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Some Notes on the Silence

My new book, Some Notes on the Silence, is now available from the publisher, Kelsay Books. They tell me Amazon is running a bit behind, so the book will be available there in about a month.

Although I prefer for the poems to speak for themselves, I will say that this book begins with the atmosphere of “cancel culture,” intimidation, and foreboding that pervades our society today, and then seeks a way to surpass these things and find truth and meaning both culturally and individually. I do so primarily (though not exclusively) through the lens of American tradition and history, not out of blind worship of these things, but out of an informed love for them.

I’m honored that some of my favorite poets—Stephen Kampa, A.M. Juster, and Jennifer Reeser—took time to say some kind words about my writing, and I was especially touched by Ms. Reeser’s comment that my “poetic voice is as authentically American as any reader could hope to encounter.” That was exactly what I hoped to evoke, and if I have managed that, I consider the book a success.

Here are a couple previously unpublished poems that you’ll find in Some Notes on the Silence.

A Lens
(for Wallace Stevens)

I held a lens against the sky,
and all the waves that wandered in
the darkness came into alignment
as they never were before,

and cannot be again; that lens
with delicate exactitude
carved a place against the night
with its own abandoned light,

and made a thing that I could hold
while all around the wild earth
remained a mystery: an instant
clear like nothing else. An image point.

 

from Three Poems from The Twilight Zone
Good Living (“It’s A Good Life” starring Bill Mumy)

Within His mind is everything; outside
Him is nothing. We’re happy deep inside.
Our world is what He alone decides.
All we really need, He provides.

And it’s peaceful. Truly. Some have tried
to find some way to reach the other side
of the field. Some of them have died.
Or worse. Better not to play that hide

and seek with thoughts. That’s just suicide.
The real problem is your foolish pride.
Stifle it and learn to clear your mind.
If you pretend it’s true, you haven’t lied.

Most of all, say you’re satisfied.
Try not to think about infanticide.

I’m grateful to the editors at Kelsay Books both for putting together such a lovely book and for their patience with me as I struggled to get everything just so.

Crime and Punishment

My latest book review for The Objective Standard focuses on Kevin Birmingham’s new book about Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s composition of Crime and Punishment. It’s an entertaining and deeply researched book, although its main premise—that Dostoyevsky based the book on a particular 1834 murder—is a little bit gimmicky, because that case was just one of many things that went into the book:

[Crime and Punishment] is not just an exercise in psychology, let alone a reflection on the author’s personal struggles. Its claim to the status of classic arises as much from its philosophical elements. Among the most important of these is Dostoevsky’s portrayal of nihilism, a cultural fashion in his day. Nihilism—the ideological embrace of nothingness—was a movement fostered in part by the Russian government’s intense authoritarianism and in part by rising secularism and capitalism in the West. Politically excluded from the benefits of Western progress, and with their traditional faith shattered by scientific discoveries and cultural revolutions, many young, intelligent Russians opted instead for this anti-ideology—which had important consequences for literature. “Nowadays,” says a character in Ivan Turgenev’s 1862 novel Fathers and Sons, “the most useful thing of all is rejection—we reject.” Nihilists rejected not just religion, but all political, social, and moral ideals—including reason and science. “Being a nihilist meant training your attention on small facts so that you will not lose yourself in bewildering fantasies,” Birmingham writes. But this was also destined to foster a sense of alienation and impotence.

Read the rest…

By rejecting a record tax increase, Arizona chooses a better path

I have an article in National Review Online this morning about the court decision invalidating Arizona's Prop. 208. Excerpt:

Thirty years ago, voters adopted a constitutional amendment that limited government spending in hopes of preventing the state from running itself into California-style debts. But instead of either following that constitutional provision or changing it, Proposition 208’s backers simply included a provision that declared its initiative exempt. In other words, although the initiative was not a constitutional amendment — i.e., just an ordinary law — it pronounced itself immune from the state’s highest law.

That, of course, didn’t work. Taxpayers and legislators represented by the Goldwater Institute swiftly filed a lawsuit against the initiative, and last August, the state supreme court declared what should have been obvious: “Prop. 208 cannot constitutionally authorize spending in violation of the Education Expenditure Clause. . . . A statute cannot circumvent or modify constitutional requirements.” And because the initiative’s spending provisions were invalid, its tax provisions were invalid, too. After all, it would make no sense to impose a tax to collect money that can’t be spent.

Read the rest...

Talking with Chris DeSimone about the victory over Pinal County's illegal tax

I talked this morning with Chris DeSimone of Wake Up Tucson about our win yesterday in the Arizona Supreme Court. You can listen here.

My new book cover!

Here's the cover of my (other) new book, Freedom's Furies: How Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand Found Liberty in an Age of Darkness, coming in November from Cato. (Preorder now!)

The book tells the story of these three path-breaking women--journalists, novelists, and political philosophers--who transformed American literature and politics during an era of Depression and World War. In 1943, these three women published books (The God of the Machine, The Discovery of Freedom, and The Fountainhead) that gave birth to the modern libertarian movement. What's not as well known is that they knew each other, shared ideas and argued, and engaged with the literary and political movements of their day in dramatic ways. I learned a lot writing this book and I hope readers will enjoy hearing about what I discovered.

Update 4/22/22: We've changed the title and slightly altered the cover.

Talking with Andy Caldwell about the Indian Child Welfare Act

I was on the Andy Caldwell show the other day to discuss the Indian Child Welfare Act, which is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. We got into some of the nitty-gritty of how this law deprives Indian kids and the adults who love them of the legal protections that Americans of other races enjoy. You can listen here.

How the government keeps "Indian" children from loving homes

I have an article in Reason today about the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the Supreme Court case that challenges the constitutionality of this deeply flawed statute. Excerpt:

Obviously, state child services systems also have many problems, and for the state to intervene in family relationships—particularly to take kids away from parents—is an extreme step, one that should be reserved for truly drastic situations. Indeed, the ICWA was supposedly adopted to redress the injuries that had been inflicted on Native families by overzealous state agencies that targeted Native parents out of a program of forced assimilation with white society. But the ICWA fails to resolve that problem: rather than improving care for at-risk kids, it worsens it by denying Native children the legal guarantees against abuse that kids of other races enjoy. Rather than ensuring that "Indian children" don't need foster care or adoption, it simply makes it harder for kids to obtain these protections when needed. In fact, by applying the "active efforts" rule in intra-family disputes, the ICWA even deprives Native parents of the right to protect their own children from harm....

Read the rest...

March newsletter is out!

The March issue of my monthly Substack newsletter is online here. Sign up to get updates in your inbox!

Ketanji Brown Jackson

I wrote up an article about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, for Discourse. While she doesn’t have much of a paper trail—and, of course, it’s unlikely that Biden would have chosen her if he wasn’t sure she adhered to traditionally Democratic positions on major issues such as abortion and gun rights—I found some of her district court opinions on administrative law interesting, particularly her defense of nationwide injunctions. On these and some other issues, there may be reason for believers in freedom to be optimistic about her appointment. (Of course, there’s never any way to know for sure.)

Frederick Douglass and the right to vote

Last fall, the Federalist Society interviewed me for a brief video about Frederick Douglass, and particularly Douglass’ work to obtain voting rights for the former slaves. They released it last week, and you can see it here.