The Right’s Future Must be Parallel, and Counter-Revolutionary What I Told National Conservatives in Brussels Last week I travelled to Brussels to attend the National Conservatism Conference. I was slated to speak on a panel on “The Future of Conservatism.” Whether the panel would actually happen seemed in doubt for much of the time I was there, since
‘Democracy’ Means Never Having to Hear ‘You’re Fired!’ On fortifying managed democracy from ‘political interference’ I try not to let myself get dragged into writing quick reaction pieces on breaking news or stuff other people write. It’s a bad habit of the internet age. But what can I say, sometimes I just can’t help it. Sometimes
Interview: Ryszard Legutko Liberal Democracy, Communism, and totalitarian temptations in free societies In my recent essay “Poland and the Demon in Democracy” I discussed the political turmoil happening in Poland through the lens of Polish philosopher Ryszard Legutko’s 2016 book The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies. After the essay
Confucius Says “lol, lmao” On the very basics of governance This will be a very short post, just a little something that came to mind as I continue work on other material. But since it amused me I figured I’d share it with you all as well. I was watching a bit of
Poland and the Demon in Democracy Liberal authoritarianism’s tusks have been bared across the Westt “Democracy has won” in Poland following the election of a new government in October – or at least so declared the country’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk. The former top European Union official’s party only won 30% of the
The Rise of the Right-Wing Progressives Noting some confusions, making some distinctions A few months ago the prominent tech investor Marc Andreessen released a lengthy “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” that caused a big stir on certain segments of the internet. It’s a full-throated hymn glorifying technology, progress, and boundless growth, while castigating what it portrays as the
Woke: Collectivist or Individualist? A short debate A while ago reader Charles Pincourt contacted me with some thoughts on the nature of the “Woke” revolution and its challenge to liberalism and civilization. I found that we disagreed in ways that made for an interesting discussion, so we decided to turn the conversation into a
The Greatness of Simplicity An addendum by William George Jordan While working on writing “Hard Lessons from Israel’s High-Tech Border Failure” earlier this week, including thinking through its arguments on the value of simple over complex systems, I kept finding my memory niggled by an old speech/essay on simplicity that I recalled
Hard Lessons from Israel’s High-Tech Border Failure Thoughts on complex systems, failure cascades, and the international order Over the last two weeks, I have, like everyone else, been closely following Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel and the resulting war. So many others have already done an eloquent job covering it at a general level that I’m
2.5 Years of Upheaval Looking backward, and ahead, with gratitude The Upheaval turned two years old on April 7. I had intended to write a reflection for the occasion, as I did for year one, but ended up missing the anniversary. I felt like there was still something big missing that I had to
Creative Destruction Reviewing Neil Howe’s “The Fourth Turning Is Here” “The old American republic is collapsing. And a new American republic, as yet unrecognizable, is under construction.” The opening line of historian Neil Howe’s The Fourth Turning Is Here (2023) jumps to the point. It also foreshadows the odd dualistic
The China Convergence Yes, the West is becoming more like China. Here is the real reason why. I do believe this is the longest thing I’ve ever written, but also the most important. Read with a stiff drink. – N.S. Lyons Differences and tensions between the United States and China have never
The Change Merchants Why rule by nerds leads to perpetual chaos Over the years, various labels have emerged to describe the type or class of people who tend to run societies in the postmodern West: the “professional managerial class” or the “managerial elite,” the “creative class” or the “laptop class.” Or, as I’
Official Endorsement for President Concrete Block 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 25, 2023 ALPENA, MICHIGAN – These years of upheaval are trying times for our nation, and painfully uncertain for American families. In this moment what America most needs is steady, unwavering leadership. Which is why I am pleased to transmit the official announcement of
Of Course NPR and the BBC are State Media More accurately: they're Party-State media… Yesterday National Public Radio (NPR) announced that it is leaving Twitter, after the platform “falsely labeled” it as “state-affiliated media.” This is the “the same term it uses for propaganda outlets in Russia, China and other autocratic countries,” the indignant NPR huffed. Twitter CEO Elon
Upheaval Interview: Matthew B. Crawford A dialogue on embodied reality, self-governance, and technocracy with the mechanic-philosopher Matthew B. Crawford is a philosopher. Actually he’s more like a modern Renaissance man: a self-taught auto-mechanic and one-time custom motorcycle shop owner, a repentant former D.C. think tanker, a best-selling author with an undergraduate education in
The Temptations of Carl Schmitt A long look at the man of the moment in a totalizing age of strife “Today will be very instructive for those still clinging to the idea of returning to norms and sacred institutions,” tweeted one popular young right-wing commentator shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft ruling
Get Sertified A guest post by Don Baton Recently Don Baton, pseudonymous author of the great unwoke classical music newsletter The Podium , sent me an amusing (but also not so amusing) account from New York, and I felt it was worth him turning it into a short satirical piece for publication. That
Can an AI Chatbot Replace the Washington Blob? ChatGPT and I investigate I will be taking some time off over the next couple of weeks for Christmas, as well as to try to get in some deep reading for the next more substantial essay. In the meantime, I heartily recommend spending some time having fun with artificial intelligence
Courage in the Streets of China Celebrating a brief revolt for human dignity against banal, nihilistic, authoritarian technocracy I highly recommend you read this in the web or app version rather than email so that you can view the many included videos, and so that it doesn’t get cut off. Apologies in advance for any