p. 18 The Conservative Foundation of the Liberal Order, Mahoney

What did Tocqueville say that the despotic "schoolmaster state" wanted to spare us?

Answer: T. said the schoolmaster state would enervate the human soul and destroy the capacity for individual initiative and moral judgement.

"Carried to its logical conclusion, a tutelary state would deprive democratic man of his very humanity, sparing him 'the trouble of thinking and the pain of living.'"

p. 14 The Conservative Foundation of the Liberal Order, Mahoney

Tocqueville's critique of his asst, Gobineau (and a fine critique of Nietsche's position), who believed in pure scientism:

No, I will not believe that this human species, which is at the head of visible creation, should become the debased flock that you tell us it is and that there is nothing more to do than to deliver it without future and without recourse to a small number of shepherds who, after all, are not better animals than we are and are often worse. You will permit me to have less confidence in you than in the bounty and justice of God.

Another way of putting this conservative foundation is this: God created man, God made man the head of all his creation, man is loved by God personally, and THEREFORE man can never be self-sovereign. Tocqueville attacks Gobineau for removing God from the picture thus allowing him to set himself up as the self-sovereign ruler of man.

Contrast this with clip below where Donahue complains that capitalism doesn't reward virtue, meaning that material rewards should follow from virtue. This is the opposite message of Christ, who foresaw not mundane rewards but earthly suffering for the virtuous. For Christ, following Him equated to virtue. There's little chance this is what Donahue meant by virtue, as evidenced by his belief that virtue should be rewarded with material gain. Tocqueville wasn't particularly Christian, but recognized the danger of material gain becoming the goal of democracy.

Friedman is brilliant in his answer to Donahue, and yet Friedman isn't as close to Tocqueville as he sounds. Donahue complains that capitalism doesn't reward virtue. Friedman rightly points out that no system or person does reward virtue, and no one should be trusted with doing so. But Tocqueville doesn't attack Gobineau just because he wants to be the entrusted ruler, but because Gobineau ignores the hierarchy of man's relationship with God. Friedman, God bless him, disregarded that hierarchy as well.

p. 196 A New Birth of Freedom, Jaffa

What does it mean to say that majority rules requires unanimous consent? What is America's unanimous consent? What about our natural rights do we give up when we enter into a government? What does it mean to say "without the recognition of the laws of nature there can be no states rights consistent with human rights"?

p. 22 Nation of Bastards Farrow

What's the absurd question we are asked to believe?

p. 21 Nation of Bastards Farrow

What decision by the Ontario Supreme Court demonstrates the degree to which gay marriage also erases the definition of parenthood? What is the significance in the decision of the words "to allow"? Also, see here, and here.

pp. 165 A New Birth of Freedom, Jaffa

What is Lincoln's argument against pro-slavery theology? How might you apply it to modern-day affirmative action? Extra credit: apply to Exodus 17:3.

pp. 154-155 A New Birth of Freedom, Jaffa

In what way was Christianity an engine of freedom in the United States, and a barrier to freedom in Europe?

"...When the slavery question took on the dimensions of a religious question, the entire experiment in free government was thereby at risk." P. 155

pp. 132-133 A New Birth of Freedom, Jaffa

What is the theme of Shakespeare's histories from Richard II - Henry V? What is the tension between morality & politics, and morality & religion?

The Audacity of the State, by Douglas Farrow

This drawing is my attempt to sum up this article by Douglas Farrow.