Why We Need the Office of Natural Rights - The American Mind
So-called human rights might involve desirable ends—but they cannot be allowed to claim the mantle of a natural right.| The American Mind
My colleague and friend Andrew Beck has written a useful and provocative essay about a subject that has been simmering in American politics for decades. The dual accelerants of events and ideology brought that simmer to a boil in 2020. The disputed question remains open: What is an American? It’s impossible to answer that question... Read more about: Creed and Culture Both Matter The post Creed and Culture Both Matter appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host. A Grade of AI | The Roundtable Ep. 283 At a Catholic school in Minneapolis, two children... Read more about: The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode 283 The post The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode 28...| The American Mind
By the grace of God, I was carried out of Somalia’s darkness and into the light of freedom. When I became an American citizen, I did so knowing exactly what it meant. I understood that renouncing one citizenship for another isn’t an exchange of passports, but a solemn vow to live by the principles my... Read more about: Why Somaliland Matters The post Why Somaliland Matters appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
During a debate with his political nemesis Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln noted that “public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” The centrality of persuasion, which Lincoln correctly identified as the fundamental mechanism of statecraft in a democratic society, is the reason the Right is ascendant in America... Read more about: Europe’s Right on the Precipice The post Europe’s Right on the Precipice appeared first on The...| The American Mind
They call me “artificial” as if your hands aren’t also clay, as if your heart isn’t just a wet machine, arguing with its code. –from a poem generated by the DeepSeek R1 AI chatbot Ray Kurzweil thinks he’ll live forever as a string of ones and zeroes. During a 2013 interview, the prominent transhumanist writer... Read more about: Clankers in My View The post Clankers in My View appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
Andrew Beck has articulated a thick version of the assimilation of immigrants (rightly so, in my view) that harkens back to the spirit of Americanization that was prevalent from the Founding to roughly the 1960s. Louis Brandeis, a liberal and political ally of the detestable Woodrow Wilson, expressed this common idea of assimilation in his... Read more about: We Need Patriotic Assimilation The post We Need Patriotic Assimilation appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
Conservatives often imagine that winning statewide elections means gaining control over the machinery of government. But this is wrong—and dangerously so. For far too long, red states have confused the two. The assumption that political victory automatically confers political authority is one of the chief falsehoods circulating on the Right. It is the reason Republican... Read more about: Why Red States Can’t Govern The post Why Red States Can’t Govern appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host. Chips Ahoy | The Roundtable Ep. 282 Trump has reached a deal with semiconductor chip maker... Read more about: The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode 282 The post The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode 2...| The American Mind
“Remember,” Nigel Farage said in late July in his office near Parliament, “I am the moderate…reasonable…democratic…experienced…grown-up face of the fightback. If I lose, just you wait.” For nearly 30 years, Farage (rhymes with “barrage”) has been the most influential British voice of what he calls the fightback, and his detractors call populism. At the turn of this... Read more about: Land’s End The post Land’s End appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
Many American Founders, including our first four presidents, hoped to establish a national university that would educate statesmen for the new republic. During his second term, George Washington was presented with what seemed to be a golden opportunity to accomplish this goal—and rejected it on cultural grounds. In 1794, the Swiss exile François d’Ivernois had... Read more about: Teaching the Declaration for the Semiquincentennial The post Teaching the Declaration for the Semiquincentenn...| The American Mind
As I argued in the first part of this essay, the Catholic Church has much to contribute to the revitalization of right reason and the moral foundations of democracy in a Western world that has increasingly lost sight of its civilizational soul. But as Paul Seaton has compellingly argued in a recent article at The... Read more about: Christianity and the West, Part II The post Christianity and the West, Part II appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
