A Dozen-Plus Stimulants, Gathered for Your Edification and Inspiration
Dear Intelligent American,
Deep in December, so sang Jerry Orbach in The Fantasticks, we will want to remember those fires. They promise to make us mellow. You into being mellowed? If so, and with September now upon us, maybe enjoy them while they’re actually toasting your tootsies.
Orbach, by the way, was better known for his long-standing role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in Law & Order, where the show’s opening scene typically ended with him making a hard-boiled wisecrack (punctuated by an ensuing ching ching!). Maybe that was an homage to Sergeant Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, played over the decades by the great Jack Webb: Like Briscoe, Friday got the right to make the snappy retort or one-liner that would deflate some criminal, surprise a witness, or emphasize an irony.
Somehow the most ancient of those episodes, from 1952, appeared among suggestions on a recent YouTube search. The intriguing bait was bit: The particular episode, titled “The Big Cast” (all episodes from Dragnet’s earlier years began with “The Big . . .”), starred a youthful Lee Marvin as a serial killer. It was a terrific performance. Watch it here.
Then, when you’re done, try to remember . . . to register for the Center for Civil Society’s forthcoming “Civil Society and America at 250” conference taking place in Philadelphia on November 5-6. Get the details—just the facts ma’am, as Joe might say—and register right here.
Links Galore Straight Ahead
1. At The American Mind, fan favorite Daniel J. Mahoney reminds us of Pope John Paul II’s forgotten wisdom on the American Founding. From the article:
In so richly articulating the moral structure of freedom, John Paul II highlighted the intrinsic links between freedom, virtue, and moral truth, which is at the heart of the “inner architecture of the culture of freedom.” This moral structure of freedom provides powerful evidence that we do not inhabit “an irrational or meaningless world.” The universality of human rights makes no sense without a “human nature shared by everyone”—and by deference to a binding “moral law” that allows rights to be exercised virtuously and responsibly. While affirming a precious “common human patrimony,” John Paul II upheld the dignity of the self-governing nation and defended patriotic attachments (and the nations that are part of God’s providential design), but not rapacious nationalism. His concluding appeal to a “civilization of love” was shorn of all utopianism and sentimentality.
As Harry V. Jaffa saw so well, an older Catholic wisdom of the kind represented by John Paul II can allow Americans and other free peoples to understand and renew the moral foundations of democracy against the rampant debasement of modern freedom. Americans and Catholics alike have much to learn about the deep and sturdy roots of “the moral structure of freedom” so richly and eloquently articulated by the late great St. John Paul II.
2. At Christian History—in a special issue on “What Happened to the Apostles”—Sean McDowell examines what may be the true fate of Peter. From the article:
Is the upside-down crucifixion of Peter a reliable tradition? The earliest church father to mention it, Origen, in volume 3 of his Commentary on Genesis in the mid-third century (c. 230), makes no mention of Peter’s prolonged speech. It is uncertain whether Origen derived his story from an independent tradition or from the Acts of Peter. However, we do have evidence Roman executioners varied their crucifixion practices for their own sadistic pleasure. Either way Peter’s upside-down crucifixion is not intrinsically implausible—but evidence is inconclusive.
A definitive conclusion regarding the nature of the martyrdom of Peter becomes more difficult due to a notable dissenting view from historian Timothy David Barnes, who contended that Peter was likely burned alive, not crucified. Barnes rationalized that execution by burning harmonized better with Jesus’s prediction of Peter’s death that “when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you” (John 21:18 NIV). Victims of crucifixion were stripped naked, not dressed. On the other hand, victims of burning often were clothed in a special tunic treated with inflammable materials. Furthermore Barnes determined that “later Christians suffered martyrdom by being burned alive tied to a stake or upright post, sometimes with their arms splayed wide as if they were being crucified.”
