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American Mind
Free Speech Demands Good Listening Skills
When debating the merits of free speech, it’s important to recognize what free speech does in addition to arguing what it is. While it should be enough to assert that freedom of speech is an essential right, it becomes necessary to add that free speech enables a diverse society to function, empowers citizens to participate in government, and lays the foundation for a marketplace of ideas.
To function effectively as public discourse, free speech demands that people take responsibility for what they say and what they hear, and this means that they are able to listen to arguments they might not like. As Pamela Paul observes in a recent essay in the New York Times, this capacity to listen to unwelcome arguments seems to be diminishing among the youth and threatens to tear the country further apart.
American Conservative
The Sins of Wokeness
Woke theology presents an alternative definition of evil.
Republican congressmen Tony Gonzales of Texas and Mike Johnson of Louisiana were both recently accused of “mansplaining.” At least in liberal circles, the term is an effective pejorative for reprimanding and delegitimizing men. Mansplaining is regularly offered by DEI bureaucrats as an example of behavior that undermines equality and efficiency in the workplace. Conservatives tend to see it as a bit of a joke.
But the ideas behind mansplaining should be taken seriously. What strikes me about it and the other sins of woke ideology is that they are largely, if not entirely, exclusive to persons based on racial, sexual, and gender categories, apart from the individual. In that sense, woke hamartiology, or doctrine of sin, presents a dramatic departure from how both traditional Christianity and American republicanism have understood the nature of evil and human responsibility.
American Greatness
The March Towards Totalitarianism Continues
The fact that the U.S. federal government should determine the strategic direction of the automotive industry and limit consumer choice should be of grave concern to every freedom-loving American.
It began with Governor Gavin Newsom in California. In September 2020, the newly elected governor issued an executive order imposing a ban on the sale of new gas and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035. In August 2022, California’s Air Resources Board enacted rules to require that 35 percent of new vehicle sales be electric or hydrogen-powered by 2026. It outlawed the sale of fossil-fueled powered combustion engines in California by 2035.
On April 8, the Biden Administration announced that the EPA is set to unveil regulations that would represent the tightest restrictions on tailpipe emissions ever introduced in the United States. “Already . . . Biden’s Investing in America agenda is powering a domestic clean energy manufacturing boom, lowering costs for American families, and creating good-paying union jobs,” the EPA stated. “As directed by the President in an executive order, the EPA is developing new standards that will build on this historic progress and support the transition to a zero-emissions transportation future, lowering costs for consumers, and protecting people and the planet.”
Daniel Greenfield
THE IMMORALITY OF IDENTITY POLITICS
Identity politics is best understood as a moral caste system. Buying into variants such as critical race theory means accepting that your actions matter less than your race, gender or sexuality. The promised liberation of identity politics imposes the collectivist understanding that nothing you do truly matters outside the constraints of your caste. Who you were born is who you are.
It’s difficult to think of a dogma that is more at odds with the philosophical worldview of the Founding Fathers or the Judeo-Christian theology of America. Identity politics violates the political and religious foundations of this country. These ideological assaults are bolstered by the conviction that personal redemption through economic strivings or repentance are conspiracies to fool people into believing that change comes through individualism rather than collectivism.
Dana Pico
Solomon Jones and his very bad timing
Solomon Jones is a columnist for The Phila-delphia Inquirer, and, according to his biography blurb at the bottom of his column, “is the author of ‘Ten Lives Ten Demands: Life and Death Stories and a Black Activistʼs Blueprint for Racial Justice.’ Listen to him weekdays from 7 to 10 a.m. on WURD 900 AM.” Amusingly enough, the amazon.com blurb for his book calls it a “manifesto,” with these demands to “rectify racial injustice.” Copyrighted in 2021, I do wonder if, given the current Democratic candidates for Mayor of Philadelphia, whether he still adheres to his demand to “Defund the police and move funds to trained social workers, mental health professionals, and conflict resolution specialists.” Even Helen Gym Flaherty no longer says that, though I would not be surprised if she didn’t move in that direction if she wins.
Unfortunately for Mr Jones, his latest column is a masterpiece of lousy timing.
