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ACTON INSTITUTE'S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION, ECONOMICS AND CULTURE

Political violence, Left and Right

The solution to Is Critical Race Theory The ‘Ecocide’ movement: political violence? un-American? a crime against humanity (Cover Photo: Left photo, A BLM/Antifa rioter in Portland in August, 2020. Photo credit: bgcrocker / Shutterstock.com; Right photo, Jake Angeli inside the U.S. Capitol. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File.)

Rev. Maciej Zięba Rev. Preserving the inheritance: inheritance: the Preserving A defense of the great books revolutionA decency of Acton Briefs Commonsense healthcare policies can solve our crisis of legitimacy The ‘Ecocide’ movement: a crime humanity against Brexit: Freedom beckons Solzhenitsyn: Prophet to America

Rev. Ben Johnson 20 22 IN THE LIBERAL TRADITION 16 02 03 13 17 18

Is Critical Race Theory The solution to Political violence, Left and Right

ESSAY 11 political violence? Rev. Ben Johnson INTERVIEW 05 un-American? Samuel Kronen and Nate Hochman COVER STORY 09 Hernandez Ismael ------

. R&L ACTON.ORG EXECUTIVE EDITOR

– specifically, focusing on solving WINTER 2021 WINTER This issue has been made possible inpossible made been has issue This As violence metastasizes across our po our across metastasizes violence As And Acton Institute President Rev. President Institute Acton And Dustin Siggins outlines commonsense outlines Siggins Dustin Samuel Kronen and Nate Hochman and Samuel Kronen Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute J. Smith of the Discovery Wesley I focus on a few of the programs de focus on I Ismael Hernandez observes that the Hernandez Ismael Politics divides; commerce and goodwill commerce and Politics divides;

1 Jeffrey andCynthia Littmann. Jeffrey and Cynthia Littmann are champions of con and the good stewardship ofservation God. our natural resources as a gift from figure can command our ultimate loyalty. command figure can part thanks to a generous donation from litical spectrum, it has never been more im more been never has it spectrum, litical perative for us to commit ourselves to prin ciples, not princes, affirming that no earthly larization lies in a Bible verse that East that verse Bible a in lies larization Sunday: every sing Christians Orthodox ern of in a sons princes, your trust in “Put not salvation.” whom there is no in men, previews the UK’s future outside the EU. to our po Robert Sirico argues the answer Theory, critiqued” by Noah Warren KelleyTheory, critiqued” by Noah Warren the Fall 2020 issue of in healthcare reforms. Rev. Richard Turnbull survey Critical Race Theory. Their article “Criticalto supplement excellent an makes portrait of the latest strategy to degradelatest portrait of the human exceptionalism, property rights, and nature investing development: economic with legal “rights.” door for our nation to begin healing. compelling and well-researched a presents solutions drawing note, problems together,” I national attention to exciting psychological research the open and decrease polarization that can signed to end our cycle of recriminations.of cycle our end to signed is solution the researchers, to “According circles,” it becomes difficult to “oppose vi “oppose to difficult becomes it circles,” the ‘op against by the ‘oppressed’ olence accused ofpressive’ system without being the oppressors.” abetting citizens.” He writes, “With such theories He writes, “With citizens.” cultur academic, in wildfire like spreading judicialal, political, legal, theological, and tive of black Americans as they collectivelytive of black Americans reflected on the American experience; this the radi applying view is derived from of America to blackcal, socialist analysis have swept the nation. ourof much driving ideology underlying perspec the from drawn not “is division unite. That truth has been driven home driven been unite. That truth has motivated violenceas waves of politically EDITOR’S NOTE EDITOR’S BenRev. Johnson Acton Institute ranks as a Religion adds billions to the Paying all employees the same global think tank leader in economy, study finds salary caused therapists trauma 2020 report Joseph Sunde Rev. Ben Johnson Rev. Ben Johnson ACTON INSTITUTE ACTON INSTITUTE ACTON INSTITUTE As church attendance and religious A psychotherapy practice’s year-long The Acton Institute is not only one of affiliation continue to decline across the experiment with paying every employee an the world’s most influential thought lead- West, many have lamented the spiritual equal salary has disproved the central eco- ers but, according to a new report, our and social side effects, including a weak- nomic thesis of socialism. annual Acton University ranks as the best ening of civil society and the fragmenta- Calvin Benton co-founded Spill, a Brit- conference globally of any presented by tion of community life. But the economic ish firm that offers psychological coun- think tanks which consistently support a impact of such a shift is less discussed. seling via online platforms like Zoom. As free economy. In a new report, The Hidden Economy: Benton and his four co-workers got Spill The University of Pennsylvania’s How Faith Helps Fuel Canada’s GDP, research- off the ground, they opted to take part in a “2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index ers Brian and Melissa Grimm estimate the revolutionary trial: Each one of them would Report” feted Acton with awards in five socioeconomic value of faith and religion to receive the same annual pay of £36,000 separate categories. society. The report, which is published by (approximately $49,240 U.S.). At first, In “Top Social Policy Think Tanks,” the Cardus and focuses on Canada, concludes “there were five people, and everyone was category Acton values most dearly, the re- that religious activity contributes an esti- pretty much contributing the same,” Ben- port rated the Acton Institute among the mated $67.5 billion to the larger economy, ton told the BBC. world’s elite institutions. In 2020, the Ac- making religion “the country’s ninth-larg- The initial returns were promising. Even ton Institute ranked fifth among organi- est enterprise, just behind TC Energy and as the 2020 pandemic closed thousands of zations that defend the free economy, or ahead of Bank of Montreal.” small shops, Benton’s business boomed. 18th globally – behind the Heritage Foun- Drawing from a diverse mix of prior re- COVID-19 demanded remote work, which dation and the American Enterprise Insti- search, the authors stitch together a range of caused burnout among some employees. tute but ahead of the Manhattan Institute. contributions from religious organizations and For others, the lockdown orders them- Acton finished first among mar- institutions, leading to three distinct estimates. selves created unbearable stress. ket-oriented think tanks for “Best Estimate 1: Revenues of faith-based Spill’s cup runneth over. Soon, it had to Think Tank Conference” and in the top organizations ($30.9 billion). The most add more staff. That’s when things began 25 globally, ahead of the Council on For- conservative estimate includes only the to fall apart. eign Relations. revenues of faith-based educational insti- The young startup had a hard time The report ranked the Acton Institute tutions, healthcare providers, congrega- retaining staff members whose expertise ninth in the world for “Best Advocacy tions, media, and charities. yielded greater productivity (like soft- Campaign” – third among free-market Estimate 2: Adding the “halo effect” ware developers, who make far more than think tanks. of congregational social services ($67.5 £36,000 annually in London). On the Despite competing with think tanks billion). The “more reasonable estimate” other hand, it received a glut of applica- of much greater size, and funding, the includes “the broader impact of faith-based tions for clerical positions (which pay an Acton Institute rated in the top third of charity work beyond its direct finances, the average of £10.71 an hour, or £22,276 all “Top U.S. Think Tanks” in 2020 and economic activities of faith-related food annually). Salespeople also wanted a more seventh out of groups that defend free businesses, and the economic value of con- traditional commission based on the per- enterprise. gregation-based substance-abuse recovery centage of their sales, which rewards their Top free-market think tanks outside support groups.” This comes to $36.6 bil- efforts and ingenuity. the United States include the Fraser In- lion – which, when added with estimate 1, “We started to have some people who stitute (Canada, 14), Transparency Inter- totals $67.5 billion. contributed more than others,” said Ben- national (Germany, 53), the Adam Smith Estimate 3: Revenues of religiously ton. “The question started to arise: Should Institute (UK, 56), and the Institute of Eco- affiliated Canadians ($689.5 billion). The this person be paid the same amount as nomic Affairs (UK, 66). authors are quick to emphasize that this is me? That caused a conflict in the team and The U.S. has more think tanks than any not a “preferred estimate,” but they recog- a conversation in the team about whether other single country, with 2,203 – near- nize that “people of faith conduct their af- this experiment was right to continue.” ly as many as all of Europe (2,932). China fairs to some extent (however imperfectly) After a year, Calvin’s staff revolted, ranks second with 1,413. inspired and guided by their faith ideals.” and he instituted a more typical pay scale The report reflects the Acton Institute’s “The data are clear,” the authors con- based on value creation and seniority. growing recognition as the world’s pre- clude. “Religion is a highly significant sec- Ultimately, Benton and his colleagues mier think tank addressing the relation- tor of Canada’s economy. Religion provides verified a well-known fact of human na- ship between markets and morality within purpose-driven institutional and economic ture: People reject socialism, because it is an ecumenical religious context. Your kind contributions to health, education, social inherently unfair. donation helps us improve our impact and cohesion, social services, media, food, and efficacy this year and in the years to come. business itself.”

2 (Photo credit: Phil Pasquini / Shutterstock.com)

------veryday that the partisan rancor presiden over the 2020 tial election drags on, poses it a challenge to our nation’s Aswell-being. the candidates and pundits escalate their Unfortunately, our elected leaders’ legislative agenda thus far What are a few simple, nonpartisan healthcare policies that One lesson learned pandemic from is that doc the COVID-19 Last states spring, 18 and the District Columbia of implement FEATURE federalauthority, but the underlying idea was stepa inthe right direction.Rather than waiting on the vice president and the fed eralbureaucracy to act, Congress could and– should take– the initiativeon this issue. Legislators should look bestat practices and additional needs that remote healthcare providers have iden tified. Then, they should do everything in their power to remove regulatory burdens from telemedicine and make as it accessible as possible. By doing this, lawmakers would improve many people’s electionthreatens it year, to become the year more voters than ever become disappointed in their elected representatives and disenchanted with the political process. hasnot focused onthe issues that voters named as their top con cernsthis election: essentials healthcare like and the economy. If lawmakers fail to help our citizens improve their families’ lot in theylife, risk erasing the remaining shreds trust of voters place them. in Congress couldaccomplish to getpeople betterand cheaper ac cess to healthcare? tors need to be able to provide some careremotely, taking ad vantage video of communications to help patients who cannot or should not show up in crowded hospitals and doctors’ offices. Some of these patients will continue to benefit after from the pandemic subsides. will It telehealth save rural families long trips to theirhealthcare provider and helpstruggling, working families save valuable time on visits to a healthcare facility. ed some sort of emergency policy to expand access to telemed icine, states and 23 along with made D.C. easier it for doctors to provide remote care from outside the state. An announcement by President then-Vice Pence Mike that the Department Health of and Human Services would allow doctors all to practice telehealth across state lines caused confusion and raised questions about Commonsense healthcare policies crisis our can solve of legitimacy Dustin Siggins rhetoric,more Americans lose faith inour political process. Many getangry. Others check is not an out though entirely. Even 2021 E

