Intercollegiate Review Weekly (5.30.2019)

CATEGORY: GOVERNMENT (6 min)

Keep the Electoral College

The Electoral College is really popular lately. But not the good “popular.”

Many Democrats would like to see it dismantled (cough, Elizabeth Warren).

But what if the Electoral College is the best way to preserve the rights of the minorities Democrats wish to protect?

Vote for Pedro

In this week’s Intercollegiate Review essay, Noah Diekemper argues why we need the Electoral College. And he has some ideas for defending it:

1. Brush up on how the Electoral College works (he breaks it down for you)
2. Learn how it protects individual rights better than sweeping elections can
3. Pay attention to the motives of the people who want it gone

Our vote is that you read this insightful essay before you catch up on the news.

CATEGORY: POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (15 min)

What Distinguishes America?

Is it our emphasis on liberty? Our work ethic? Guns?

Or is it something more?

Meet Me in the Middle

The political philosopher Orestes Brownson believed that what distinguished America from other nations was our ability to reconcile two idealistic extremes: individualism and equality.

Brownson also believed America had “two foundings”: one in New England and another in Virginia.

Alexis de Tocqueville, another prominent political philosopher, would have agreed with him.

Framers & Founders

In this adapted Law & Liberty essay, the late Peter Augustine Lawler and Richard M. Reinsch contrast explore these “two foundings,” and contrast the interpretations of Brownson and de Tocqueville.

They examine:

• How Puritan New England and democratic Virginia shaped the United States
• Why the Founders were statesmen, as opposed to mere theorists
• America’s uniquely “bourgeois” nature: what it means, and why it matters

It’s a long read, but like a good wine or whiskey, this subject is better when sipped.

CATEGORY: SOCIOLOGY (49 min)

Finding a Place in the World: Community and Citizenship in Modern America

Consider a few watchwords of the twenty-first century: globalization, global citizenship, interconnectedness, mobility.

We assume that bigger is better, centralized is better, integrated is better.

But in this week’s archived lecture, Professor Wilfred M. McClay challenges that assumption. Rather than think BIG, we should think scale: human scale.

His thoughtful lecture not only indicts global thinking — it also gives you a sense of what finding your place in the world might look like.