Part One So what are the leftist issues with free speech? They think it’s a bad thing, right, because of hate speech and whatever? Well, no. Now, left-wing discourse about freedom of speech and of the press is complicated and I am not an expert, but the basic points are these: Some speech endangers people. Some speech drowns out, or co-opts, other speech. The first point is pretty obvious. Even in our First-Amendment-loving society, we have laws against things like... Read more
The recent Harper’s Letter and Bari Weiss’ resignation from the New York Times have everybody talking about how cancel culture, and the Left in general, are endangering free speech. These next two posts are about why that’s fucking stupid. I’m going to try and approach things solely from the perspective of a classical Liberal in this first post, and get into some of the free speech issues that leftists are concerned with in my next. First of all, what is... Read more
“Make a fist.” A little strip of rubber at the elbow tied tight to make the vein pop. Look away, try not to be nauseous as vials fill with dirty red liquid. Dirty blood, toxic, scary. One vial; two; three; four; God, how many—how long— Then, finally, “Hold this.” Finger on gauze. Tape. All set for six months. “Thank you.” Grab my hat. Leave. All I can think is, “You did this to yourself.” Read more
Be warned, this post is a bit grim. I have entirely lost confidence that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in November. Trump said in so many words in 2016 that he’d accept the results of the election if he won. He’s spent the last four years proving he meant exactly that, and he’s run ads fantasizing about remaining president longer than the two terms the Constitution allows. We’re past the point where we can afford to treat... Read more
I don’t know how many of my readers know this, as Patheos doesn’t have a place to put a button for it, but I have a Patreon! If you’re not familiar, Patreon is a site that lets people sponsor your work, at whatever amount they like, piece by piece (you can find mine here). I wanted to say thank you to my Patreon sponsors: Hope Brooks Ben Y. Faroe Annette Goeres Raph Graves JSJ Phoebe Lim Matthew Tiscareno You guys... Read more
The news hit today that SCOTUS, in a 5-4 ruling, struck down a pro-life bill in Louisiana. The bill in question (from what I understand) required abortionists to be doctors able to admit patients at local hospitals. There are probably complexities here which I don’t understand, but that seems pretty reasonable to me on the face of it. The vote that decided against it came, ironically, from Chief Justice Roberts, citing as precedent a decision he himself had dissented from—but... Read more
For previous posts in this series, see CST 101, 102, 103, 104, and 105A. Capitalism also ignores the effects of scale in its neat little picture of enlightened self-interest. Even if your enterprise start from the bottom—which is rare, but we’ll get to that later—once you’re big enough, your production costs go down, which allows you to undercut smaller businesses by selling the same product (or a better one, or a worse one) for less. Do this enough and competitors... Read more
CST 101: A Crash Course in Leftism CST 102: Liberalism vs. the Left CST 103: The Oppression Olympics CST 104: More Like Catholic Socialist Teaching! What are the problems the Church has with capitalism, though? It’s not like it persecutes the Church the way Marxists propose to do, and it lets people buy and sell freely and consensually—what’s wrong with that? There are a few problems with capitalism. First, it’s wrong about how human minds work. Your run-of-the-mill defense of... Read more
CST 101: A Crash Course in Leftism CST 102: Liberalism vs. the Left CST 103: The Oppression Olympics Wait, hang on. I called this series an introduction to Catholic social teaching, but all I’ve talked about so far is the ins and outs of Leftism. What gives? Well, here’s the thing: you cannot be a Catholic and a capitalist. I mean, you can—it doesn’t invalidate your baptism or anything. It just makes you a heretic. I am (what fun) oversimplifying. [1]... Read more
CST 101: A Crash Course in Leftism CST 102: Liberalism vs. the Left So what is this “New Left” I’ve mentioned a couple of times now? Well, here’s where the hippies come in. In the 1950s and 60s, some thinkers began applying certain forms of left-wing thought to ideas other than class struggle. The horrors of Stalin’s regime had prompted a lot of rethinking among leftist groups outside the USSR, even among self-identified communists. [1] In the US and elsewhere,... Read more
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