Of the dissenting voices, this is the most convincing. The fact that victims of an execution by burning would often have their arms splayed wide is consistent with the statement in John 21:18 that Peter would stretch out his hands; and the statement that he would do so having been dressed by another is more consistent with a death by burning than with crucifixion. Barnes’s interpretation, therefore, is favorable.
3. At The Heritage Foundation, Shane McCullar travels to Iceland and gets jazzed about homeownership. From the piece:
One of the most beneficial impacts is financial. Homeownership remains one of the most consistent and accessible pathways to long-term generational wealth. To illustrate, if you were to duplicate two identical life paths—one as a renter and one as a homeowner with all other variables held equal—the homeowner would close out life with over $100,000 more in net worth. That difference could fund a child’s education, seed a retirement account, or serve as the down payment for the next generation’s first home. It’s the beginning of a legacy.
Yet for many Americans, this dream feels increasingly out of reach, and this wealth creation springboard feels soft.
What a contrast with Iceland, a country I’ve visited numerous times. In the striking beauty of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, homeownership rates exceed 80%—among the highest in the world. Across their cold, volcanic landscape and long winters, Icelanders have built a resilient, locally driven economy focused on stability, sustainability, and long-term opportunity.
A key reason for this success? Policy. The Central Bank of Iceland has acted decisively in recent years to control inflation while preserving affordability, adjusting interest rates with precision and purpose to serve everyday Icelanders not just large financial institutions.
Stop the Presses!
On Tuesday, September 16th (from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., Eastern), the Center for Civil Society will broadcast another in its series of “Givers, Doers, & Thinkers” America 250 webinars, this one on “Religious Freedom, Civil Society, and American Exceptionalism on the 250th,” in which Yours Truly will pose questions about the nexus of the Founding and the free exercise of faith to a trio of experts: historian Richard Brookhiser, Wyoming Catholic College professor Pavlos Papadopoulos, and legal scholar Garrett Snedeker. Join us as we get to the root of how foundational religious freedom was to the civil society that emerged from the Revolution. The via-Zoom webinar is absolutely free and commands your presence. Sign up right here.
Re-Start the Presses!
4. At National Review, Nathan Mayo, unlike officials from many charities, does not bemoan federal funding cuts. From the article:
The divergent reactions tend to revolve around the type of programs organizations provide, i.e., are they root cause or symptom oriented? If it’s the latter, any reduction in provision of basic needs like food or utility payments is seen as a loss.
On the contrary, the most effective charities, while acknowledging that symptoms sometimes require alleviation, keep their eye on the root causes of poverty. Causes typically stem from some combination of insufficient social networks, opportunities, skills, knowledge, and motivation.
Those approaches don’t deny structural barriers and bad breaks can be a factor. But they observe that even where they exist, personal agency is a huge part of the solution. Further, charities that focus on empowerment believe giving with no expectation of growth or contribution send the cruel message to the poor that they have nothing of value to offer.
5. At Fusion, Julia R. Cartwright reexamines Ronald Reagan’s signature environmental law. Did the Gipper gaffe? From the piece:
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1970, marked the start of modern environmental law in California. CEQA paved the way for a wave of subsequent environmental laws, establishing California as a leader and pioneer in environmental regulation across the United States. However, the environmental goals set by the CEQA, as well as the subsequent layers of laws and regulations, have far outstripped the original scope of the legislation. For example, in 1976, California’s Coastal Commission introduced the nation’s most comprehensive regulations for coastal planning. And by 2006, the state passed the Global Warming Solutions Act, which aimed for ambitious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. What started as an effort to protect California’s natural resources has evolved into one of the largest barriers to housing and infrastructure development in the nation.
Strict land-use regulations, environmental reviews, and building codes in California have made doing business increasingly expensive and less competitive. In addition to CEQA’s restrictions, California has over 400,000 regulations, making it the most expensive state to start a business. Compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) can be particularly burdensome, with Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) taking over a year to complete and costing hundreds of thousands, or even up to $1 million. The state’s construction timelines often extends from 10 to 18 months, far surpassing the national average of seven months, due to stringent permitting processes and environmental considerations.