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3 lives and demonstrate that they’re putting The agency approved an unprecedented their constituents first, even in divisive number of generic drugs and made more and uncertain times. drugs available over the counter under the Another area where Congress out- Trump administration. This is a great sign. sourced its job to the executive branch is The FDA has reported that having just two drug price reform – and in this case, the generic drugs compete against one anoth- result may cause actual damage, not just er reduces prices by more than half, and confusion. In September, President Donald having six competitors leads to a massive Trump signed an executive order impos- 95% drop in prices. Congress should see ing the “most favored nations” drug price what it can do on its end to expand access control scheme, stating that Medicare will to medications even further. not pay any more for medications than Ultimately, the biggest healthcare fight they cost in other developed countries. in Congress will concern the Affordable While a court later enjoined it, President Care Act and the private insurance indus- Joe Biden also supports price controls. try. But instead of expanding costly gov- This sounds good in theory, given that ernment programs, lawmakers could help the United States spends twice the aver- empower a care option that allows people age among OECD nations on prescription to bypass private insurers entirely. Direct medications. It might also please voters primary care is not insurance; it’s a sys- who are angry at unscrupulous pharma- tem where a patient pays a doctor a fixed ceutical companies. However, there is monthly fee for a defined set of services. good reason to expect that this policy will DPC has enormous potential: A study do more harm than good. by the Society of Actuaries found that DPC Supporters of price controls often point patients schedule appointments quicker, out other countries where drug prices are spend less time in the waiting room, and lower. In reality, America’s free-market have more face-to-face time with their system enables other countries to get away doctors than non-DPC patients. Best of with price controls in the first place. Those all, these improvements did not increase countries effectively transfer the costs of the burden on our healthcare system. The research, development, and testing new study showed that DPC patients went to drugs to the United States – something the emergency room 40% less often and that is not good for us or them in the long used 12% less care overall. Regrettably, run. The health research society ISPOR an Internal Revenue Service rule intend- reports that price controls slow down the ed to help DPC users deduct their fees as development of new drugs by removing medical care ended up treating DPC as in- the profit incentive for drug developers. surance – which could lead to the same Additionally, the American Consumer In- red-tape issues that plague the health in- stitute reports that patients in price-con- surance industry. Lawmakers should recti- trolling countries can only access about fy this and do all they can to protect DPC half of the medications that Americans as an affordable, innovative alternative to can. Losing our advantages in innovation traditional insurance. and access would be doing a disservice to In the next four years, there will be patients in our country. plenty of bitter fights and partisan stand- Instead of waiting to see if price con- offs in Congress, especially over health- trols will work, Congress should tackle the care. But before they take on Obamacare, real cause of high drug prices: excessive the insurance industry, and other intrac- Food and Drug Administration regulations. table issues, our legislators can do a few A recent report by the President’s Council simple things that demonstrably improve of Economic Advisors outlined several po- their constituents’ lives – and convince tential solutions. Legislators should take the American people that Congress is still care to avoid compromising the safety of responsive to their needs. the testing process – but the FDA’s re- quirements add an average of 16 months Dustin Siggins is CEO of Proven Media Solu- to the years of clinical trials that new med- tions. A practicing Catholic, he was previ- ications already undergo. Congress needs ously a political journalist covering the fed- to identify ways to streamline this process. eral budget, abortion, and other issues on That’s not to say that the FDA has and off Capitol Hill. R & L done nothing to address the problem.

4 (Photo credit: John Rudoff/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images) - - editorial. But critical race theory’s Seattle Times Therecent executive order’s thetermuse of “anti-American” The problem is that the attempts Wallace by and his coun ceptive.Its ideologyis, infact, every asbit radical asthe Trump administrationhad argued. is It intension with the fundamental tenets American of constitutional democracy. was met with predictable outrage. “Want to readthe fight headlinea of racism? That book,” makesyou ‘un-American’ inTrump’s widelycirculated foremostproponents have, intheir own words, said as much. untrained eye, then, the idea “racial of sensitivity training” is entirely reasonable. terparts in the media to describe the program, which is based in critical theory, as a benigndiversity training were profoundly de

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so radical about it,indeed? MostAmericans deplore is hen President Trump signedexecutivehen anPresident order Trump banning Critical Race Theory from being taught in the federal bureaucracy,provoked it an outraged response fromthe

This month, your administration directed federal

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white privilege orcritical race theory.Why did you decide to do that, to end racial sensitivity training? ... What is radical about racial sensitivity training? What agencies to end racial sensitivity training that addresses The media reported his objections as yet another example

INTERVIEW W 5 racism, believe in the fundamental human equality upon which ourrepublic was founded, and see racial diversity as an unob jectionable phenomenon – indeed, as an unalloyed the good. To ies – asked President Trump: of the of White House’sreactionary chauvinism. This controversy, and the media’s mishandling of it, came to a head presidential debate, when at Chris Wallace – echoing the talking the first points progressive of activists and Democratic Party functionar and that racial and sexualidentitiesmoreimportantracialandarethat and our than common status as human beings and Americans.” un-American propaganda,” a harmful viewpropagated jaun a by un-Americanpropaganda,” diced “ideology ... rooted in the pernicious and false belief that America is an irredeemably racist and sexist country; that some people simply on account of their race or sex, are oppressors; the Septemberban, 22 wasCRT regularly, and dishonestly, de scribed as “diversity” or “racial sensitivity” training. Then-Presi dent Donald strongly Trump denounced the ideology as “divisive, ideology’s defenders in academia and the mainstreampress. In followed segments articles,news flurrythat and editorials, of the Samuel Kronen and Nate Hochman un-American? Is Critical Race CriticalIs Race Theory studies, CRT emerged as a response to the persistence of racial gaps between whites and blacks as measured against the appar- ent decline of overt racism since the 1960s. To account for this asymmetry, CRT developed a “structur- al” analysis of racial inequality that attempts to account for the less obvious ways that racism takes place in American society – implicit racial biases in our institutions, the intergeneration- al socioeconomic impacts of past racism, the exclusion of blacks from important social networks that yield upward mobility, and the cultural and psychological damage of historical stigmas and stereotypes. Critical race theory argues that, by eliminating the lingering effects of racism, we can create a society in which race does not predict or determine one’s outcomes in life. Its core claims are that racism, whether overt or systemic, lies at the root of all racial disparities; that race and racism shape our political and personal lives; and that the dominant group in soci- ety – in this case whites – have a hidden psychological, political, and economic investment in maintaining their privilege at the expense of minorities. Some other principles include intersection- ality, the idea that human beings are composed of a multitude of intersecting group identities, some of which are considered victims and others oppressors; standpoint epistemology, the no- tion that our racial identity informs our worldview in ways that are less accessible to those of other backgrounds; and differential racialization, the attempt to grapple with the different ways that a group has been “racialized” at different times in history to the benefit of the majority culture. In essence, critical race theorists look at two indisputable facts – that the United States of America was historically racist and that racial gaps between whites and blacks persist – and then seek to unearth the connection between these two realities by deconstructing the complex interplay between privilege, iden- tity, and structural oppression. The question is not whether these facts are related, but how they are related. Although the specific tenets of CRT are rarely discussed in depth outside the gilded halls of academia, its underlying framework has come to shape virtually all conversations around race issues in our institutions over the past few decades. It has even begun to seep into high school classrooms in the form of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which explicitly sets out to “re- frame the country’s history by placing the consequences of slav- ery and the contributions of black Americans at the center of our national narrative.” At first glance, the claims of CRT are not necessarily unrea- sonable, and many of them are so obvious as to be banal. For example, historical racism clearly plays some role in some of the In Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, Richard Delgado and Jean racial outcome gaps that we see in America today. Moreover, the Stefancic write, “Unlike traditional civil rights discourse, which principle of color blindness, and civil rights traditionalism more stresses incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race broadly, can sometimes neglect the less overt forms that racial theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order; in- bias takes in our culture. It should also go without saying that, at cluding equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rational- the very least, being black makes a person more likely on average ism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.” to better understand the specific impacts of anti-black racism. Critical race theory is a legal theory and academic discipline But the question is, how do we get from here to, say, the concerned with the relationship between race, law, and power. It mind-reading polemics of bestselling author Robin DiAngelo and was developed in the 1970s as both a continuation of and a cor- her Kafkaesque book, White Fragility, which views the denial of rection to the social and political gains of the civil rights move- racism as evidence of racism and argues that “white identity is ment. Spearheaded by a group of scholars and activists such as inherently racist”? Or this past summer’s “racial reckoning,” which American lawyers Kimberlée Crenshaw and Derek Bell, and draw- saw “mostly peaceful” rioting and looting across the country in ing from disciplines including radical feminism and critical legal response to inflated claims of racism in policing? Or the wide-