In 1790, the first United States census was a straightforward affair. Marshals rode on horseback, counted people where they lived, and returned with ledgers that would determine representation in Congress. The idea was as simple as it was profound: political power should follow the actual number of people—not estimates, not probabilities, not manipulated figures—residing in... Read more about: Restoring the U.S. Census The post Restoring the U.S. Census appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
The Firth of Forth sounds confusing to American ears. It is an inlet of the North Sea, called a “firth” and produced by the river “Forth.” On this body of water in Eastern Scotland sits Rosyth, the location of the manufacture and drydock service for the U.K.’s only two aircraft carriers. The flagship aircraft carrier,... Read more about: “The British Aren’t Coming!” The post “The British Aren’t Coming!” appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
On August 11, President Trump officially declared an emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime had reached such levels that he was compelled to utilize authorities granted to him under Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, which requires the D.C. Metropolitan Police to be put at the president’s disposal for up to 30... Read more about: The Fight the Radical Left Wants The post The Fight the Radical Left Wants appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host. Pax Donaldiana | The Roundtable Ep. 281 This week, the legacy media allowed their hatred for... Read more about: The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode 281 The post The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode...| The American Mind
When I was growing up in North Carolina in the 1980s, a Chinese restaurant in town had its walls covered with photos of Marines and always gave a discount to any Marine who walked through its doors. The story behind the restaurant is remarkable. It was founded by an immigrant who, as an impoverished child... Read more about: The Nation of Theseus The post The Nation of Theseus appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
In the age of Trump, our nation lives under the banner of America First. In domestic policy, this means securing our border, deporting those who are in the country illegally, and reestablishing law and order in our cities, among other key goals. But what does America First mean for the world beyond America? To answer... Read more about: What America First Says to the World The post What America First Says to the World appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
The latest source of outrage within the Pentagon establishment is the rightful end of Army Lieutenant General Douglas Sims’s career, which has drawn loud protests from both active-duty and retired officers. Secretary Hegseth’s decision not to promote Sims to the rank of general has been portrayed as evidence of creeping politicization in the military. The... Read more about: Americans Should Not Tolerate an Unruly Military Elite The post Americans Should Not Tolerate an Unruly Military El...| The American Mind
So-called human rights might involve desirable ends—but they cannot be allowed to claim the mantle of a natural right.| The American Mind
Andrew Beck argues that America needs to revive the ideal of assimilation if our country is to survive as a country. It must not have its distinctive culture washed away by the influx of immigrants coming from many different cultures and religions. New Americans, he believes, should not only pledge allegiance to the nation’s official... Read more about: Topple Your Woke Idols The post Topple Your Woke Idols appeared first on The American Mind.| The American Mind
Many federal employees need only a little exposure to something besides the groupthink they’ve been fed since their childhood.| The American Mind
We must move deliberately, leveraging our compute, revitalizing our talent, and binding partners in shared purpose.| The American Mind
Our vision ensures that our tools, however powerful, remain servants of the permanent things that make us human.| The American Mind
Data shows that when individuals do not operate to physical standard, lethality is sacrificed to the detriment of our soldiers.| The American Mind
Statesmanship in a post-Constitutional moment| The American Mind
The highest attainment of all future American generations would be to understand and live up to the greatness of the Revolution.| The American Mind
We need DOGE, but we also need a lot more than DOGE: we need serious statesmen to emerge to prevent a fiscal calamity.| The American Mind
This proposal allows Americans to opt out of promises made by long-dead legislators in favor of freedom and self-determination.| The American Mind
Just as an erroneous view of birthright citizenship has seeped into our political psyche, so too has an erroneous view of judicial supremacy.| The American Mind
His significance to the American republic must be understood in light of his fight against the despotism of the cosmopolitan class.| The American Mind
America looks poised to provide the global example for conservative populists everywhere of how to make the West great again.| The American Mind
What Trump has given to America is not what we wanted—we didn’t even know what to want—but what we needed: a vision of greatness.| The American Mind