6. At Providence Magazine, Manousha Dhiwaghar considers the inclination to believe that national security has omniscience, à la the Eye of Sauron. From the reflection:
To approach this question, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings offers a provocative lens. At the summit of Tolkien’s moral cosmology stands the Eye of Sauron; unblinking, disembodied, and fixated. It watches not to understand, but to subjugate. Tolkien, a devout Catholic and scholar of medieval and classical literature, understood symbols as carriers of metaphysical truth. The Eye of Sauron distills a particularly modern temptation: to mistake total surveillance for providence, and control for wisdom. In contrast, Christian theology posits the oculus Dei—the eye of God—not as an omnipresent tool of coercion, but as an all-seeing gaze joined to love. The eye of God illumines rather than invades; it judges without annihilating. By juxtaposing these two visions, we clarify the stakes: Will liberal democracies ground their foreign policy in a Christian moral framework that affirms universal human dignity, or will they drift toward the very domination they claim to resist?
Sauron’s eye is not merely a surveillance apparatus; it is a symbol of sovereignty stripped of incarnation and power without moral teleology. In this sense, it mirrors modern technocratic governance, which inherits divine attributes of omniscience and judgment but divests them of moral transcendence or accountability. In Christian metaphysics, as articulated by Augustine and Aquinas, evil is not a substance but a privation; a corruption of good. Sauron, in becoming pure vision, ceases to be a full person. He becomes less than whole: a will without flesh, a gaze without justice. The power he wields is not the power of truth but the manipulation of fear.
7. At The Freeman, Nicole James considers how social media spawns groupthink. From the article:
Ever noticed how your social media feed doesn’t sound like “independent thought” so much as a stadium of people chanting, “Yaasss, queen!” in matching sequins? One minute you’re scrolling idly, the next you’ve been recruited into a sect with better lighting filters and the odd ironic dog meme. All it takes is clicking on one video of a dachshund in a raincoat, and suddenly you’ve been ordained High Priest of Sausage Dogs, condemned to a lifetime of puddle-splash reels and algorithmic sermonizing. That’s the hive mind. It’s the Internet’s favorite parlor trick, turning ordinary humans into synchronized swimmers thrashing about in a soup so murky it makes the Hudson on a hot July afternoon look like Perrier.
Bees and ants nailed this millennia ago: buzzing, working in lockstep, worshipping a terrifying queen—basically the Kardashians of the insect world. But instead of honey, humanity now churns out TikTok dances, Reddit debates about whether Die Hard was a Christmas movie (it wasn’t), and Facebook is where your uncle accidentally joins a cult.
Yet this collective buzz can tip into something darker. Collaboration can harden into groupthink, flattening individuality like a raccoon on the New Jersey Turnpike.
8. At Front Porch Republic, Frank DeVito posits that good use of free time may be the difference between the ordinary and saintliness. From the piece:
To be fair, we live in a profoundly distracting world. Screens flash, speakers boom, sights and sounds constantly demand our attention. Sit down on an airplane and both your phone and the booklet in the seat pocket promise “Wi-Fi and Free Entertainment,” hundreds of your favorite shows and movies, the ability to stare at your phone for the entirety of your trip. Even someone consciously seeking virtuous habits must struggle vigorously in this life against the temptation to watch endless videos and scroll never-ending feeds.
Many people give into these cultural temptations and waste an incredible amount of time. And some of the material on which that time is wasted is downright bad. I had to avert my eyes several times from the screens of my fellow passengers, observing unwanted glimpses of rape, grisly violence and murder, demonic ritual, and more. The fact that such content is available at all—not to mention on a public plane where it assaults the eyes of many passengers, including children—is awful and should be socially unacceptable. Even if explicit scenes are not purely gratuitous and arguably have some artistic value, there is a reason certain subjects like sex and killing were labeled obscene (possibly from the Greek “ob skene” or off-stage): there are things that should never be viewed because they are bad for the soul. Yet such things are available on the screens that occupy nearly every modern pocket.