6 spread belief among younger progressives that America is so ir- Further, he argues that all cultures are equal and cultural redeemably racist and evil that we would be better off scrapping differences cannot explain why a given group achieves more on the Constitution, getting rid of the flag, and changing the name average than another. “To be an anti-racist is to reject cultural of the country to reflect greater diversity and inclusion? standards and level cultural differences,” he writes. The logical It’s not just idealistic young activists who feel this way. The conclusion is that being a moral, anti-racist person means rid- assertion that racism is a fundamental feature of every institu- ding society of any standard or metric that perpetuates racial in- tion or social arrangement in this country – and as a result we equity, such as standardized testing, which Kendi admonishes as “should work toward abolishing the Constitution ... either for “one of the most effective racist policies ever devised to degrade a new document or a new democratic order,” as the prominent black minds and legally exclude black bodies.” Likewise, Kendi progressive writer Osita Nwanevu wrote in a recent essay for proposes instituting an anti-racist amendment to the Consti- The New Republic – has bled into mainstream commentary on tution and employing a Department of Anti-Racism armed with the Left. “disciplinary tools to wield over and against policymakers and These excesses are not tangential to critical theory but stem public officials who do not voluntarily change their racist policy directly from its analysis. For one, CRT scholarship presumes a and ideas.” direct causal relationship between historical racism and present Among the problems with Kendi’s approach, beyond its sheer inequalities, allowing a form of historical determinism to distort absurdity, is that guaranteeing equal outcomes between dif- the demands of the present by looking at them through the lens ferent groups is in conflict with America’s constitutional order of the past. Similarly, the presumption that racial outcome gaps and with liberalism itself. By striving for equality of result in the are necessarily evidence of racism – as opposed to a result of the name of group rights, we ultimately sacrifice equality of process complex tangle of demographic, cultural, geographical, histori- and individual rights. As the renowned economist Thomas Sowell cal, and socioeconomic forces – fosters interracial strife, foments unpacks in his classic book The Quest For Cosmic Justice, there is an ethnic tribalism, and promotes a dynamic of majority guilt and unavoidable tension between the urge to “mitigate the unde- minority victimology. Moreover, the obsession with unearned served misfortunes arising from the cosmos” preventing perfect and identity-based advantages erases an important category equality between groups, and traditional notions of justice that distinction between rights and privileges, between what we owe compel individuals to abide by the same set of social, political, to each other as citizens and what our own group deserves in and economic standards. relation to other groups. The question is not why there are still racial disparities be- More fundamentally, the conceptual expansion of the term tween whites and blacks half a century after the civil rights “racism” that CRT scholarship has facilitated – from an inter- movement but why we still presume there is a causal relation- personal behavior to a structural or systemic force, from overt to ship between the amount of racism in society and the extent of implicit, discrimination to disparity, political to personal, past to racial disparities – as though disparities between groups have present – collapses our sense of time and proportion. This is how not been the norm in every multi-ethnic society we know of, we get to the point where progressive activists and scholars can regardless of whatever level of discrimination may have exist- genuinely believe that racism is worse now than it was before the ed. Indeed, virtually no two ethnic groups in history have ever civil rights movement. achieved equal outcomes on all metrics, anywhere, ever. Rac- Finally, and most perniciously, sterile and reactionary categories ism, racial inequality, and historical racism, although reflexively of race are injected with a whole new social, moral, and political equated in public discourse with “structural racism,” are entirely meaning in the name of identifying and fighting racism, ultimately different things. committing to the same ethical blunder as white supremacists of CRT holds that the United States is a fundamentally racist the pre-civil rights era: the use of race as a means to power or ab- country to its core and across time, in ways that are historically solution. These are not bugs but features of critical theory. and morally unique. But there is plenty of reason to doubt this Maybe the best example of illiberal ideas gaining momentum story. For starters, any measure of how racist America is must on the mainstream Left is with the rise of historian and author account for the sheer size of its population and its unique cultural Ibram X. Kendi. In his 2019 memoir How to Be an Anti-Racist, Ken- and ethnic diversity, which comes with challenges that smaller di argues there is no such thing as not being racist; there are and more homogenous countries are less likely to face. If the only anti-racists and racists. Under this binary, racist policies country were as racist as progressives imagine, then we might and ideas generate racial disparities, and anti-racist policies and expect white Americans to predominate every sphere of soci- ideas generate equal outcomes between groups. Kendi writes: ety, but that’s not the case. Contrary to the popular concept of One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a white privilege, Asian-Americans outearn, outlearn, and outlive racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist. whites by a wide margin. White Americans’ average income has There is no in-between safe space of “not racist.” The been eclipsed by about a dozen nonwhite ethnic groups, includ- claim of “not racist” neutrality is a mask for racism. ing Indian Americans (who top the list), Taiwanese Americans, Discrimination itself is not racist in Kendi’s view but a neces- Filipino Americans, and Chinese Americans. Moreover, despite sary means of ensuring racial equity: the alleged intractability of anti-black bias in American culture, The only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist a number of black immigrant groups achieve remarkable success discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is here: Ghanian Americans make more than the national average present discrimination. The only remedy to present dis- income, while Nigerian Americans are one of the most educated crimination is future discrimination. ethnic groups in the country.

7 WINTER 2021 ACTON.ORG We also might expect in an allegedly white supremacist soci- are little more than racial chauvinism. “Some of the nation’s ety that whites would cling to their majority status to keep hold proudest patriots have also been the nation’s most virulent of power, but the opposite has occurred: Due to high rates of racists,” Kendi writes. “The organizing principle of the Ku Klux immigration and intermarriage, whites are on track to become a Klan has always been allegiance to the red, white and blue minority in the next few decades, as we see the rise of a mixed flag.” It follows, then, that patriotism “whitewashes history,” ethnic majority. Whites also make up the majority of those who glossing over the less savory aspects of our past in order to live in poverty, largely because of their higher representation in present a facade of faultlessness. the population, and harbor the highest suicide rate of any other But if American patriotism – expressed through an attach- group except for American Indians. Hispanics are on track to have ment to the flag, the national anthem, or other patriotic tra- the same average income as whites. ditions – is marred by an ignorance of history, critical theory Finally, if any doubts remain about Americans’ commitment embodies the same fault to a greater magnitude. The historical to stamp out racism, the fact that virtually every mainstream illiteracy of prominent endeavors like the 1619 Project has been institution and major corporation came out in explicit support well-documented, and the New York Times’ persistent unwilling- of the Black Lives Matter movement – in the middle of a global ness to acknowledge the qualms of fact-checkers who criticized pandemic no less – should put them to rest. its inaccuracies is an example of the ideologically tainted histor- The massive leap in public acceptance of racial intermarriage ical understanding that characterizes CRT’s worldview. Further- in America – from 5% in 1958 to 87% in 2013 – speaks for itself. more, the frenzied toppling of statues and monuments – includ- Furthermore, America’s system of slavery, although brutal, was ing those of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and a number by no means a novelty in the broader scope of human histo- of prominent abolitionists – is a testament to the radically ry: Slavery has been practiced in almost every major civilization anti-historical tendency in the larger ideology. throughout history. America’s genius does not lie in its ability to conform to an Ultimately, the question is not insular class of disgruntled intellec- whether America has ever expressed tuals’ unobtainable standard of jus- racism but whether present-day tice or equality; rather, it is in our America is racist relative to oth- Virtually no two ethnic groups ability to be a good, noble, and just er places, to its own history, and to nation, founded on noble and just basic moral standards. On that front, in history have ever achieved ideals, striving continuously to fur- we’re doing exceptionally well. ther embody our founding princi- Taken in historical context, mod- equal outcomes on all ples while recognizing that the con- ern America’s commitment to reme- straints of history and human nature dying the racial injustices of its past is metrics, anywhere, ever. make them impossible to realize actually quite staggering: Beginning perfectly. The fact that we have not in the 1960s, for example, trillions of entirely eradicated the racism and dollars were spent on President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, injustice that have always been features of human civilization explicitly intended to eliminate “poverty and racial injustice.” In- is not an argument against the significant achievements of the deed, one could make a compelling argument that America is a American experiment. structurally anti-racist society. American citizens should take reasonable criticisms of Ameri- In the face of CRT’s growing influence, the challenge for de- ca’s present into account, acknowledging the ways in which racial fenders of the American tradition and the principles of our found- injustice persists today and seeking to teach our history honestly, ing is to distinguish its useful insights from its radical ideological without sacrificing proper context which compares U.S. history claims. When examined in global and historical contexts, there is to other nations’ actions in the same era. While the Trump ad- no contradiction between the belief that America is a fundamen- ministration’s impulse to confront the insidious influence of CRT tally good nation and the fact that our history – and even aspects in our institutions may have laudable goals and intentions, the of our present – possess serious flaws and injustices. former president’s inability to articulate nuances deserves cri- To love America is not to deny its flaws nor the dark periods tique. Those who would defend our national character against its of its past. Rather, it is to recognize America’s greatness despite critics are not well served by giving credence to the accusation them, understanding that perfection is no standard against which that they “whitewash history.” Acknowledging that we still have to measure human societies. Patriotic gratitude derives from a work to do in the never-ending quest for a more perfect union recognition of the fundamental brokenness of human nature, should not negate our deep gratitude for the unlikely miracle that understanding that the violent injustices for which CRT attacks is America. America are universal features of the human condition, present in all places and all times. Our capacity to collectively transcend the Samuel Kronen is an independent writer interested in American cul- nasty, brutish, and short lives that people experienced for most ture, identity, and race politics. Nate Hochman is a senior at Colorado of the human race’s existence – despite our enormous ethnic, College and an associate contributor for Young Voices. R & L religious, and cultural diversity – is reason enough to believe that this remains the last, best hope of men on Earth. Ideologues like Kendi have no use for these nuances. In their view, conventional expressions of American patriotism

8 (Left photo, A BLM/Antifa rioter in Portland in August, 2020. Photo credit: bgcrocker / Shutterstock.com; Right photo, Jake Angeli inside the U.S. Capitol. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File.)

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calls “terrifyinga neg Live Thisnarrative isnot drawn from the Worse yet, this view’s proponents Rod Dreher’s perience; this view is derived from apply ing the radical, socialist analysis Amer of blackicato citizens. Theblack experience is filtered through the radical beliefs that Americanideals were from a lie the be ginning and that the institutional frame workupon which America was built is illegitimate, intrinsically racist, and ir reformable; thus, must it be rejected. These ideas are not a mere emotional reactionto recentelectoral eventsbut a systematic analysis pervasive among the elite which has filtered down to the masses, thereby forming what political philosopherHannah Arendt’s Totalitarianism of ative Solidarity solidarity.” forms around a narrative victimization, of which feeds authenticanon historical experience that is totalized.This totalization creates a closed system thought,of which indicts the body politic as a whole inthe name groupof cohesion. Love for the group demands the acceptance the of narrative frame condemnsand the constitutional work that sustains an entire society in vested in racism. (For an examination of the totalitarianimpulse ingeneral, see of the country.” The 1619 Project’s theof The narra country.” 1619 tive callsfor the dismissal the of Amer ican constitutional system – not merely its reform but a radical rejection the of entire political, social, and economic structure American of life. perspectiveblack of Americans as they collectively reflectedAmerican the ex on Christian Dissidents. have fashioned a public school curriculum Project,around the and 1619 any criticism the of projectis counteredaccusations by of racial animosity. The filtering of general question race of through the a rad ical explanatory system is conflated with ------. The book defends

Osterweil’s book is not anisolated Notice how the author leverages a gen Take, Take, for example, self-described through [b]lack oppression,through through [b]lack the history slavery of and settler domination rioters, the however, offenders are not cel ebrated but castigated for rebelling against the same constitutional seems It order. as if thepolitical and ideological aims are what is important, and “the system” is instru mentalized on account that of aim. example. The idea that America is racist,temically the and constitution sys al order is oppressive and invalid, is the veryfoundation Critical of Race Theory. ProjectThe Pulitzer 1619 Prize-winning asserts that “the very basis property of in the U.S. is derived through whiteness and ticket, they have to work for a boss, in order to buy things that people just like had world the in somewhere else them Os to make under the same conditions,” terweil told NPR. “It points to the way in which that’s Robbery, unjust.” the book claims, harms only the oppressive sys temfree of enterprise and the oppressive concept “law of and order” that perpetu atesthe status quo. eralizedassumption oppression of to glori fy BLM’s offenses against the present con stitutional In the order. case the of Capitol is almost universally shunned. agitator Vicky Osterweil, who released In Defenseof Looting looting as an ideological statement against an allegedly immoral and racist capitalist system and its unequal distri bution wealth. of Osterweil’s defense of looting is based on a Marxist economic analysisthat renders the entire econom ic system illegitimate. Looting “attacks the idea property, of and attacks it the idea that in order for someone to have a roof over their head or have a meal Organized right-wing extremism, on the other hand, is a fringe phenomenonthat ------

