Welcome to Off The Shelf, a periodic segment on books from The Square Inch Newsletter. This is a paywalled preview for free subscribers. Please consider upgrading your subscription for full access by clicking the button below:
Dear Friends,
First I’d like to thank those of you who have bravely walked off the dock onto this little skiff headed out to sea. Your paid subscription means a great deal to me!
Second, for those of you still hesitating on upgrading your subscription I just want to let you know that this month I will be doing something I have been loathe to do—in fact, I don’t think I’ve done it more than a couple of times in the last three years: I will be sending you teaser emails. Yes, you get to read a little bit of what’s going on at The Square Inch, but then you will inevitably run into that paywall made of brick. Those bricks can be dismantled for $7.95 at any time! Don’t worry: the teasers will eventually stop (I mean, I hate receiving them myself, too), but I’ll keep courting you for the remainder of the month.
I stumbled across this comic strip Bill Watterson drew in 1995:
He was way ahead of his time, wasn’t he? I share that with you to provide a bit of perspective and contrast. The Square Inch Newsletter is not TurningPointUSA or The Daily Wire or even the Claremont Institute. Whatever good things that may be said about those organizations (and no doubt there are some), I have not and will not manipulate you by “sky is falling” hysteria. Measured, thoughtful, theologically grounded commentary is what I aim for around here. I strive—and will continue to strive—to avoid the “unconstructive cynicism” of which Hobbes speaks, even though I know that Calvin is right: “Enmity sells.” Boy, does it sell.
With that housekeeping out of the way, let’s dive into Off The Shelf.
Let’s start with “sky is falling” hysteria. If there is anything common in the post-liberal world it is the notion that—well, Patrick Deneen said it straight up: Liberalism has failed. Conservatism “never conserved anything.” This is an article of faith among that crowd and I can’t help but think that last week must have been a surreal and uncomfortable feeling for them. Liberalism (in the classical sense) and conservatism succeeded. It won. Victory upon victory. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously (!) upheld religious liberty in Groff (the postal service could not fire a worker solely because he wouldn’t work on Sundays), resoundingly struck down racial discrimination in SFFA v. Harvard, and enthusiastically protected the freedom of speech in 303 Creative. Not bad for a week’s work.
On Friday I shared my deep appreciation for Justice Clarence Thomas, even floating the suggestion that he might just be the greatest jurist in the history of the country. His erudition, knowledge, judgment, and writing is arguably unparalleled. He is more consistent with his own judicial philosophy than was even Antonin Scalia. He knows his role and he knows how to execute his duties in that role.
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