9. At The European Conservative, Itxu Díaz bemoans the decline of the Continent’s café life. From the article:
In France, there are 70% fewer nightclubs today than in the 1980s. In the United Kingdom, more than 30% of those that remained have closed in the past five years. In Italy, only half of those that existed at the end of the last century are still operating. Cafés that once brought together the intellectual and artistic elite—such as Café Comercial in Madrid, Café Griesteidl in Vienna, or the Pillar of Hercules in London—have been closing over the last quarter-century. Some iconic venues, like Venice’s Florian, face imminent closure after an 80% drop in sales following the pandemic, having endured years of what its manager calls a “slow death.”
I visited Caffè Florian, Italy’s oldest, twenty years ago. Silver trays, velvet chairs and walls, freshly roasted almonds. Pieces of European history in every corner. The price of a glass of rum was steep, yet I gladly paid it to soak in the illustrious atmosphere of a place that radiated cultural vibrancy. Back then, tacky and rude tourists coexisted with elderly gentlemen obsessed with the humanities, dressed in their best attire to enjoy Saturday drinks at the Florian, as they had for fifty years, and as their parents—or favourite artists—probably had before them.
It’s not that younger generations are socialising elsewhere, but rather that their social universe is shrinking to a point of infinite narrowness, excluding the spontaneous encounters once found in Europe’s nightlife. Studies indicate that young people now prefer to have fun at home, alone or with a small circle of close friends, limiting their interactions with others to digital spaces.
10. At American Reformer, Ben Dunson notes the Commandment, considers its premise, and wonders: Why do men steal? From the beginning of the piece:
Plagiarism is nothing new, but recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) technology have introduced new difficulties for teachers at all levels of education. What once seemed simpler—copying someone else’s words without proper acknowledgement and attribution—has become murky. AI, when used to write papers and essays, is plagiarism, but of a diffused sort. AI interfaces take bits and pieces from other authors (although they often simply make things up) and present them in a new form that is often more difficult to recognize as plagiarism. Teachers are rapidly recognizing that this new form of plagiarism is rampant, perhaps even the norm. This new reality is prompting many to go back to the time-tested method of written exams given in person. Plagiarism was once recognized as a form of theft, thus a violation of the eighth commandment. AI-style plagiarism is the same thing, though the moral reasoning on offer for many today would probably not even recognize it as such.
To appreciate the ways in which many more things (like AI plagiarism) than a simple taking of an object that belongs to another without permission are theft requires one to consider the deeper significance of the eighth commandment, which is the general approach that has been applied throughout this series on the Ten Commandments. All along, I have been referring to the Westminster Larger Catechism because it so powerfully articulates a fully-orbed understanding of the true meaning and significance of the Ten Commandments as taught by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.
11. At The American Spectator, William F. Shughart II wonders why, if we celebrate “labor” day, we can’t also celebrate a “capital” one. From the piece:
Capitalists take risks to provide the tools that combine with labor in the production process. Despite its importance, Marx did not develop a theory of capital accumulation or technological change, nor did he explain how, when state ownership of the means of production “inevitably” replaces private ownership, the existing capital stock would be maintained or how new capital would be mobilized at the end of the old capital’s useful life.
In modern America, many workers are capitalists owing to their investments in employer-sponsored or individual 401(k) pension plans. Treating the members of the two groups as distinct, monolithic, and continuously at odds with one another is a form of identity politics meant to be divisive. The hallmark of market processes—and the reason for their success in promoting progress and prosperity—is voluntary cooperation, not conflict or coercion.
12. At City Journal, Nicole Gelinas finds the calamity of Hurricane Katrina held glimpses into America’s future. From the piece:
But Katrina wasn’t an emblem of centuries of concentrated discrimination. It was something more suggestive of the nation’s future rather than its past: a preview of an era of diffused incompetence.