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WINTER 2021 WINTER experienced violent outbursts during during outbursts violent experienced and after protestsled groups by such asBlack Lives Matter and An (BLM) n the many American past year, cities However, However, the justifications for oppos There is certainly merit to the ac Comparing these two deadly out two deadly these Comparing

ESSAY 9 difference is that the violence associated with racial protestshas been consistently repeated and yet gained mainstream in difference or, at times, outright support. braced corporate by America, the edu cational establishment,the media,and various politicians. The second major that onlyon the Left do we see anorga nized ideological movement that justifies antagonismagainst the presentorder of things – anattitude also seemingly em ing our governmental system are treat ed differentlyby people on eitherside of this controversy. The main difference is franchisement and victimization in by sidious forces have radicalized elements across spectrum. the political to minimize theto minimize disorder coming from friendly quarters is common to the Left andthe Right Claimsdisen of alike. political or ideological alignment its of perpetrators. This accusation, howev works er, both ways, as employing an ideologically motivated smokescreen cusation hypocrisy of against those whorespond to violence based on the uresbeing accused treatingof the Capitol mayhem with a contempt absent from their treatment BLM of looting. What should we make this? of breaks has become controversial. Some point out disparate responses to the outbreaks, with political and media fig ident Donald over the legitimacy Trump election. theof 2020 tifa’s united tifa’s front. Their attacks still con tinue insome areas. OnJanuary we 6, also witnessed violence at the U.S. Capitol duringprotests led supporters by Pres of

Ismael Hernandez Ismael Political violence, Left and Right I a concern for racial justice, which justi- The 1619 Project, on the other hand, framework receive accolades, while a fies a rejection of the constitutional order. is informed by the assumptions of Critical similar rejection coming from the other This analysis seems to condone the mob’s Race Theory. CRT is first and foremost a side of the political spectrum – and one imposition of its views of justice “by any proposed explanation of origins that fo- that is a completely out-of-the-main- means necessary” – but only with re- cuses on what it proclaims is the intrin- stream minority view – be rejected with gard to the question of race. This is how sically racist nature of our society’s legal moralistic zeal? an attack on the constitutional order can framework. It sees the problem of race as What at face value seems contra- be seen as so detrimental when it comes a systemic (as opposed to systematic) one dictory makes perfect sense within the from one quarter but so justified when it and the law as its most powerful instru- framework I have outlined. The question comes from another, even when the latter ment. It starts with the a priori assump- at hand is not whether the system is ille- attempt is in fact more systematic, en- tion that the United States is rooted in gitimate; the question is what tactic can trenched, and destructive. white supremacy. From there, the theory advance the ideological aims of those in- It is as if the taxonomical category of concludes that white supremacy is written tent on destroying the system from the victimized group confers a sort of epis- into the law, even if not overtly stated. side of the “oppressed.” temic privilege granting it immunity for Disparate outcomes in economic, legal, While we should indeed avoid drawing its actions, which is not granted to those and social areas of life are explained by facile distinctions in an attempt to justi- whose identity is more aligned with a the given of intrinsic racism. Critical Race fy acts of political violence that suit our purported racial transgressor. We are told Theory is mostly a cataloguing of exam- political alignment – and them alone – we must accept this grant of immunity by ples that admits no challenging of prem- fear of this kind of hypocrisy should not creating a different set of rules for an- ises. When CRT speaks of the “oppressed” prevent us from making a valid examina- alyzing the aims and activities of these or the “marginalized,” it is not referring to tion of the ideological background that victims of history. (For a good analysis of present states of affairs affecting given explains the inconsistency in mainstream identity politics, see Joshua Mitchell, “The groups but to a class of people who are assessments of these two expressions of Identity Politics Critique of the American marginalized by definition. violence. Otherwise, substantive analysis Republic,” in Gerald McDermott’s Race and With such theories spreading like will give way to the weak comparisons Covenant: Recovering the Religious Roots for wildfire in academic, cultural, political, that spring from a politicized context. American Reconciliation, pp. 79-97.) legal, theological, and judicial circles, it No contemporary issue demands Far from a necessary ingredient of an is to be expected that one cannot oppose greater clarity of thought. Alas, no issue ideology that upholds violence, Dr. Mar- violence by the “oppressed” against the is getting less of it. tin Luther King Jr. soberly referred to ri- “oppressive” system without being ac- oting as a “temper tantrum” by people cused of abetting the oppressors. This is Ismael Hernandez is the founder and pres- losing hope. In other words, it was not why a limited, violent action by political ident of the Freedom and Virtue Institute ideologically motivated. As he stated, opponents against the very system CRT in Fort Myers, Florida, and author of the “Violence may go to the point of mur- considers illegitimate (like the attack on book Not Tragically Colored: Freedom, dering the hater, but it doesn’t murder the U.S. Capitol) is utilized as a reason to Personhood, and the Renewal of Black hate. It may increase hate. It is always a delegitimize the opposition. How can the America. He serves as a scholar with the descending spiral leading nowhere.” rejection of our nation’s constitutional 1776 Unites curriculum. R & L

10 Photo: (Photo credit: SFIO CRACHO / Shutterstock.com.) ------to perpetrate “amil jihadists Business unites. “Thegreat virtue a of The last great surge national of unity In this environment, what could this point,even a sudden, foreign terror ist onslaught seems incapable patching of the chasm between Americans. That uni typroved and short-lived, some Ameri cansatthe time describedthe assaultas America’s chickens coming home to roost, orcalled for lionMogadishus” against U.S. soldiers. After two decades ingrained of critical free market system is that does it not care whatcolor people are; does it not care what their religion only it is; cares whether they can produce something you want to buy,” wrote MiltonFriedman. “Itis the most ef fective system we have discovered to en able people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.” Unfortunately, politiciansif gettheir way, Americanswill have fewer opportunities to engage in commerce with people dif of fering viewpoints. Some in Congress have offering rudimenpressuredstop banksto tary services to disfavored industries like gunmanufacturers, reviving the strategy behind the Obama-era’s Operation Choke Point.They have also raised the possibility black political a employersof instituting listinhiring decisions although,– elite if Americans truly believe institutions are an insurrectionary force, the last thing they should want is for this group to self unemployable, find aggrieved, and awash it in free time. came terrorist after the attacks. 9/11 At socialmedia center their business models aroundspoon-feeding viewers their regu lar dose outrage of porn. damage? the undo ------Feder , elected representatives in a re To paraphrase the former president, president, former paraphrase the To Insome ways, these latest outbursts are The Founding Fathers charged public long ago surpassed the intensity racism. of and traditional as worsen daily, Conditions anger for political gain. Washington isn’t sending its best – and their example has downto the grassroots successfully level. Simmering filtered political rhetoric divides the entire nation. Thisauthor has warned thesein pages suchof polarization “Repairing (see the breach: bringing peace to politically frac tured families and communities” in the particularly issue), highlight 2020 Fall ing the research Shanto of Iyengar and SeanWestwood, whofound that prejudice againstmembers another of political party officialswith calming, rather thaninflam passionsing, – alas, hardly the only aspect originalof intent that politicians have ig nored.As James Madison wrote in alist No. 10 enlarge refine and “toduty the have public the public views, passing by them through the medium a chosen of body citizens, of whose wisdommay bestdiscern the true interest their of country, and whose pa triotismand love justice of will be least sacrificeto likely temporaryto it or partial stoke politicians Instead, considerations.” problem in American politics. have a We contemptproblem.” America now undeni violence political problem. a has ably the natural progression a substance-free of presidential race which saw its first debate devolve into name-calling, and which itself followed years political of pettiness at ev erylevel society. of dangerously However, high levels partisan of animosity predate this election, or the last presidency. ------

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New York Times York New he defining political moments of monthsthe last came 12 not from the lackluster presidential cam WINTER 2021 WINTER

As businesses flee decimated inner cit

ESSAY 11 both inexcusable eruptions threaten to de form our nation for decades to come. We now long for recent days past when Arthur Brooks“We could don’t say, have an anger ies and a razor wire-topped fence shuts U.S. citizens out their of own government, ingwas largely limited to broken glass, busted doors and the graffiti,” psycho logical impact assaulting of a national symbol governance of strikes deep. buildingprotesta in over election fraud. While the to the interior“[d]amage the of build in U.S. history. The untreated wound in our body as politic soon bled into 2021, a cadre of pro-Trump extremists broke into the poorlydefended U.S. Capitol cities and triggered between billion to $1 billion insurance of $2 claims, becoming the most expensive civil disturbances paign, but from months of explosive vi olence. Riots and looting associated with BlackLives Matter protests engulfed 140

