The precarious case of conservative political identity in civic life and culture wars | Luke Doherty
Whilst we can subscribe to partisan policies and support a specific direction of travel; and be a loyal and committed acolyte to a charismatic leader, there are more profound factors that contribute to one’s political identity than the mere product of pragmatism and lack of ideological commitment. This is especially true for the conservative. Conservatism is more than just a particular economic disposition, it is an instinct deep within an individual who, recognizing that what we have collectively received is good, wishes to conserve it and defend it from harm or desecration.
Duty’s spectacular decline in Western nations | Tom Colsy
It is no coincidence that at the height of America’s civilisational prowess, President John F. Kennedy instructed citizens not to ask what the country could do for him, but instead ponder what he could do for his country. We could relearn a thing or two from that 1961 inaugural speech. Or, at least, take heed of G.K. Chesterton’s words, that “men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her”.
Social counter-reform | Dan Mikhaylov
We are exposed to these consequences of socio-cultural implosion in the streets and at work, and cannot be ignorant or turn a blind eye to this process of internal disfigurement… Therefore, our action must also be explicit, and not implicit, to safeguard what remains of Britain’s social cohesion, to reverse the tide. At this stage, two options are available to traditionalists: intransigent insistence on the past, and pragmatic counter-reform.
The common good demands you wear a mask | Ojel L. Rodriguez Burgos
The debate on how to deal with the Coronavirus after the lockdown restrictions have been gradually lifted across the United Kingdom continues to be front and centre in the newsroom. One debate has been particularly spirited and recurrent; whether the government should force people to wear masks in public.
Time for Britain to double down on law enforcement | Dan Mikhaylov
The previous weeks’ newsworthy events signalled pessimism. The heinous antisocial behaviour, vandalism and destruction under the name of Black Lives Matter provides yet another example of how an opulent, orderly society easily descends into endogenous chaos. However, recently we might have just hit a new low… Our solutions to such problems cannot merely be of harsher sentences, but must address sicknesses at the centre of our society.
Environmentalists are conservative by nature | Christopher Barnard
Ultimately, it seems rather bizarre that the left has managed to monopolise the environment- at least from a philosophical perspective. Again, that is partly due to the fact that conservatives have tended to avoid this issue like the plague, uncomfortable with the orthodoxy that large state solutions reign supreme on these matters. Yet, from the defence of existing beauty and value to the avoidance of disorder and chaos, conservatism innately promotes the conservation of our planet for the benefit of generations to come.
A conservative approach to state intervention in the world of COVID-19 | Ojel L. Rodriguez Burgos
The actions undertaken by many countries have given more fuel to the great debate present in our politics; to what extent state intervention is morally permissible... On one side, you have the supporters of the minimalist state, which have reacted with horror to these actions. Followers of the modern philosophy of liberalism are being torn by its commitment to liberal freedom and their egalitarian concerns. Naturally, the question that also arises is how conservatism determines what is morally permissible, through the use of normative standards.
St. Augustine’s journey to Easter | Chad C. Pecknold
Augustine tells us that he found something in this retreat. He writes that he made a sacrifice of tears in the “inner chamber” of his heart—and that upon this inner altar, he found “joy in my heart.” The reality of Easter was dawning. As for many Catholics right now, the Eucharist wasn’t yet accessible to him, yet he nevertheless says that he tasted upon this inner altar of the heart “a different wheat and wine and oil”.
Libertarianism in dilemma | Ojel L. Rodriguez Burgos
A possible fallback position for a libertarian to take is to argue, that the Coronavirus is causing harm to individuals- breaking John Stuart Mill’s harm principle and breaching the limits of Nozick’s rights. However, how directly does an individual’s action harm another individual through transmission of a sentient virus? The answer to that question is certainly ambiguous, as political libertarians have been so struggling with finding a definitive one.