The simple image persists: bedraggled people, mostly black, standing waving on rooftops, sitting or lying on concrete, waiting for a government that won’t come. But the image is superficial and misleading. Most New Orleanians—black, white, and other—don’t appear in those images because they had evacuated themselves. About 80 percent of the city left ahead of the storm. The people on the rooftops looked disheveled not because America had previously kept them in a racist cauldron of neglect but because they had, in many cases, escaped the storm by breaking through their own roofs, and then spent hours or whole nights outdoors. You would look unkempt and uncared-for, too.
Lucky 13. At Commentary Magazine, Josh Appel scorns the woke Right. From the analysis:
However, the evidence suggests that the new right-wing conspiracy culture is more than just anti-institutional—it is a new adaptation of an intellectual trend that has dominated the left for two generations. That trend is “critical theory”—the study of the supposedly hidden systems of power and oppression that shape society and must be exposed before being dismantled. Critical theory has found its most salient and powerful expression in the triumph of critical race theory, which posits that America was born in original sin in 1619 and still functions as a machine to suppress black people whose presence in the United States was a crime to begin with and whose problems are the result of a centuries-long criminal conspiracy against them.
The woke right has adapted this and created what I call critical religion theory. It holds that a small elite has hijacked Western civilization and actively used its power to manipulate the world against religion. For these thinkers, the danger isn’t the policy, but that the policy reflects an anti-religious force subverting their worldview, and the world itself, behind the scenes. This movement sees power as illegitimate and influence as suspect. Those in “power”—by which they mean having wealth and success—are clearly part of a group trying to influence the masses. The tools of subversion are money, drugs, movies, devil worship (literally), and sexual blackmail. If you disagree, it’s because you are in on it, too.
Bonus. At The Spectator World, Robert Taylor sees the calendar turn to September 1 and with it comes . . . foreboding. From the beginning of the reflection:
How are you feeling about the first day of fall? If, like me, you get a distant sense of foreboding, then you might suffer from seasonal affected disorder, aptly acronymed SAD, caused by the body’s inability to produce enough serotonin. Surveys suggest up to five million of us, over in Britain, are afflicted to some degree – from people whose mood dips a bit, to those who, as the nights draw in, experience anything from anxiety, lethargy and sleeplessness to a general feeling of hopelessness. Sad indeed.
The awful thing is that SAD can kick in as early as late summer, when days start to get noticeably shorter. September 1 is particularly depressing. Those who follow the astronomical calendar might convince themselves there’s still three more weeks of summer, but we SAD sufferers think differently. For us, fall starts today, with that long slope towards Christmas, pockmarked with other nasty dates, like September 22, when we enter the darkest half of the year, followed by the darkest third a month later. You get the picture. Or, rather, by that stage, you don’t, because it’s too grey and horrible to see anything.
For the Good of the Cause
Uno. The Center for Civil Society’s important upcoming “Givers, Doers, & Thinkers” webinar—ace training (via-Zoom, and free!) for fundraising professionals—takes place on Tuesday, September 9th, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. (Eastern), and will focus on digital fundraising, especially on how to bring in grass-roots donors. Handy tips will abound for writing email copy that wins over donors, setting realistic goals and analyzing results, and much more. Are you attending? Of course you are. Find out more, and register, right here.
Department of Bad Jokes
Q: What do you call a girl who’s tired of talking about climate change?
A: Regreta Thunberg.
A Dios
Thoughts and prayers again come up for ideological mockery. It seems a thinly veiled substitute for the scorning of The Recipient of said prayers, God Himself. You know, the One Who will not be mocked. A word to the wise being sufficient, please stay out of the lightning-strike zone.
Also: Please do have thoughts and sincere prayers for Jimmy Lai.
May Divine Comfort Come for Those Needing Such,
Jack Fowler, who considers the victims, from Minnesota to Nigeria to Kiev, at jfowler@amphil.com.