Rev. BenRev. Johnson violence to politicalto The solution The solution T theory, could an act of catastrophic bar- The first step to overcoming our out- barism unite the country, even as Ameri- rage addiction is not acknowledging that cans fervently perpetrate acts of violence you have a problem; it’s seeking a solu- against one another? tion. Research shows the answer to a frac- Too much relies on our solving our tious nation is federalism, subsidiarity, national disintegration to ignore the and concrete problem-solving. Politicians problem. “We can – we must – choose will continue to stir the pot until we deny to bridge divides peacefully and empa- them, and ourselves, the sugar high of thetically so the American experiment self-righteousness. can continue,” wrote Kurt Gray, the direc- This means that we must recognize the tor of the Center for the Science of Moral common humanity and decency of others. Understanding at the University of North We must free ourselves from the shack- Carolina-Chapel Hill. The pure of heart les of ideological mania. We can accom- say the answer is simple: Americans must plish this task only with great care and love each other. While ultimately the deliberation, as it upends the status quo theological virtue of charity is the answer, of our dominant political, media, and cul- their exhortation has a tantalizing lack of ture-making institutions. specificity. What is necessary is for us to The Acton Institute has never been, nor put that into practice in a targeted way. will it ever be, a political organization. Our The good news is there’s a path out of mission is too precious to entrust to pol- our vicious circle of violence that is less iticians. Acton recognizes that our prob- destructive than war and more concrete lems, and their solutions, originate mostly than vague and amorphous calls for pos- outside politics. We remain committed to itive feelings. What works? According to our principles regardless of who holds of- researchers, the solution is solutions – fice, praying for the well-being of all civil specifically, focusing on solving national authorities, certain in the knowledge that problems together. obstructing our goal of creating a free and In North Carolina, Gray leads an alliance virtuous society remains the most suc- of social scientists administering what is cessful bipartisan policy in history. known as the “Decision Point Method”: The disappointing results produced They pose real-life decision-making sce- by members of both parties reinforce our narios to people across the political spec- need to rise up and fulfill our responsibil- trum. For instance: A crisis has had a dis- ities, one citizen at a time. Seeking solu- parate impact on the states; how much tions together proves that we wish the authority would you defer to local author- best for all people, not merely our sliver of ities? Or another scenario: Suppose a state society. Engaging in thoughtful dialogue passed a law you disagree with; would you shows that we care for one another during strike it down? If so, how would you avoid the deliberation process. And that opens preempting every other state decision? the door to the greatest need we have: “Psychological research shows that think- that naïve injunction for us to truly love ing through issues and problems creates one another. bonds between people, whereas visceral “Only love and goodness save both and emotional debates create enemies,” people and the whole world,” said one of the wrote Manu Meel, the CEO of BridgeUSA, a greatest spiritual teachers of modern times, partner in Decision Point’s research. Elder Thaddeus of Serbia. “Nothing is ever Some 300 miles north, the Well-Be- obtained through violence. Force mere- ing Laboratory at George Mason Univer- ly provokes rejection and hatred.” Honest sity is studying “how to enhance civility parties know too well that heartfelt love for and reduce animosity in a politically po- our enemies does not come easily; it is a larized world,” with a $1.09 million grant supernatural gift. Repairing the breach we from the Charles Koch Foundation. “We have allowed to develop between ourselves are fine-tuning strategies to become in- and others requires greater faith in – and tellectually humble and sufficiently curi- by – humanity. Healing our national con- ous to consider ideas that emerge from tusions demands that we seek mutual re- members of other groups,” said team course to the Great Physician. leader Todd Kashdan, a psychology pro- fessor. They emphasize civil, personal Rev. Ben Johnson is Executive Editor of the debates that reveal most Americans want Acton Institute’s flagship journal, Religion the same things. & Liberty.

12 Extinction Rebellion holds a “Stop Ecocide” protest outside Barclays bank. (Photo credit: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire URN:55335141 (Press Association via AP Images)

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enterprise. be more precise, To they adical environmentalists plan to industrial large-scale criminalize cattle ranching; large-scale agriculture; mining; oil extraction; fracking; and cement manufacturing. Some environmentalists even include The “ecocide” movement pretendsit industrial fishing; deep sea mining; ESSAY • • • • • • electricity-generating windmills, because they kill millions birds of each year. plan to categorize wealth-producing and job-creating activities as a crime known which activists want legis as “ecocide,” lated internationally as “the fifth interna would Ecocide peace.” crime against tional equate large-scale development activities withgenocide, ethnic cleansing, wars of aggression,and crimes against humanity – actions that could land their perpetra tors in the dock at the International Crim inal Court in The Hague. aims to prevent pollution,but is really it a spear aimed at the heart capitalism, of intended to throttle human thriving in the name “saving of the planet.” Indeed, is it importantto note thatecocide would not belimited to punishing polluters. Rather, practically any large-scale human enter prise thatmakes use theof fruitsthe of Earth would qualify as a potentially hei nous“crime against The peace.” Stop Eco cide webpage includes such polluting and industriesnon-polluting as: • • The ‘Ecocide’ The ‘Ecocide’ movement: a crime against humanity Wesley J. Smith R

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13 The general working definition of eco- between horrors such as the slaughter in only concludes when the land has been cide, a proposed global felony, is as follows: Rwanda, or the killing fields of Cambo- restored nearly to its pre-development Ecocide is the extensive destruc- dia, with wealth-producing enterprises state. Remediation is a clean-up of pol- tion, damage to or loss of ecosys- that may (or may not) deleteriously im- lutants and contaminants to protect fu- tem(s) of a given territory, whether pact the environment. ture “residents” from potential harm. by human agency or other causes, Even more fundamentally, an ecocide Not only that, but Alberta required oil to such an extent that peaceful en- law would cause unimaginable human companies to deposit hundreds of millions joyment by the inhabitants of that suffering. Remember, the movement does of dollars into a reclamation security trust territory has been severely dimin- not merely seek to regulate or constrain fund, so even if the companies go broke, ished. (Emphasis added.) targeted economic activities – it seeks to money will be available to restore the land. Note that “peaceful enjoyment by the criminalize them. Such criminal constraints The province also will not allow a compa- inhabitants” is a broad term that includes would collapse national economies. ny to complete a project until it receives everything from grass, fish, and insects Ecocide champions are not hiding their a “Reclamation Certificate” proving that it to mice, snakes, and people. Diminish- intentions. In 2011, they sponsored a mock has restored the land to its proper state. ment of “peaceful enjoyment” would not ecocide prosecution against two fictional Other ecocide-targeted industries require actual pollution but could mean a energy company CEOs. This was no minor similarly remediate impacted ecosystems declining supply of forage or a loss of foli- exercise held in a college classroom. The and natural expanses – or certainly could age caused by almost any use of the land, trial was held in the courtroom of the En- and should be legally required to do so. perhaps even urban growth. glish Supreme Court. (Needless to say, the Forestry companies replant forests. Fish- Dig deeper into ecocide advocacy, and CEOs were found guilty as charged.) eries are restocked. Mined mountains are the typical anti-free market ideology Yes, development can restored to their natural that drives too much of environmental- disrupt localized environ- states. Impacted wildlife ism today comes clearly into focus. Thus, ments and can cause pol- are returned to the wild. a YouTube video titled “Ecocide: A Crime lution. But that harm can If ecocide Can and should more Against Peace” states: be limited – and some- be done in this regard? We have come to accept that ex- times completely elimi- campaigners Absolutely. But we can traction of natural resources is nor- nated – through proper maintain proper envi- mal. Just because it is normal does environmental regulatory prevail, we ronmental standards not mean that it is right. 200 years policies. Beyond that point, without criminalizing ago companies plundered for profit. “ecocide” – to use their will be less the activities that make Then it was called colonization. To- polemical term – need the modern world livable day it is called business. not be permanent. Indeed, free, suffer and global prosperity Back then, extraction often led to once timber has been har- possible. Indeed, given conflict. Sometimes it led to war. vested, ore extracted, coal as prosperity the extensive environ- Now a century of “resource wars” is mined, and oil squeezed declines in mental impact reports predicted. The battle to control oil out of shale, companies that companies must and water has already started. Now are often required to re- the West, and provide, and the rigorous natural resources are becoming the mediate and restore the permit procedures often reason for war. Unless we change. land to its pre-develop- watch as the required before com- Do you see what is happening here? ment state. panies can even begin The video’s PowerPoint presentation Take ecocide’s public developing world operations in the West, then asserts that, when it comes to de- enemy number one: the criminalizing such activ- struction, “Ecocide > War.” Alberta Tar Sands. If you remains mired ities seems more a desire The draft Ecocide Act, a model to be listen only to ecocide cam- to throttle capitalist in- used in creating actual legislation, defines paigners, and rely on their in destitution. dustries than to protect ecocide (in part) by saying, “A person, photographs of clear envi- the environment. If you company, organisation, partnership, or any ronmental destruction, you could be for- doubt that, consider which countries have other legal entity who causes ecocide un- given for assuming the worst. They claim the best environmental policies – those der section 1 of this Act and has breached a that after a “given territory” is exploited with regulated free market economies or non-human right to life is guilty of a crime for its oil, the company moves on and communist/socialist systems. against nature.” Thus, a “non-human right leaves nothing but a destroyed moonscape Until the last few years, the ecocide to life” is established by some of the very that will afflict the population for genera- movement remained on the fringes of people who do not recognize a human tions to come. radical environmental advocacy. But this right to life. This is simply not true. As one exam- reality holds no more. Demonstrating that The drive to criminalize ecocide is ple: The Province of Alberta requires tar even the most radical ideas often be- profoundly subversive. First, equating sands companies to both remediate and come mainstream over time, criminalizing resource extraction and/or pollution with reclaim the land – a process that be- large-scale enterprise is becoming part of genocide and ethnic cleansing trivializes gins at the project planning stage and the broader Left’s agenda. true evil by erecting a moral equivalency

