We’re now posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the seventeenth: C. S. Lewis said forthrightly: “A Christian society would be what we now call Leftist.” If we were to imagine, he asks us, a real Christian society, we would see that “its economic life was very socialistic.” Audio versions of […]
Christian Socialism and C. S. Lewis [Open College transcript] Read More »
From 1884: “Time is a great logician, and succeeding generations will either press steadily on to the system that is the perfection of force, Socialism, or to the perfection of liberty, complete Individualism. If men believe that they may rightly use force to gain any of their objects, they will claim in their supposed interest
Polarization — insight from Auberon Herbert Read More »
“I devoutly believe,” the philosopher William James said, “in the gradual advent of some sort of socialistic equilibrium.” What does that require of us as citizens? That we feel “conscious of our work as an obligatory service to the state. We should be owned, as soldiers are by the army …” [emphasis in the original].
Wm. James on socialism and slavery Read More »
A new episode of my podcast series, produced by Possibly Correct out of Toronto. Audio: iTunes Stitcher YouTube Topics: Should Christians be socialists, and was C.S. Lewis a socialist? // Mere Christianity‘s themes // Liberal-libertarian principles — free-market economics and property rights, competence to run your own life, self-responsibility, self-respect and dignity for all, universalism
Christian Socialism and C. S. Lewis [Open College series] Read More »
With SFL host Elizabeth Hayes, I discuss socialism’s history, ethics, politics, and economics. The discussion was sponsored by Students for Liberty and The Atlas Society.
Socialism: Impractical and Immoral? Webinar video Read More »
Some data for my class discussions of wealth and poverty: Source.
Famine by social system, 20th century chart Read More »
When Nazi Germany and fascist Italy were defeated, the great historical question was: Will liberalism or socialism prevail in the world? The ensuing mix of cold and hot wars and ideological battles reached their climax in our generation — with the fallout from the Soviet Union’s collapse, the enduring sadness of Cuba, the ongoing mess
Our generation’s question: Liberalism or Fascism or Socialism? Read More »
Yet another reason to despise the Russian experiment in socialism. After the communist revolution, the great composer Sergei Rachmaninoff went into exile, losing his home and other property to the Soviets — along with his publisher and his status in Russia as leading musician of his generation. Starting over in the West was a challenge,
How Rachmaninoff’s composing was hurt by the Soviet Union Read More »