By: David Weston on January 16, 2025
Reading Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren’s book, How to Read a Book brought to mind a quote I read years ago by Petrarch, “Books give delight to the very marrow of one’s bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join us in a living and intense intimacy.” Being a lifelong bibliophile,…
By: Daren Jaime on January 16, 2025
Growing up, I can remember my Social Studies teacher telling us that her class was going to give us an introduction to democracy. I thought the word itself must have a simple definition, but class and life experience later revealed how multi-layered and complex it is. My definition of democracy was linked to a form…
By: Chad Warren on January 16, 2025
“The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.”[1] With these words, George Washington acknowledged the imperfections of the United States’ new government while expressing his belief in its potential as one of the best systems in the world—a true experiment in governance. Before diving into Patrick…
By: Mika Harry on January 16, 2025
I am a recovering control freak. For years, I have posed as an organizer, especially in academic settings, but control remains the dark underbelly of my organizing. As I learn new rhythms of reading, writing, and thinking, I face the disorienting challenge of loosening my grip on control. Questions swirl: How can I ensure I’m…
By: Darren Banek on January 16, 2025
It was intended to be a fun afternoon trip for a young boy and his mom—a special time when just the two of them could go and explore. For many boys, exploring is at the top of the fun list. Sticks, rocks, and a pond full of frogs quickly pop into their minds. But this…
By: Jeremiah Gómez on January 16, 2025
I grew up on my grandparents’ tiny dirt farm of a ranch in Arizona. Most of life there was hard-fought, trying to cultivate and sustain life and growth in the desert. In many ways, fostering something verdant out of the caliche clay of Cochise County seemed an impossible task: fires, floods, competition with big ranchers…
By: Debbie Owen on January 16, 2025
I confess that when I read the title of this week’s book– Why Liberalism Failed– I jumped to the conclusion that this was going to be a discussion about why the political party on the left has failed. That would be confusing to me because, in my current context, “liberal” describes people who have a…
By: Kari on January 16, 2025
What do I currently believe about liberal democracy? Initially, I struggled to answer this question. What was causing my mental block? It is the word “liberal.” I grew up in a conservative Christian home. The word liberal was not used positively. Liberal defined people who believe things counter to the Bible, who want to have…
By: Alex Mwaura on January 16, 2025
There is so much happening in the world we live in. We often seem to be moving from one level of information to another at a very rapid pace. With Artificial Intelligence, (AI) facts and information on the widest range of topics is right at our fingertips. Sometimes when I listen to a show on…
By: Graham English on January 16, 2025
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4.18,19) In this blog, I…
By: Jennifer Eckert on January 16, 2025
Start. Stop. But wait, there’s another question. What about this or that? Articulating my thoughts about liberal democracy proved challenging as I ventured down several rabbit trails. In this blog, I’ll share my initial views on liberal democracy and how they evolved after reading Patrick Deneen’s Why Liberalism Failed. “We have frequently printed the word…
By: Betsy on January 16, 2025
I love books, their smell, their feel, and ordering them in categories. I love my library, which is in a wooden shed office in my garden overlooking the sheep that are scattered over the nearby field. The first hour of reading Adler’s and Van Doren’s book, ‘How to Read a Book’, was like being thumped…
By: Elysse Burns on January 16, 2025
Pre-Deneen Reflections When I think about liberal democracy, I’m reminded of a scene from Almost Famous, a movie I loved as a teenager. Set in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the character Anita Miller decides to break free from her repressive “house of lies” and her overly strict mother in pursuit of a more…
By: Robert Radcliff on January 16, 2025
I’m from Iowa, so let me start with a parable about planting crops: One early spring day, a man didn’t know if he should plant corn or beans. So, he went to the village elder. He told the elder all of his thoughts on the weather, the heartiness of corn, the economy, and the price…
By: Rich on January 15, 2025
I studied mechanical engineering at Rice University. Dr. Pol Spanos taught my statics and dynamics classes. He was a brilliant engineer with a huge smile and an endearing Greek accent. I found the material quite difficult, yet he had a way of bringing joy to my state of impending failure. He gave me two quotes…
By: Shela Sullivan on January 14, 2025
Exploring, Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick J. Deneen Knew Very Little I knew very little about liberal democracy. History traces its origins to 18th-century Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. This period was marked by a shift in thinking, where intellectuals began to challenge the traditional authority of monarchies and aristocracies. They emphasized principles such…
By: Diane Tuttle on January 14, 2025
Prior to reading: What I believe about Liberal Democracy. When I think of liberal democracy I think back to elementary school where history captivated me. Being in Washington, DC in September 2024 stirred a sense that what the founders of the United States were trying to accomplish was different, important, and life changing for an…
By: Joff Williams on January 14, 2025
After riding bicycles through the Piney Woods of East Texas, my friend Justin commented on a popular maxim. “You know how they say ‘time is money?'” he asks, sweaty helmet in hand. “I think we have it the wrong way around. Time isn’t money. Money is time.” What he described that day has remained with…
By: Ryan Thorson on January 14, 2025
**What I currently believe about liberal democracy** Its interesting the the first prompt is to write about what I “believe” about liberal democracy, as opposed to what I know. On first glance of the question I had begun to think about what I know about liberal democracy. I reflected on civics and government classes in…
By: Jeff Styer on January 13, 2025
Previous Knowledge When I looked at the term for our previous knowledge assessment and saw liberal democracy, I remembered that I read about it in Jesus and the Powers[1]. I knew that the authors spoke in favor of it, but honestly that is where it ends. The term liberal as used in society today, depending…
