Conservatism Rediscovered | Dr. Yoram Hazony

MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2023 

POLITICS / CONSERVATISM 

Dr. Yoram Hazony is one of my heroes.   He is a true intellectual.  

Philosopher, scholar and political theorist Dr. Yoram Hazony joins John for a rich and interweaving conversation about conservatism, nationalism, democracy and modern politics. Dr. Hazony, author of several books on these matters, provides a compelling critique of the political right - where it has gone wrong, the great benefits it can convey for society and how it diverges from liberalism. John and Yoram touch on many important topics, including multiculturalism, identity politics, globalism and the question of why nationalism seems surrounded by an unearned air of controversy. John and Yoram touch on many important topics, including multiculturalism, identity politics, globalism and why nationalism seems to be surrounded by an unearned air of controversy. Yoram Hazony is an Israeli philosopher, Bible scholar and political theorist. He is President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem and Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation. He has written several books, including The Virtue of Nationalism (2018) and his latest, Conservatism: A Rediscovery (2022), both of which have met with popular and critical success  

Educated at Princeton University (B.A. in East Asian Studies), and Rutgers University (Ph.D in Political Theory), Yoram founded and was the first editor of Princeton’s conservative student journal, The Princeton Tory, while still an undergraduate. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Yael Hazony. They have nine children.

When God rejected Saul

TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023 

CHRISTIANITY / BIBLE / OLD-TESTAMENT

When God says "Jump!" you say "How high?"

And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord.  Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt.  Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah.  And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.  Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.  And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.  And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

The word of the Lord came to Samuel:  “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.  And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”  And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”  And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”  Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.”  Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.  And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’  Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”  And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.  But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”  And Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

    as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

    and to listen than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

    and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

    he has also rejected you from being king.”


1 Samuel 15 - English Standard Version

The Race-baiters’ Checkmate and the Critical Collapse of Education

SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2023 

WESTERN CIVILIZATION

An excerpt from "The Race-baiters’ Checkmate and the Critical Collapse of Education":

We are, in the West, fast approaching the precipice of a civilizational collapse. Exactly how far out we are from this precipice is a matter to debate. But, our speed and direction of travel are very clear.

I say this apocalyptically. But not, I think, hyperbolically. For, there has been incubating, growing, and spreading in the West for several decades a mental cancer bent on breaking down and destroying the basic logic of civilization — bent on destroying truth and reason, individualism and freedom.

This cancer was spawned in continental Europe, spread to the Americas, and long festered in our universities. It has slowly grown into other organs of our society — the courts, the tech sector, even healthcare. Periodic rounds of chemo have thus far kept our civilization alive and relatively healthy as we’ve dodged systemic metastasization. In recent years however, this cancer has spread into America’s schools. As it works to overtake the national education system, this mental cancer increasingly jeopardizes the ability of our society to produce antibodies to fight back in other institutions. Without urgent action to exorcise this cancer from America’s schools, we will soon face the certain death of the host, and a coming apart of Western civilization.

This mental cancer is called “leftism.” While the left/right dichotomy means different things to different people, here I’m referring to those individuals and groups espousing cultural Marxist ideologies and using postmodernist theory as a rhetorical and political weapon to help drive their cultural Marxist agenda.

Read the rest here: The Race-baiters’ Checkmate and the Critical Collapse of Education


THE NEED FOR GENIUS

MONDAY, MAY 29, 2023 

CHRISTIANITY / MYSTICISM / SIMONE WEIL

From the book "Waiting for God" by Simone Weil:

"Today it is not nearly enough merely to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the prsent moment, a new saintliness, itself also without precedent.

"A new type of sancitity is indeed a fresh spring, an invention.  If all is kep in propoertion and if the order of each thing is preserved, it is almost equivalent to a new revelation of the universe and of human destiny.  It is the exposure of a large portion of truth and beauty hitherto concealed under a thick layer of dust.  More genius is needed than was needed by Archimedes to invent mechanics and physics.  A new saint-liness is a still more marvelous invention.  

"Only a kind of perversity can oblige God's friends to deprive themselves of having genius, since to receive it in superabundance they only need to ask their Father for it in Christ's name.  

"Such a petition of legitimate, today at any rate, because it is necessary.  I think that under this or any equivalent form it is the first thing we have to ask for now; we have to ask for it daily, hourly, as a famished child constantly asks for bread.  The world needs saints who have genius, just as a plague-stricken town needs doctors.  Where there is a need there is also an obligation."


pg 51, Weil, Simone. Waiting for God. HarperPerennial, 2009


MY FAVORITE TORTILLA CHIPS

THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023 

FOOD / SNACKS / CHIPS

My favorite tortilla chips are "Mi Nina" made by New England Tortilla, Inc. of Brockton, Massachusetts.   The grind their own corn, which REALLY makes a difference.  These chips aren't cheap, normally going for $6 to $7 a bag in the stores where I've seen them, but well worth their asking price.   The best part: the ingredients.   

The "Pico De Gallo" flavor was a real surprise, probably the best tasting snack chip I've ever had, no kidding.  


The ingredient list from the regular chips:

If you can find them, buy them!   They are really good.