George Will on Free Speech and Conservative Media

George F. Will has this column out today on a transparent attempt by Democratic members of Congress to intimidate media outlets that, in his words, “distribute conservative content, or what nowadays passes for that.” Will’s conclusion is key: Disinformation is fundamentally a problem of consumption rather than supply. There is a point at which a people incapable of—or worse, uninterested in—distinguishing truth from fiction lacks the modicum of virtue that James Madison said self-government requires. If that is the case, the problem is far deeper than partisan or even extremist information ecosystems. Suppressing them would not help even if doing … Continue reading George Will on Free Speech and Conservative Media

Corruption and Arrogance in American Politics

Jeff Tulis does readers a tremendous service by reorienting the contemporary conversation about corruption toward the word’s classical sense: the corruption of institutions. In Machiavelli’s terms, or Montesquieu’s, corruption means turning an institution from its purpose, which is why the Discourses on Livy begin … Continue reading Corruption and Arrogance in American Politics