Oasis of Sanity

“It is not possible to preserve for long an oasis of sanity in a desert of unreason by mere fences.” – J.R.R.Tolkien

Anointed Decision-making

“In their zeal for particular kinds of decisions to be made, those with the vision of the anointed seldom consider the nature of the process by which decisions are made. Often what they propose amounts to third-party decision making by people who pay no cost for being...

Universal Design

“There’s even a religious aspect to detailed examination of the outdoors. The universe, on close inspection, seems hardly to have been an accident. Or, if it is an accident, it’s certainly a complexly ordered one—as if you dropped mushrooms, ham, truffles, raw eggs,...

Political Famine

“When a thing defies physical law, there’s usually politics involved. Drought, floods, crop failures, and insect pests have played a part in some modern famines, but none of these famines was caused by nature. The Chinese famine of 1958-61, the worst famine in...

Modernity

“Modernity’s highest ideal—its special understanding of personal autonomy—requires us to place our trust in an original absence underlying all of reality, a fertile void in which all things are possible, from which arises no impediment to our wills, and before which...

Legitimate States

“A state that does not aim to protect innocent life from lethal violence should be considered illegitimate.” – Anderson/DeSanctis