virtue

March 28, 2014

Ashoka the Great in the History of Liberty

Today at Ethika Politika, I review The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd: Finding Christ on the Buddha’s Path by Addison Hodges Hart: Addison Hodges Hart, a retired pastor and university chaplain, offers in The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd a wonderful exercise in comparative religion, examining the common ground that can be found in spiritual practice between Christianity and Buddhism. Continue Reading...

March 11, 2014

Calvin Coolidge Jr.’s Powerful Poem on Success

In reading Amity Shlaes’ marvelous biography of Calvin Coolidge, I was struck by a brief poem written by Coolidge’s son, Calvin Jr., during his father’s stint as vice president to Warren Harding. Continue Reading...

March 04, 2014

McConaughey Oscar Acceptance Begs a Question

By now even many people who didn’t watch the Oscars have seen or heard Matthew McConaughey’s acceptance speech for Best Actor. The Texas actor thanked God for all the opportunities in his life, thanked God some more (cut to Academy members squirming in their seats), and then he told a story about when he was a teenager and was asked who his hero was. Continue Reading...

February 28, 2014

‘As Long As I’m A Good Person’

“It doesn’t matter what I believe…as long as I’m a good person.” How many times have you heard that? As our society trends more and more to the secular, this type of thing becomes more common. Continue Reading...

February 24, 2014

Justice Scalia: Good Government Needs Religion

Speaking on February 14 at a Chicago event celebrating George Washington’s Birthday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s headline remark was his insistence that Chicago-style pizza is “not pizza.” But Scalia focused heavily on the abysmal state of civic education, which not surprisingly, includes law students as well. Continue Reading...

February 17, 2014

Why is George Washington the greatest president?

Sometimes I recoil a little when somebody declares that there can be an American president greater than George Washington. Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee declared Washington, “First in the hearts of his countrymen.” Continue Reading...

February 14, 2014

Admiral Stockdale on the Moral Requirement for Leadership

Earlier this week I reviewed Defiant, the riveting new book by Alvin Townley. Admiral James B. Stockdale (1923-2005) is a principal figure in Townley’s account about POWs in North Vietnam. Stockdale’s famous to many for being Ross Perot’s vice-presidential running mate in 1992. Continue Reading...

January 23, 2014

Calvin Coolidge on Cronyism and the Proper Role of Business

In November of 1925, President Calvin Coolidge delivered an address on the topic of the proper relationship between government and business. His audience was the New York State Chamber Commerce. One of Coolidge’s main aims of the speech was to elevate the spiritual value of business. Continue Reading...

December 27, 2013

Cowboys, Hoosiers, Hillbillies, and the Geography of Civic Virtue

Several years ago, the Catholic intellectual Joseph Bottom observed that American literature has entailed a substitution of geography for heroes in our moral vocabulary.” In other words, we don’t have many heroic types in American literature. Continue Reading...

December 18, 2013

Religious Liberty Versus Secular Tyranny

The domestic threat to religious liberty and the global slaughter of Christians around the globe is becoming harder to ignore. It certainly is now one of the most important news stories to follow for the New Year. Continue Reading...

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