I am a culturally conservative libertarian who believes in American global leadership. I am disillusioned by this election as are many across political beliefs and interests for so many reasons other than mine.
Author: Ryan Shinkel
Only God Can Make a Groundhog: On Harold Ramis’ Divine Comedy, Groundhog Day
“You’re not a god, you can take my word for it. This is 12 years of Catholic school talking.” “I’m a god,” TV weatherman Phil Connors tells his producer, Rita Hanson, in a small town diner on February 2, also known by the title of the late director Harold Ramis’ film, Groundhog Day (1993). Phil […]
A Politics of Free Mores
All too often I encounter conservatives, Republicans, or libertarians making the fatal conceit of the left: assuming the individual as a given and forgetting the antecedent institutions that develop us to become free for excellence.
Our Common Stagnation: On Mad Max and Laudato Si
With its focal point being material progress, liberal modernity fixates so much on efficient means that we forget the basic ends of economic development and democratization: the human being.
How UM Made Me Conservative and Its Lessons
There are countless gifts I have received while being an undergraduate at the University of Michigan: inspiring professors and graduate instructors who taught me a love of Shakespeare, Existentialism, Nietzsche, Plato, Homer, nineteenth century French literature, and interpretations of quantum mechanics. The gift relevant here is that the University of Michigan made me love the […]
The Reciprocal Virtue of Free Speech
Given the ghastly massacre in Paris recently, many issues may be raised concerning politically protected satire (whatever its quality) when the cartoon pen is shown to be less mighty to terror attacks. One issue consists of the reasons to justify extending the law to protect speech and satire—even satire that would offend and enrage to […]
Fiscal Conservatives Should Support Conjugal Civil Marriage
by Ryan Shinkel Here I argue that marriage can only in principle consist in a relationship with sexual complementarity, and that prudent public policy should not let the state fundamentally alter an institution originating in generational renewal to one of mere state contracts of companionship. Many contemporaries believe marriage is only a romantic relationship between […]
An Opportunity for Conservative Reform
The Republicans have won the midterm elections. As the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat summarizes: “Control of the Senate with room to spare, easy victories in what were supposed to be tight purple-state races and even easier victories in red states, an unexpected nail biter in Virginia and an upset win in North Carolina, […]
Modern Gnostics and Modern Witch-hunts
“She turned me into a newt!” shouted John Cleese, as the Monty Python crowd cried that they had found a witch. Admittedly, as Cleese did, “I got better.” Remember witches burn because they are made of wood; wood floats on water; and as Graham Chapman pointed out, ducks also float on water. So if she […]
How I Evolved on Same-Sex Marriage
Like many Americans, I have changed my mind on same-sex marriage—though my change of mind has gone the opposite way of most. My support for same-sex marriage was early and enthusiastic. In high school I wrote a research paper titled “Gay Marriage as a Constitutional and Human Right.” I was earnest and impassioned, motivated by […]