14 Take France, where the government movement in the 1970s. The term was of Nature Worship” in the Summer 2018 plans to pass an ecocide law – complete coined by Norwegian philosopher Arene issue of Religion & Liberty.) The “nature with criminal penalties – for companies Dekke Eide Næss. Inspired by the envi- rights” movement would grant “rights” that despoil the environment. EuroNews ronmental alarmism of Rachael Carson’s to all aspects of the natural world, in- reported on November 23, 2020: Silent Spring, Næss rejected human ex- cluding geological features such as riv- The French government is plan- ceptionalism, arguing that each facet of ers and mountains. Those rights would ning to crack down on behaviours the natural world – including humans be equal to those given to human be- against the environment by creat- – are equal to all others. In 1984, Næss ings. Here is the definition promoted by ing an “ecocide” offence. and George Sessions published “The Deep the movement’s chief proponent, the The plan was originally brought for- Ecology Platform,” a list of specific ideo- Community Environmental Legal De- ward by the Citizens’ Convention for logical goals which at the time were quite fense Fund: “Nature or Pachamama [the Climate, an assembly consisting of radical, but which are now mainstream Goddess Earth], where life is reproduced 150 randomly selected citizens estab- within contemporary environmentalism. and exists, has the right to exist, persist, lished in 2019 by President Emman- They include: maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, uel Macron with the aim to reduce • The well-being and flourishing of hu- structure, functions and its processes in France’s greenhouse gas emissions. man and nonhuman life on Earth have evolution.” The new proposal underlines sanc- value in themselves. These values are Enforcing nature’s “rights” would not tions from a minimum of three to 10 independent of the usefulness of the require waiting for regulatory or govern- years in prison, as well as fines start- nonhuman world for human purposes; ment action. Rather, anyone who believes ing from €375,000 to €4.5 million. • Humans have no right to reduce this that nature’s rights have been violated Pope Francis has added the heft of the richness and diversity except to satisfy would have standing to bring lawsuits and Roman Catholic Church behind the ecocide vital needs; obtain a court order preventing enterprise cause – with the pontiff expressing partic- • Present human interference with the from proceeding. Talk about a full em- ular hostility toward capitalist enterprises. nonhuman world is excessive, and the ployment guarantee for lawyers! On November 15, 2019, Pope Francis told situation is rapidly worsening; Lest you be tempted to think that “it the World Congress of the International • The flourishing of human life and cul- will never happen,” it already has. Four Association of Penal Law that an “elemen- tures is compatible with a substantial rivers, including the Amazon, have been tary sense of justice” must be applied so decrease of the human population. The granted rights. So, too, have two gla- that “certain conduct for which corpora- flourishing of nonhuman life requires ciers. More than 30 U.S. municipalities tions are usually responsible, does not go such a decrease; and have granted rights to nature, usually unpunished.” The pontiff continued: • Policies must therefore be changed. to stop fracking. Lake Erie was granted “[E]cocide” is to be understood as The changes in policies affect basic rights by voters in Toledo, an ordinance the loss, damage, or destruction of economic, technological, and ideolog- subsequently preempted by the Ohio the ecosystems of a given territory, ical structures. The resulting state of state legislature. so that its utilization by inhabitants affairs will be deeply different from the Throughout most of humans’ inhabi- has been or can be seen as severely present. tation of this planet, life has been brutal compromised. This is a fifth cate- Gaia theory: At about the same time and short. We lived with the effects of gory of crimes against peace, which Næss was conjuring Deep Ecology, anoth- the environment in a Darwinian world of should be recognised as such by the er environmentalist philosopher named natural selection and the struggle to sur- international community. James Lovelock posited an equally radical vive. Only in the last few hundred years, Both the words and their provenance idea: that the Earth, known as the pagan thanks to industrialization, have humans are chilling. goddess Gaia, “evolved as a single living, liberated themselves from the claws of Other cultural notables have also en- and self-regulating system.” The “Gaia the natural world. dorsed the ecocide cause. According to the Theory” posits that the Earth possesses We need more of such activities, not few- Stop Ecocide website, their ranks include such intelligence that it “maintains con- er. Simply stated, if ecocide campaign- primatologist Jane Goodall, rock legend ditions suitable for its own survival.” In ers prevail, we will be less free, suffer as Paul McCartney, and the Swedish teenage essence, Lovejoy urged us to treat the en- prosperity declines in the West, and watch climate activist Greta Thunberg. Even the vironment – more accurately, the Earth as the developing world remains mired World Peace Prayer Society “welcomes the – as a living being: “The living system of in destitution. In that sense, the ecocide Law of Ecocide to be recognised as a crime Earth can be thought of analogous to the movement is a profoundly anti-human against peace.” workings of any individual organism that movement that must be stopped while it The drive to criminalize enterprise is regulates body temperature, blood salin- is still in its embryonic stage. the culmination of decades of radical envi- ity, etc.” ronmental advocacy – a drive that seemed Nature Rights: These esoteric ideas Award-winning author Wesley J. Smith, is so far-fetched that far too many of us are now being implemented in practical the chairman of the Discovery Institute’s took it insufficiently seriously to mount a ways that will negatively impact human Center on Human Exceptionalism. meaningful defense. thriving. Most alarmingly is ecocide’s Deep ecology: Our descent into irra- first cousin, the “nature rights move- tionality began with the “deep ecology” ment.” (See Wesley J. Smith, “The Return

15 WINTER 2021 ACTON.ORG IN THE LIBERAL TRADITION REV. MACIEJ ZIĘBA, O.P. (1954-2020)

REV. BEN JOHNSON

ew people have the courage to Rev. Zięba sought not merely to resist a totalitarian system from curse the darkness but to enlighten Fwithin; fewer still have the intel- students’ minds with Christian and so- lectual and moral grounding to plant cial principles that could empower them the seeds of its metamorphosis into to create a flourishing society. To that a free and virtuous society. The world end, he wrote numerous books, includ- lost one such person on the last day ing Papal Economics: The Catholic Church of 2020, when Rev. Maciej Zięba, O.P., on Democratic Capitalism, from Rerum died. The 66-year-old Dominican, who Novarum to Caritas in Veritate. Perhaps suffered from cancer, worked closely his most influential accomplishment with Poland’s Solidarity movement and came when he co-edited The Social the late Pope John Paul II to expose the Agenda: A Collection of Roman Catholic spiritual, philosophical, economic, and Magisterial Texts with the president and anthropological fallacies at the heart co-founder of the Acton Institute, Rev. of communism – and then to raise up Robert A. Sirico. The florilegium tra- a young cadre of leaders thoroughly verses every topic of social importance, versed in Christian principles. from the human person and the natu- Maciej Zięba was born on Septem- ral family to abiding Christian principles ber 6, 1954, in Wrocław, Poland. He for the economy and the environment. earned his college degree in physics, ba believed that respect for human Rev. Zięba’s profound understand- but soon after hearing Pope John Paul creativity must allow individuals to ing of the human condition had been II denounce Marxism’s “exclusion of participate adequately in economic forged in the crucible of socialist per- Christ from the history of man,” Zięba and political life. Above all, he empha- secution. “Of course, it is good that took up intellectual and spiritual arms. sized that a successful society must the horrors of totalitarianism are be- Intellectually, he joined forces with the rely fully on God’s grace and provi- hind us. But we will miss those who Solidarity movement, contributing to dence; man-made utopias of any va- defeated it,” wrote Archbishop Gudziak. its journal, Tygodnik Solidarność, along- riety will surely fall, bringing tragedy “Their experience is again becom- side future Prime Minister Tadeusz Ma- to those impacted under their rubble. ing necessary” during a time of “sur- zowiecki. Spiritually, he joined the Do- In 1992, Rev. Zięba joined with Rev. veillance capitalism,” in which faceless minicans (Order of Preachers) in 1981, Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Novak, “algorithms in social networks” are being ordained in 1987 and serving as George Weigel, and Rocco Buttiglione engaged to “determine our conduct … provincial for the order within Poland to found what is now the Tertio Mil- politically.” Furthermore, the economic from 1998-2006. lennio Seminar on the Free Society. The system that fueled the Eastern Bloc’s He relied on the theology of then- organization seeks “to deepen the di- repression, socialism, has become dis- Pope John Paul II who, in turn, dis- alogue on Catholic social doctrine be- tressingly popular among young people played great personal affection for the tween North American students and in the West. (Photo courtesy of Rev. Robert A. Sirico) Polish priest. He defended “democracy students from the new democracies of If we do not heed the abiding biblical on the basis of Christian anthropology, central and eastern Europe” and tours truths that he spent – and risked – his with its understanding of God-giv- sites of persecution, such as Auschwitz. life teaching, we may find ourselves rep- en human dignity,” wrote Archbishop Rev. Zięba also commemorated dissi- licating the society that suppressed him, Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Cath- dents as a leader at the European Soli- improving only the quality of its all-per- olic Eparchy of Philadelphia. Rev. Zię- darity Center in Gdańsk. vading surveillance and social control.

16 French President Emmanuel Macron waves goodbye to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo credit: john smith williams / Shutterstock.com) ------. Gaining the principle free of . This is related to the first point A zero-tariff, zero quota trade Freedom from EU regulatory stan ingoods, and critics have pointedout it contains little reference to services,the UK’scomparative advantage. However, containsit mutual professional recogni tions, and the City London of is content. The world’s two City mainYork Newservicesremain centerswill global financial and London. regulatory standards. They called this the “level playing field.” The agreement re places with it the principle managed of divergence, which enshrines the right of from regulationsdiffer imposedto UK the Brussels.by contains It no role for the ECJ mentioned) but establishes(as an inde pendentjudicial review process and gives only a proportionate and limited right to the EU to impose tariffs under such cir cumstances.The crucial point is that the UK canchoose to free itseconomy from has EU the standards, and stifling EU’s the no right to respond with wide-ranging, punitive tariffs. agreement trade betweentwo such enormous trad ing partners significantly advancescause free of trade customs itself. True, the declarations will still be required, but the principle of no tariffs on either imports or exports, with no quotas on goods, a major step forward is for the principle of free exchange. This is the first time that the has EU everagreed tar to a 100% iff liberalisation in The agreementa is primarily tradeabout trade agreement. of negotiationsof with Johnson’s PM team, the insisted EU that must the bethe ECJ final arbiter of any dispute.know which way their judgements would All parties have gone.Boris played a blinder: He suc cessfullyremoved referencesall to the ECJ inthe tradeagreement. The court is not mentioned;the lawwhich will determine disputes is not law EU but international The processlaw. is one independent of arbitrationand, crucially, the UK retains the right to diverge from This law. EU restores UK sovereignty. Inaddition, we are free to negotiate trade deals globally without any reference to or interference from the EU. dards but is so significant thatit deserves sep arate mention. The wanted EU automat ic penalties and tariffs applied to British goods the if UK departed from the EU’s - - - - . One the of Delivering Brexit and exiting the EU Sovereignty restored Ofcourse, there was casea to leave tiations with May and PM in the months and medium terms. Yet firm and being willing to leave on those by standing terms, Prime Minister Johnson gave the UK a stunning result. has delivered at least four victories: key most contentious areas the of UK’s rela tionship with the has EU been the role of the European as the Court Justice of (ECJ) court of final appeal. The ECJ should be distinguished from the European Court of Human Rights, which is not specifically linked to the During EU. the of all nego render sovereignty. of He seemed so resolved that German Chancellor Ange la Merkel reportedly made calls under pressurefrom her own industry chiefs, who would have faced utter devastation tariffsif were imposed. on Organisation World Trade terms, with schedules customs of tariffs but no formal arrangements with the EU. This would perhaps have offered the greatestglobal opportunities long term, but without questionthere would have been extensive costs in the short clear we were walking in any event; no extensions to the transition period, caving no on issues, key no further sur - - - - -

ACTON.ORG

ritishPrime Minister Boris John son and his chief Brexit negotia tor, David Frost, achieved an ex WINTER 2021 WINTER

