This is still a free enough country that no one actually has to vote. Perhaps it is the only freedom we have left: the freedom not to collaborate with any segment of the political class that is destroying the last vestiges of the American republic. Whether you choose to withhold your vote or to throw…

Okay, all this political blogging’s got me down. Let’s take things back to a more abstract level. Sometimes people argue that since there is no universally agreed upon moral theory (say, utilitarianism, Kantianism, divine command theory, or whatever), then we should be moral relativists. That is, if we don’t have a satisfactory second-order theory about…

At National Review Online, Steve Waldman (founder of Beliefnet) does a good job straightening out some of the recent loose talk about religious belief and politics: Let’s say a Senator A opposes the Iraq war on practical grounds. He thinks it’s a distraction from fighting al Qaeda that erodes our credibility overseas. He votes no…

I’ve been looking for a reason to back John Kerry. Really I have. I mean, President Bush has lost any goodwill I might have had for him by racking up huge deficits, playing fast and loose with civil liberties, and starting a “war of prevention,” for which the justification has proven to be shaky to…

Political analysis is not our forte here at VI. Much preferred are the unfettered speculations of philosophy and theology. Nevertheless, we’re being bombarded by 24/7 coverage of the Democrats’ convention, so one’s thoughts naturally turn to politics. Now, it occurs to me that something strange is happening. Large swaths of the “anti-war” movement, broadly speaking,…

Items of interest from around the web: George Will asks: Why all the acrimony between the parties? Blame the intellectuals! From the London Spectator: Dealing With Animal Rights Extremism Alexander Cockburn on “Candidate Kerry”: “Kerry offers himself up mainly as a more competent manager of the Bush agenda, a steadier hand on the helm of…

From Reason‘s Brian Doherty: I have in other contexts floated reasons why limited-government devotees might consider cheering a Kerry victory over Bush. But it strikes me that I have some more rationally selfish reasons as well, ones that will more directly affect my day-to-day life, to have a slight preference for a Kerry victory over Bush in…

(For Part I go here.)   “Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is…

David Brooks: Over the last few days I have spoken to Democrats who are firmly convinced [Kerry] is a hawkish free-trading fiscal conservative who believes that life begins at conception, that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that the U.S. should bulk up its forces in Iraq. I’ve also spoken to other Democrats…

Now, I’m not much for red-baiting, but I do find it amusing that John Kerry appears to have been endorsed by the Communist Party USA: Kerry reflects a liberal agenda, his campaign represents a moderate-progressive coalition. He is not left. He is the vehicle by which George W. Bush, representing the most extreme reaction, can be…