BackboneAmerica

British political philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously contrasted the hedgehog, who does one big thing, and the fox, who does many (more…)

Utopian visions have stirred men’s souls at least since the time of the ancient Greeks. (more…)

Greatness never goes out of date. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died last year, presented at Harvard in 1978 one of the most perceptive and sobering assessments of civilization’s ills in our lifetime. The full text is below. An oft-quoted passage, sadly truer than ever, begins: “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. (more…)

Democrats like Obama the Intellectual like to denigrate “folksy” and “unintellectual” Republicans as “clinging to guns or religion,” (more…)

From east to west, living room to board room, Americans are watching a slew of disturbing TV news stories . The focus of the citizen is (more…)

There is a fundamental difference between Marxism, provider of the Socialist philosophy, and Christian teachings. The difference (more…)

When or if the McCain-Obama debate takes place on Sept. 26, and ditto for the Palin-Biden faceoff on Oct. 2, little of the fulsome (more…)

Monday at South High in Denver, a big crowd came out to see the noted conservative writer and radio host Dennis Prager debate (more…)

Amidst the hurly burly of society, it is easy to overlook the fundamental fact that ideas rule the world. This will seem to be an odd claim to make, (more…)

“I’d hate to have us responsible for putting Obie in the big house,” wrote Ken Davenport in reaction to a top analyst’s prediction (more…)

Kipling’s 1919 poem is perhap the best short defense of conservative realism against liberal utopianism ever written. I’m indebted (more…)

A young friend of mine started at Hillsdale College this week, and his dad, with whom I attend church, gave the new freshman (more…)

With conservatives heavy-hearted all across the country about their choices and chances in the 2008 campaign, we in Colorado can relate. Our lean times started several years ago. The answer lies in looking not just to next November, but to a longer horizon: even to mid-century. Will America remain the hope of the world as these decades unfold? Conservatives tend to believe it will; liberals dissent. Long before hope became a cheap thing, a racket on the left, it was a noble thing on the right, as Lincoln and Washington well knew. The latter wrote: “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” That’s the real meaning of hope in our tradition. (more…)

Clearly, the price of war is horrendous. The Civil War cost 600,000 lives. Worth the cost to emancipate a few slaves? (more…)

What kind of Christianity did Wright teach Obama, that this man can believe a politician can be a Christian by tolerating hatred (more…)