McCormick Prof. of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals & Institutions, Princeton U. + Banjo Picker. unWoke/uncancellable
Joined October 2013
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A person can have good character and be a disastrous leader. Character is not enough. Good judgment and other qualities are also needed. But no one lacking in character can be a good leader. Character really is destiny--a man's, a party's, a nation's.
Congratulations to two brilliant young Princeton colleagues, Greg Conti (@GregoryConti19) and Flora Champy, on their election as term members of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters (@AASL_Academy). Professor Conti is in Political Theory. Professor Champy is in French.
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Those of us on the conservative side in American politics don't need new principles. We need to recover and rededicate ourselves to the old ones. If we do--but only if we do--we can meet the challenges of a progressive movement that has fully embraced expressive individualism and identity politics and is increasingly, and more and more openly, socialist.
What does my kind of conservatism want to conserve? Here are a few things, for starters: 1. The ur-principle of all sound morality, that of the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of each and every member of the human family. 2. Flourishing institutions of civil society, beginning with the marriage-based family. 3. The rule of law and limited, accountable, constitutional republican government. 4. Basic civil rights and liberties: freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly; due process and the equal protection of the laws. 5. Genuinely truth-seeking institutions of education at every level. 6. A prosperity-generating market-based economy that sustains and elevates living standards for everyone while operating within the bounds and subject to the requirements of the common good. 7. Public safety ensured by uncorrupted, efficient, and effective police, prosecutorial, and judicial authorities operating within rules fashioned to preserve and protect basic civil rights and liberties. 8. A physical environment supportive of human life and health and a moral ecology suitable for the rearing of children. 9. A strong military capable of defending the nation and its vital interests while remaining aloof from politics and respecting the principle of civilian authority.
President Trump continues to say "if I were on the ballot, we would have won." Even his most loyal supporters don't believe this. Members of his family don't believe it. I doubt that the President himself actually believes it. This election was a referendum on him. He made it so.
Neither of the big winners in the two parties tonight was on the ballot: Zohran Mamdani and Ron DeSantis. Mamdani's influence in his party expands. DeSantis' prospects of winning his party's presidential nomination rise.
Here's the evidence that no one ever has to ask me twice to play the banjo. Last night I spoke for Lewis House, the Christian Studies Center at the University of Kentucky. When I was introduced, I was handed a banjo and invited to play. I was even provided with a wonderful guitar accompanist! (The tune is Don Reno's classic "Dixie Breakdown.")
Lexington got a great treat tonight courtesy @LewisHouseLex. Dr. Robert P George (@McCormickProf) opened with some fine Appalachian Classical music.
Once again, President Trump wanted this midterm election to be a referendum on him. He is getting what he wanted. It's a referendum on him. He wanted people to vote as if he were on the ballot. That's what they're doing. We'll have their verdict soon.
My former student Mike Fragoso makes the case for Mike Rogers saying what he said about abortion, and for pro-lifers giving him a pass to say it. There's more to be said on both sides, but definitely worth reading and considering.
Mike Rogers’s immediate job is not to use rhetoric that pro-lifers find appealing. Nor is it to engage in the pro-wrestling kayfabe that is federal pro-life legislation. It’s to get elected in a state that overwhelmingly legalized all abortion four years ago. The job of pro-lifers is to evaluate soberly the job he would do as a senator given his record and campaign rhetoric.
nationalreview.com/corner/mi…
So, Mike Rogers is saying, in essence, that Abdul El-Sayed and the Democrats are right on abortion and he's now with them. This from a guy with a near perfect pro-life voting record in the House of Representatives. Not exactly a profile in courage! 1/
I have been clear about this issue time and time again and I will not allow Abdul to lie about my position.
This decision is one of the hardest decisions a woman will make in her entire life and it should be handled with her family and her doctor. Period.
The Michigan voters went to the ballot box and made a woman’s right to choose part our State Constitution and as Michigan’s next Senator I will never go to Washington and overturn the will of the Michigan people.
Rogers could have demonstrated statesmanship and courage by standing up to El-Sayed and the Democrats on the issue, challenging the pro-abortion extremism that has authorized abortion-up-to-birth in states like Massachusetts and Minnesota. But instead, he caved. 2/
Robert P. George retweeted
Order your copy of Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth by @McCormickProf from Encounter Books.
encounterbooks.com/books/see…
I had the pleasure of responding here to some thoughtful and illuminating comments by Jim Hankins, Cheryl Miller, and Jennifer Frey on my essay in Law & Liberty on William F. Buckley's critique of academic freedom in *God and Man at Yale*.
lawliberty.org/forum/buckley…
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Folks in both parties should acknowledge that the midterm election is what Donald Trump wanted it to be: a referendum on him. ("Act like I'm on the ballot.") We'll soon have an outcome. A blue wave = a negative verdict on the President. No blue wave = a vote of confidence.
It's true that the Republicans are running exceptionally weak candidates (most of whom Trump endorsed in the primaries) in some states. But the overall result--win or lose--will reflect the voting public's verdict on the President. Again, that's what he said he wanted.