Category Archives: Uncategorized

Democracy in America

Words being arbitrary, they owe their power to association, and have the influence which custom has given them – for language is the dress of thought. Therefore on hearing the words “Democracy in America,” some will think of Alexis de Tocqueville’s book by the same title. Others, not having read the book (an enterprise of Read More

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The Masking of the Obvious

An Eastern monarch, of whom we know the existence but not the name, kept an officer in his house whose employment it was to remind him of his mortality, by calling out every morning at a stated hour, “Remember prince that thou shalt die. Indeed, the contemplation of the frailness of our present state appeared Read More

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The Curious History of American Exceptionalism

Francois Mitterrand, the longest serving president of France (1981-1985), not long before he died (1996), made this quite extraordinary statement: “France does not know it, but she is at war with America. A permanent, vital, economic war, and only apparently a victimless war. Yes, the Americans are inexorable, they are voracious, they want undivided power Read More

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Washington’s Bastille

Trump’s supporters, having found the vanity of conjecture and inefficacy of expectations, resolved to prove their own existence, if not by violence, at least by physical presence. They came forth into the crowded capital with an almost juvenile ambition that their numbers would be counted, their voice heard and their presence noticed.

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Science and Fiction

In all mass phenomena it is uncertain whether to believe the scientists as the infallible voices of truth, or if, in their explanation of some events, we see but the dimming of the light of reason. For in the current currents of the world, science is often an improper verbal expression, used by sundry technocratic Read More

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Another View of the EU (European Union)

The MacDonaldization of words forces many to lay that reason asleep which disturbs their gayety. Among recent new entries is ‘Brexit’, a word suitable to a speaking-club made of millions, where most half-hear what, if they heard the whole, they would but half-understand. Furthermore, some words in time are debased by repetition, and can no Read More

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Red-Wine, Health-Care, Shakespeare & Capitalism

Those who follow the reigning fashion, or from fashion borrow their taste, will have observed that, after a de-facto 20 years of relative unpopularity, red wine has undergone a commercial and cultural renaissance. Not that it was ever dead, but lore and clichés suggested that thoughtful solitude was the natural setting for a glass of Read More

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The Power of Aesthetics in Learning

This article was written for the Rocketship Education Home School. John Locke, famous British empiricist, philosopher and father of Liberalism, asserted that, “The chief art of learning is to attempt but a little at a time.” The aphorism seems obvious. But we may or should remember that the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much Read More

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Brief History of Revisionism

On hearing the word ‘revisionism,’ suspicion lurks in the mind of some, and alarms sound in the mind of others. Suspicion is the elder sister of twins, credulity and incredulity. And of all kinds of credulity, the most obstinate and wonderful is that of zealots; of men who resign the use of their eyes and Read More

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Douce France

“Douce France, cher pays de mon enfance” – so goes the song [Sweet France, dear country of my infancy]. I did not live my childhood in France, but at times I feel as If I did, for I know her well. I can daydream about a town or village in the “France profonde”, and think Read More

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