Tag Archive for power

Come and Get Me

May 23, 2015 Security No comments

Scholar and author Brad Birzer has been sharing articles, links, and material this week on Sen. Rand Paul’s relatively lonely (it appears) opposition to the renewal of the so-called Patriot Act. Because I share Birzer’s affection for many things, including our Catholic faith, J.R.R. Tolkien, Russell Kirk, and the idea (at least) of this country, I tend to take notice of the things he is focused on, even when I am otherwise ignoring the news. This morning he shared this video from C-SPAN: … as well as this brief opinion piece from the New York Times on the necessity of Sen. Paul’s stand

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Catholic Preppers?

March 8, 2015 Security 4 comments

Two years ago, I wrote and shared an article entitled “Universal Manhood: Integrating Manly Proficiency and Catholic Self-Sufficiency.” If I’m honest, I was not-so-subtly hinting at something I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud quite yet: I have a latent prepper streak. There is a part of me that is increasingly convinced that, if not my bride and I, certainly my children and grandchildren will experience basic deprivations of many of the comforts and freedoms we enjoy today, and will have to make do or improvise to survive. This morning, for kicks, I googled “Catholic Prepper” and was surprised

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The Fire of Samuel Adams

July 3, 2013 Intellectual Formation, Security One comment

Men of the Junto: I shared a quote from American revolutionary Samuel Adams with you at our last gathering, as best I could remember it. I googled it this afternoon, and found a somewhat longer version than I spoke: It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. Wikiquote says this is misattributed to Samuel Adams, and also to John Adams, with little evidence for either — so I thought I’d look for other relevant sentiments among the man’s verified quotations. Here are

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The Random King Maker

May 17, 2013 Moral Action One comment

Luke Skywalker:  She’s rich. Han Solo:  Rich? Luke:  Rich, powerful.  Listen, if you were to rescue her, the reward would be… Han:  What? Luke:  Well, more wealth than you can imagine! Han:  I don’t know, I can imagine quite a bit. Star Wars Episode IV, 1977 The little flag from CNN flashed on my phone a while ago, with the headline that the Powerball lottery was set to surpass the $600 million prize mark.  I’ve come to the conclusion that this amount is simply too large for any single person to be given.  Nevermind mind the arguments against lotteries and whether ultimately

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