biden should not concede the election “under any circumstances.” The old English major in me interprets the word “any” to mean “no,” “none,” “nada,” “niente,” “zero,” “zilch” “bupkis”…you get the idea.

This doesn’t sound like the rhetoric of a political party confident it will win an upcoming election.

For a sometimes cringeworthy "view from the left" on how much "wargaming" they are doing with the "Transition Integrity Project",   this is DEFINITELY worth a listen. 

God, guns and gold. (9mm ammo is a buck a round and over, IF you can find it!)

Since there already is violence, it is pretty certain there will be more -- the only real question is if the "privileged" are going to roll over without a fight. 

Vote Fraud 101

https://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/four-stolen-elections-the-vulnerabilities-absentee-and-mail-ballots

Certainly since 2000, and really since at least 1960, anyone that has cared to look has KNOWN that vote fraud in the US is widespread and easy to do because of the antiquated and vulnerable ways our votes are counted. I covered the tip of this iceberg in the past ... 2016 being one example. 

ONE simple method if you have access to the ballots prior to counting ... or especially REcounting is to just see if the vote is for your candidate. If it is, then great, if not, you just also mark the vote as being for your candidate -- thus invalidating the vote. In any sort of "punch" system, this is extremely easy and efficient. Carefully stack a group of ballots and run a rod through the hole for your candidate -- if they voted for them, great! If not, you just invadated all the votes for the other candidate in the stack. 

One drawback of this is since the rod is not as crisp as the voting machine, it tends to create a lot of "hanging chads". Imagine that! 

In FL in 2000 in Broward county, there were apparently a lot of "confused people" (no doubt due to the infamous "butterfly ballot") that "over voted" -- voted for BOTH Bush and Gore!

Mail-in voting creates a lot more opportunity for ballot manipulation. Maybe MOST important, it delays the outcome of the election as the mailed ballots continue to trickle in, so the counting continues until the MSM, Deep State approved candidate finally "wins" as Al Franken did in MN in 2008. 

The link probably gives you more detail than you want, however at least scanning it will give more credence to how big the problem is. 

As Democrats fight tooth and nail against Voter ID and an FOR mail-in, you might get the idea that they are pretty sure where their bread is buttered! 

Remember, Canada has voter ID, as does Mexico 

The Mexican system would be a great model for how we might return trust US elections! 

Is Covid A Sign From God?

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2020/07/covid-19-as-a-sign-from-god/

As Veith reminds us, for believers, EVERYTHING is at least allowed, if not instigated by God. 

I like his concluding paragraphs: 

Those of us who had become so complacent, so “carnally secure,” are so no longer. We might catch the disease from an asymptomatic carrier and in two weeks be dead. And even if we don’t, our prosperity, our recreation, our social ties, our sense of well-being, are all threatened. We have taken so much for granted, but the epidemic shows just how contingent it all is, how fragile and transient these things are, and how we need to build our lives on something–and Someone–eternal. Becoming less secure in ourselves can drive us to Christ, who bore the evils and the suffering of the world, to bring us to an eternal happiness that is not of this world.

All of this is horrible for us to go through. But I suspect God believes that we need to go through it.

Growth requires "pain" ... see exercise, study, investment - delayed gratification, work, etc. 

Spiritual life / growth is no exception -- YES, justification is a free gift from God, sanctification is to some degree (hopefully often joyful), WORK! 

Hopefully Covid reminds us that we are not nearly as powerful / in control as we often think, and, that Christ IS both powerful and eternally in control!

Voter Fraud (2016 Discussion)

Donald Trump Voter Fraud Warning: He’s Right & Media Are Wrong to Dismiss It | National Review: 

Not a very long read, but a very worthy one. Voter fraud is WELL documented in A LOT of places, if it looks like a Democrat is going to lose, or if they DO lose, we even hear quite a lot about it all of a sudden. Remember Diebold?

Pretty much everyone else in the world that votes requires an ID to vote. Democrats are well on the way to making that unconstitutional here. This isn't really a very hard position to understand if you care to. The author of the column, John Fund, wrote a good book on the subject a good while back "Stealing Elections" ... you really don't want to look into it if you agree with BO that Trump is crazy to suggest such a thing.