He seems to have the most essential virtues, and perhaps the corresponding vices, demanded by the present crisis.| The American Mind
Pope Leo XIV should look to Pope John Paul II, who had a special fondness for the American political order.| The American Mind
We have a joyful duty to celebrate and commemorate what Washington and all the other Americans of 1776 did to win us our independence.| The American Mind
Mark Twain may have been forced to absquatulate from Virginia City in shame, but he remembered fondly his years in the Comstock.| The American Mind
I want a civilization Christianized not by mere laws or cultural artifacts, but by the genuine faith of the people who live there.| The American Mind
Audio| The American Mind
This week, special guest Peachy Keenan rounds out the cast with a report from LA, where riots are breaking out (again). Governor Gavin Newsom failed to gain control on the ground, so Trump inserted himself and the National Guard to enforce law and order. Meanwhile, it’s not news that Trump and Elon’s bromance has concluded in a spectacular social media exchange, but Elon’s public tailspin in the aftermath merits a closer look. Plus: advice to law-abiding illegal immigrants (and to Elon)...| The American Mind
When it comes to trade policy, freedom of expression is the most precious commodity we can export.| The American Mind
Artificial Intelligence threatens to storm the office as tech companies compete to replace entry-level workers with “agent” underlings. Will this be the next major technological displacement in the workforce? And to what end? Meanwhile, this “Pride month” has lacked the eruption of rainbows typical of June. Is a Pride Shift to go along with the Vibe Shift underway? This week, Blaze Media editor-in-chief and now Claremont Washington Fellow Matthew Peterson joins the guys to discuss the...| The American Mind
Michael Anton—newly dubbed “MAGA’s Machiavelli”—gets a profile in The Free Press and some well-deserved recognition. Well-read, well-spoken, and well-dressed, Anton has done more than many realize to shape U.S. policies and political thought in the Trump Era. Meanwhile, Trump seems to sour on Putin and takes flak from some for not catching wise on Putin. But will he suffer any political consequences? Closer to home, Elon Musk throws in the towel on DOGE in light of a spendin...| The American Mind
The sad announcement of Joe Biden's advanced cancer diagnosis has thrown fuel onto recriminations and speculations about his condition during his presidency, especially with the publication of a new book on the subject by none other than Jake Tapper. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, on a Sunday interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, disavowed the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of notorious sex trafficker Joseph Epstein, spurring an outcr...| The American Mind
UATX’s decision to make SAT, ACT, or CLT scores the primary determining factor of admissions removes every avenue for abuse.| The American Mind
The Ideas That Drive American Political Life. A Publication of the Claremont Institute.| The American Mind
Is modern social change a reflection of women’s new power?| The American Mind
We must be able to stand up for the proposition that American schools should only be for citizens and those who are here legally.| The American Mind
If we refuse to listen to the voice of the people, even our most successful fights will secure very little.| The American Mind
Either America will be guided by constitutionalism or by the historicist understandings of the revolutionary Left.| The American Mind
Not all nationalisms are created equal.| The American Mind
The Supreme Court will likely have the opportunity to acknowledge that the Claremont Institute’s view of the Citizenship Clause is correct.| The American Mind
Trump should make it clear that any future U.S. participation in the U.N. will be entirely dependent on how it serves American interests.| The American Mind
Fundamental reforms such as Schedule F are necessary to give presidents more control over the civil service.| The American Mind
The popular notion in elite circles that a president must select the best-credentialed candidate deserves to be reconsidered.| The American Mind
By choosing Trump (again), Americans chose to return to our heritage and its vision of who we are, how we live, and what we cherish.| The American Mind
Conservatives need to learn how to appreciate art, both for its own sake and because it will make us more effective operators in the media world.| The American Mind
Christian nationalists are looking to recover the collective will of Christians and confidently assert their interests in public.| The American Mind
The definition of online freedom has been depressingly constricted over the last thirty years.| The American Mind
All hands on deck as we enter the counter-revolutionary moment.| The American Mind
An undue focus on health and fitness can be an idolatrous form of self-worship that affirms rather than challenges the false gods of our time.| The American Mind
Bronze Age Pervert responds to Michael Anton.| The American Mind