Prime Minister Johnson accomplished accomplished Johnson Minister Prime

ESSAY 17 ute – something former Theresa PM May did so often that negotiators EU came to expect it. Johnson held firm and made octopus, had suffocated the nation years. 50 some for this feat not by blinking at the last min Kingdom Kingdom exited the one-year transition period and finally escaped the clutches theof which, EU the like tentacles an of to leave the European Union. mid At night (Brussels time, course, of p.m. or 11 the United on DecemberGMT) 2020, 31, traordinary success in the negotiations Rev. RichardRev. Turnbull Freedom beckons Brexit: B Fishing rights. Currently, the UK BOOK fishing fleet is entitled to 50% of the catch share in the waters that will revert to UK sovereignty. This will increase to Solzhenitsyn: 66% over the course of five years, after which the UK will hold annual negotia- tions to agree catch shares. An alterna- Prophet to America tive way of looking at this is to say that Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West the UK reduced the share of fish which David P. Deavel and Jessica Hooten Wilson, eds. | University of Notre Dame the EU is allowed to take from British Press. 2020 | 392 pages waters from 50% to 34%. Many UK fish- ermen wanted even better terms, though Reviewed by John Couretas it has to be said that the UK fishing fleet needs time to develop in order to be able nglish literature scholar Ed Ericson told a story about teaching to take advantage of the increased share. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago to American un- There was undoubtedly some compro- Edergrads, who knew plenty about the Nazi Holocaust of the mise here by the UK, but the overall out- Jews and other dehumanized minorities but next to nothing about come seems reasonable. the genocidal history of the Bolshevik and Stalinist regimes. Ericson, To all of this has to be added control who worked tirelessly to widen Solzhenitsyn’s audience in the West, over our own immigration policies; our thought it was comic (or maybe tragi-comic) that students often own regime of “state aid”; and agree- thought “gulag” was something served in dormitory cafeterias, mis- ments on air travel, security, and scien- taking it for “goulash.” tific co-operation. The agreement itself is With the publication of Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, 1,246 pages long, and there will no doubt Ericson’s life work gains a fitting tribute from scholars who are today at work studying be areas we would prefer to have been and assessing Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), a protean writer and thinker who ranged over different. But leading Brexit attorneys the twentieth century’s tragic landscape in political analysis, history, fiction, and poetry. have examined and endorsed the deal. The new book of essays is dedicated to “the memory of Edward E. Ericson Jr., Christian, Note the margin of its sweeping pas- scholar, mentor.” Ericson, who died in 2017, was a Chicagoan who spent the bulk of his sage: The House of Commons voted teaching career at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He collaborated with Solz- 521-73 to accept the legislation. Just 18 henitsyn and his family for years and edited the first abridged, one-volume edition of months ago, Parliament was deadlocked The Gulag Archipelago, published in 1985. as Conservative Brexiteers voted against In their introduction to this collection of essays, editors David P. Deavel and Jessica May’s agreement, which left us trapped Hooten Wilson assess Solzhenitsyn’s claim, in his 1983 Templeton Prize Lecture, that “the in the EU. Since then, the December 2019 devastating outcomes of the twentieth century derived from the fact that ‘men have for- election has changed the landscape. The gotten God’ is no simple appeal to theocratic and autocratic past. It is a recognition that Labour Party, desperate after its defeat though human will and technique are powerful, they will tend toward destruction and at the polls, flip-flopped to support the violence if untethered to divine and natural law.” The English journalist Malcolm Mug- arrangements, though some 40 Labour geridge once called Solzhenitsyn a “holy prophet” and strongly recommended the study Members of Parliament abstained. They of his work on college campuses. “Rather than view Solzhenitsyn as only a Russian writer are likely to continue to be torn by ten- or a political dissident,” the editors write, “Ericson argued, in agreement with Mugger- sion as members of a mostly pro-Remain idge, that Solzhenitsyn was a Christian writer, one whose work embodied a vision of life party, since few Britons would ever vote which we would all do well to see and apply.” to rejoin the EU. This new collection of essays brings together scholarly assessments of Solzhenitsyn’s More than four years after the na- work from the West, and from Russian novelist Eugene Vodolazkin, in five parts: “Solz- tional referendum and years of failed henitsyn and Russian Culture”; “Solzhenitsyn and Orthodoxy”; “Solzhenitsyn and the negotiations, these four advantages – Writers”; “Solzhenitsyn and the Politicians”; and “Beyond Solzhenitsyn: Russian Writers and all those which are to follow – have and American Readers.” been secured. In the first part, an essay by Deavel brings forward an observation that Solzhenitsyn Freedom beckons. made about the intellectual climate on campuses in the West and in elite outlets of jour- Revd Dr Richard Turnbull is the Director of nalistic opinion, which holds up well with the passage of time. “It is safe to say,” Deavel the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics writes, that Solzhenitsyn “saw the intellectuals – and both journalists and professors in Oxford, UK. belong to this class – as particularly ready to surrender to illusions. Particularly to illu- sions of a benevolent and progressive sort.” Among the chief illusions held by Western intellectuals – and here let’s not leave out left-wing seminary professors and a legion of social justice preachers – is the embrace of socialism in all its permutations. Solzhenitsyn asserted that the “defects” of capitalism merely represent the flaws of human nature under an ethic of unlimited

18 freedom and the affirmation of human rights unmoored from He worked absolutely selflessly and, to ease the procedure of ne- human obligations. Such flaws, which exist in all societies, “un- gotiating with publishers, he renounced any fee.” der Communism (and Communism is breathing down the neck For more on Ericson’s work, see my conversation with him in of all forms of socialism, which are unstable), run riot in any “Literature in the realm of moral values,” from the Spring 2010 person with the least degree of authority; while everyone else issue of Religion & Liberty. In 2018 on the Acton Institute’s Pow- under that system does indeed attain ‘equality’ – the equality erBlog, I posted in a short video clip of Ericson talking about of destitute slaves.” “Teaching The Gulag Archipelago to American College Students.” For Americans, Deavel writes, “we need to be able to look at A common reaction from Ericson’s students, who thought they Solzhenitsyn and his Russian forebears for an experience that were well-educated in modern history, when they encountered is both like ours and not, the experience of a nation historically the history of the Soviet gulag was: “Why didn’t they tell us this? Christian that was swallowed by a materialism sadly too much I haven’t heard this from our teachers.” like the one we seem tempted by.” The lesson that students should draw from the study of Solz- Those new to Solzhenitsyn would do well to start with Er- henitsyn’s works, and his great soul, is to resist the temptation icson’s one-volume abridgement. (A new edition with a for- of thinking that the demonic forces of famine, imprisonment, ward by Jordan B. Peterson was issued in 2018.) By way of and mass murder in Russia could never happen in America or in an introduction to The Gulag Archipelago, readers would profit the West. from reading Daniel J. Mahoney’s essay titled “Judging Com- “Alas,” Solzhenitsyn wrote, “all the evil of the twentieth cen- munism and All Its Works” in the Solzhenitsyn and American tury is possible everywhere on earth.” Culture collection. “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s writings remain the greatest John Couretas is a writer and editor based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. scourge of the ideological justification of tyranny and terror,” Mahoney begins. He pushes back on the sentiment that what happened in Russia in the twentieth century can be explained away by an ingrained Russian tradition of passivity or one of Asiatic despotism. “Truth be told,” Mahoney writes, “the ideological justification of ‘utopia in power’ is part and parcel of philosophical and political modernity, rooted in the un- founded belief that human nature and society can be trans- formed at a stroke.” That terror in the service of utopia began at the outset, with Lenin and swallowed up any person or group that was seen as an obstacle to the true ideological aim of total power: workers, local council officials, nuns, priests, monks, members of- co operatives, kulaks, suspect teachers, eccentric Tolstoyans, and that durable scapegoat known as the bourgeoisie. Some 85,000 priests and nuns were executed in 1937 alone at the height of Stalin’s Great Purge. Mahoney tells us that, as a writer, Solzhenitsyn could reveal the “sparks of the spirit” that literature alone can truly incar- nate. “The Gulag Archipelago is an ‘experiment in artistic/literary investigation,’ in Solzhenitsyn’s description of it, in no small part because of its power to illustrate the sparks of the spirit that miraculously survived the assaults of ideology,” Mahoney writes. “Human nature is more powerful than ideology. God’s grace is more powerful than imperfect human nature.” I like to think that Ericson, who died in 2017, would have been delighted with the publication of Solzhenitsyn in American Cul- ture but he, characteristically, would have been embarrassed by the well-deserved attention it would have brought him. I can think of no greater tribute to this man’s life work than to in- clude Solzhenitsyn and American Culture in university reading lists for teaching not just Russian history, but the entire tragic arc of twentieth-century history. That reading list would include the one-volume edition of The Gulag Archipelago, the Solzhenitsyn Reader edited by Ericson and Mahoney, and novels and short sto- ries beginning with One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Solzhenitsyn described Ericson as “measured, very good-hearted – and concerned above all with spiritual matters.

19 WINTER 2021 ACTON.ORG BOOK to know how to read; to understand these texts, they need analytical, contextual, and hermeneutical tools. To mine mean- Preserving the ing, they need a teacher who will mediate the text for them while equipping stu- dents to become more proficient readers, inheritance: A defense capable of correct interpretation. After this process, students will be prepared to of the great books tackle a different book on their own. Of course, a great and difficult book cannot Josh Herring help but teach students how to write by example. Spending five weeks in Milton’s glorious poetry causes one to appreciate ooks are powerful. They have the ability to lift us out of present circumstances, the use of allusion, vocabulary, and pen- to speak beyond their time, to impart messages, arguments, and ideas in both tameter. Suddenly, students’ essays start Bdidactic and experiential ways. The books we read together, often assigned in a sounding a little like Milton. class context, form the basis of a community’s ability to converse with itself and make The great books’ difficulty need not effective use of symbols. Each time we see TSG Entertainment’s Greek man firing an be purely technical: Reading the greats arrow through axes, hear references to a “Trojan horse,” or hear the choice between of a given generation requires the stu- serving in Heaven or reigning in Hell, we’re reminded that we live in a society of shared dent to interact with the pressing is- stories. Reading, contemplating, and discussing these stories is a necessary rite of sues of another age. When encounter- passage, allowing youths to step into an ongoing adult conversation. ing Goethe’s Faust, Part One, the student This tradition of reading books that have always been read is under attack. The must grapple with Romanticism, the most recent manifestation of this attack is #DisruptTexts, a Twitter movement that has divinizing of nature, questions of infan- received official recognition from Penguin Publishing and whose 7,000-plus partici- ticide, teenage pregnancy, and sexual pants presumably support the idea of “disrupting” the traditional canon. #DisruptTexts predation. The Song of Roland brings up received wider attention at the end of 2020 when a Wall Street Journal editorial brought questions of church and state relations attention to one teacher who celebrated removing Homer’s Odyssey from her school’s in the context of the Crusades, the use curriculum. Where one might expect teachers to value the beginning of Western litera- of literature as propaganda, and the re- ture, #DisruptTexts highlights an increasing tendency to replace time-honored classics sults of “othering” the enemy. None of with more recent, “relevant” texts driven by identity politics. This leads to selecting these are simple concepts, and wading books that fit the current orthodoxy at the time the school approves its budgeting and through them prepares students to eval- curriculum. I propose a different answer to the question: The books that we require stu- uate contemporary questions using the dents to read should be recognizably great, sufficiently difficult to require a teacher, and skills they developed while analyzing lit- suitably beneficial to the formation of the moral imagination. erature from bygone eras. Being recognizably great is an admittedly qualitative measurement, and one that litera- I propose the moral imagination as a ture teachers never tire of debating. Greatness is more easily seen at a distance, a primary third criteria for determining book selec- reason why traditional school curricula favor older books. It’s much easier to see if a book tion. In his Reflections on the Revolution in is worthwhile if people still read it, discuss it, and value it 50 or 100 years after publication France, Edmund Burke coined this phrase than if it creates an immediate buzz. John Grisham’s legal novels were huge in the 1990s, to refer to the human capacity to imagine but they have since faded. For a time, one couldn’t go anywhere without seeing Harry Potter moral realities. It takes a certain sensibility novels for sale; these, too, have subsided in popularity, replaced by the Diary of a Wimpy Kid to perceive the potential outcomes of our or Percy Jackson series. The great books are, first and foremost, those works which have actions and choose accordingly. Russell stood the test of time. It is difficult to articulate why, but generation after generation of Kirk later used the same term to refer to people around the world, in vastly divergent cultural contexts, have found value in going the human ability to seek what he called back to the greats: Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the anonymous monk “unbought grace of life.” The moral imag- who pieced together Beowulf, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Jean Racine’s Tartuffe, Jonathan ination is our ability to imagine life in a Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and so many more. These works, and others that fit with them, different vein than we experience it. Some unite people across generations and create the possibility of rich conversations based on stories do a better job of cultivating this shared experiences. aspect of the human person than others. Some books are so simple they need not be taught. Most (though not all) young adult Focusing on the way books shape their fiction fits into this category. For a book to be worth assigning as mandatory reading, it readers, this criterion allows teachers to needs to have a certain amount of difficulty. The old books are hard to read; Homer -re determine what kinds of questions they quires patience. The Odyssey’s more than 12,000 lines of poetry display poetic craft, imag- hope to raise, and what principles they inative skill, linguistic agility, and narrative control, but when we first encounter Homer, want students to grapple with. Literature we need a guide to point out the beauty of the epic simile. is neither catechism nor ethics; a book list Can anyone understand such text without assistance? As the Ethiopian eunuch asked is no guarantee of making people more the apostle Phillip, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” That question is the ide- ethical. Great books, however, expose al literature class’ foundation. Students need not just the initial phonetic decoding skill students to ideas, show them the results

20 of choices, and prepare students to make intellectual inheritance well. To deprive David Copperfield (Dickens): Sacrifi- real choices. As Kirk put it: them of that inheritance by removing cial love takes a lifetime to perfect. [S]uch reading will teach us about the core texts of their tradition robs Crime and Punishment (Dosto- what it is to be a real man or a real students of the opportunity to perceive yevsky): You are not Das Uber- woman. Of this we may be certain, the larger conversations. mensch; you are not exempt from that when the wisdom derived from moral consequences. high imaginative literature is ig- All Quiet on the Western Front (Re- nored, order in the soul and order marque): The good of youth is not in the commonwealth are crum- Reading great books always the goal of the older gen- bling. … If we rear a generation or eration. two quite deprived of that moral calls students out of Brideshead Revisited (Waugh): Ma- imagination which humane letters terialism alone is not sufficient to nourish – why, the victims of this themselves and into a answer the question of happiness. denial will end frozen in the Snow Such a list reflects my interests as a Queen’s icy palace. larger conversation. teacher; another teacher may employ a When evaluating the texts that are different set of propositions. But consider required, one should consider how the the weight of these ideas, and the paucity work shapes the student’s conception of Below is a selection of texts I have of what is offered in their place. Rejecting the good. taught in ninth-eleventh grade literature Homer for contemporary works driven by At Thales Academy, we embrace a classes over the years. Next to each is a identity politics robs the student of rich chronologically arranged great books ap- principle that I hope students discover symbols and essential truths of human na- proach to literature; across grades 6-12, through their reading. Over eight years of ture. Reading and discussing the old books students cycle twice through a classical teaching, I have found that the best way does not deny the value of newer texts, but sequence of literature aligned with their to have conversations leading to these rather insists that there are certain truths, history classes (Greek, Roman, European, principles is through reading these books. concepts, and conversations that cannot be and American). In high school, the com- In their absence, my students would be encountered any other way. Students who plexity of their literature increases sub- missing key conversations and ideas pre- read on their own gravitate naturally to stantially. Rather than apologizing for paring them for a successful life. current books, but those who do so rare- the lack of contemporary representation The Odyssey (Homer): Life is a per- ly read classical literature by choice. When or diversity in these books, we find that ilous journey filled with potential we replace Homer with Ta-Nehisi Coates, the books we read help our students to distractions; those who persevere Aristotle with Ibram X. Kendi, or To Kill a step into the world of adult responsibil- will find home, and the journey is Mockingbird with The Perks of Being a Wall- ities equipped to read, discuss, and write worth the struggle. flower, we miss a moment that may not about almost any topic. Their reading has The Iliad (Homer): Rage and grief return. The student might not encounter prepared them to understand the moral can destroy the work of genera- the replaced work again, and, in doing so, weight of their choices, and the habits of tions; the wise person governs the becomes intellectually impoverished. thought cultivated through their reading passions. What should we do when teachers brag has empowered them to hold great con- Genesis (Moses): While we long for on Twitter about removing Homer from the versations. the pre-Fall paradise, we live in a curriculum? I suspect we should respond as That’s not to say they do not see world filled equally with sin, death, we do when another headline proclaims a themselves in the literature, but that per- and hope. building renamed or a statue toppled: We ception does not lie in the particularities Metamorphoses (Ovid): The gods mourn the reality that the barbarians are of race, gender, class, or sexual orienta- of pagan antiquity do not desire within the metaphorical gates, and we tion. Instead, they identify with univer- human happiness; for full human continue carrying forward the classical re- sal human temptations, successes, and flourishing, we need something newal movement in homeschooling groups, experiences found throughout the Great greater than the whims of Jupiter private schools, and new institutions. The Tradition. There are many other books to govern justice. woke mob may continue destroying, but that are of great value outside our cur- Beowulf (anon.): Evil exists in the preservation of the good life will go on riculum, but it remains our conviction as the world, and the hero’s task is as it always has: one student, one family, a school that these texts are essential for to carve out space for the good one small community at a time. students’ lifelong flourishing. through his deeds. To the #DisruptTexts-inclined Inferno (Dante): Vice takes many Josh Herring is a humanities instructor at Thales teacher, the great books teacher might forms, and by knowing those forms Academy, a graduate of Southeastern Baptist respond that our students are identifying we also learn the nature of virtue. Theological Seminary and Hillsdale College, with what is universally human. Read- Canterbury Tales (Chaucer): Life is and a doctoral student in Faulkner University’s ing great books calls students out of not all morals and ethics; there is Great Books program. He has written for Moral themselves and into a larger conver- great joy in living. Apologetics, The Imaginative Conservative, sation. As they enter that conversa- Le Morte d’Arthur (Mallory): Love, mis- Think Christian, and The Federalist. tion, they are prepared to steward their directed, can destroy the good life.

21 WINTER 2021 ACTON.ORG COLUMN Editorial Board A REVOLUTION OF DECENCY Publisher: Rev. Robert A. Sirico Rev. Robert A. Sirico Executive Editor: Rev. Ben Johnson Formatting Support: Iron Light Orderly elections, the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next, and public confidence in the institutions responsible for ensuring that these things The Acton Institute for the Study of transpire are necessary for any free and just society. These are integral components of Religion and Liberty promotes a free the rule of law, which minimizes the conflicts that may arise when the free actions of society characterized by individual persons and institutions result in competing interests. We have seen, tragically, in the liberty and sustained by religious past months just what happens when our nation’s institutions and leaders fail in their principles. Letters and requests should most basic functions to preserve the common good. Of course, we have seen this over a be directed to: long period of time in the United States, but the most recent examples merit comment. The effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have led to increasing social isolation Religion & Liberty, Acton Institute. and large-scale economic dislocation. This has, in many cases, been compounded by 98 E. Fulton Street, Grand Rapids, the failures of ham-fisted government interventions, the thirst for accumulating power MI 49503. and political leadership at all levels. Changes in the normal rules and procedures in the administration of elections adopted to deal with the public health impacts of the pan- The Acton Institute was founded on the demic were implemented poorly, litigated extensively, and resulted in the conduct of an basis of ten core principles, integrating election in which the outcome was reported in neither an orderly nor timely manner. Judeo-Christian truths with free market The already existing suspicion of institutions and leaders has now resulted in widespread principles. public distrust and anger. Former President Donald Trump himself disputed the results and filed several legal • Dignity of the Person challenges. With the failure of these legal challenges at every level, he doubled down, • Social Nature of the Person protesting that the election had been stolen. The public distrust and anger, along with • Importance of Social Institutions the intemperate and imprudent language of former President Trump and other political • Human Action leaders, contributed to the tragic and dispiriting January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol • Sin by a mob of rioters, which resulted in five deaths. • Rule of Law and the Subsidiary This political violence is part of a larger and deeply troubling trend. The riots of last Role of Government summer in the wake of the death of George Floyd similarly resulted in property damage • Creation of Wealth and tragic loss of life. They, too, were fueled by public distrust and anger and were also • Economic Liberty encouraged by intemperate and imprudent leaders such as Congresswoman Maxine Wa- • Economic Value ters, who was rightly condemned at the time for inciting violence against public officials. • Priority of Culture Those interested in promoting a free and virtuous society must refuse any sort of moral relativism, excusing or minimizing one form of political violence while calling out another. The notion of shared values on both It is counterproductive to hurl political barbs back and forth, promoting further political sides of the Atlantic has received division and polarization. Political violence, in all of its forms, must be repudiated totally. new attention. Leaders like France’s We must recognize that the only path forward is to listen to each other honestly and socialist ex-president François with a great deal of patience. Many people are caught up in political polarization and Hollande cite “democracy, freedoms demonization promoted by bad actors and opportunistic political leaders. We must be and the respect of every individual" as ruthless in promoting our principles while being gentle with our neighbors. It must be key values. But what about religious noted that this effort at honest dialogue ought not, in any way, diminish our commit- liberty, the breakdown of the welfare ment to our values and the promotion of the virtues that undergird freedom. state, advancing secularism and The growing secularist mentality sees religion as irrelevant, reducing everything to the health of civil society? R&L political conflicts and temporal power. The Psalmist warned about this mentality when Transatlantic will cover these issues he wrote: here with new articles. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish (Psalm 146:3-4). For archived issues or to subscribe, The principles underlying a free and virtuous society are grounded not in the preten- please visit www.acton.org. The views sions of any human ideology, but within the very nature of human persons created, sus- of the authors expressed in Religion & tained, and loved by God. They originate and flow from the dignity of the human person, Liberty are not necessarily those of the free and secure in his rights and bound to his neighbor in his duties. This is a message Acton Institute. that inspires our confidence, and this is the only sure ground on which to reform and build trustworthy institutions for the next generation. © 2021 Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Rev. Robert A. Sirico is co-founder of the Acton Institute.

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