For members giving Stephens a hard time, have you worked with some of the young people these days?  There are some very good ones (mostly from state schools, I find.. no BS, no sense of entitlement, hard workers), but many are ignorant and, much worse, dogmatic about what little they actually know, much of which is simply wrong.  Not since the 60's have we had a generation (again not all, but...) so ignorant of life in general, so reflexively liberal in their sensibilities, so sensitive about the least little slight, and so dogmatic and judgmental.  And when learned, experienced people try to engage them in thoughtful conversation, as soon as one of their cherished liberal assumptions is challenged, they want to classify the person as racist, sexist, homophobic, or any other pejorative they can use to avoid a real conversation. 

Now, again, this is not every one of them, but I would argue it constitutes a majority. 

For the constituency in this population he was targeting, Stephens dosen't seem to be out of line.  It's a message they need to hear and take to heart. 

Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. 

Of course, you're right about the biggest threat being our relative ignorance.  And, thank you for writing the book... I'll definitely pick up a copy.  I believe two quotes toward the end of Niall Ferguson's recent book Civilization: The West and the Rest would largely agree with you. 

“Maybe the real threat is posed not by the rise of China, Islam, or CO2 emissions, but by our own loss of faith in the civilization we inherited from our ancestors.” 

“Today, as then, the biggest threat to Western Civilization is posed not by other civilizations, but by our own pusillanimity, and by the historical ignorance that feeds it.” 

Thank you again, Mr. Prager. 

Perhaps it's so we realize that the freedoms we take for granted are an historic and geographic anomaly.  President Reagan once said:

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." 

Classic example of the left wanting to be generous with other people's money.  Good books on this... Who Really Cares by Arthur Brooks, Do as I Say, Not as I Do (Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy) by Peter Schweizer, and Makers and Takers also by Schweizer. 

It's also a theme that I get from liberal friends from time to time.  They say: "You're a Christian, you should support more government spending to help people because Jesus said to help people."  Well, the position is a bit more "nuanced" than that (join me my nuanced liberal friends).  Jesus admonished ME to help, he didn't command that I lobby my government to coerce money from my neighbors to help (then congratulate myself).  A subtle difference perhaps, but an important one, I think. 

Biden going from $400 to $5500... this is a big [CoC violation] deal!   

President Reagan said "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." 

I think we may like dystopian novels to remind ourselves of this immutable truth, to remind us how historically rare and exceptional our situation truly is, and to encourage us to fight on. 

Having read 1984, Brave New World, A Clockwork Orange, and The Hunger Games, I'd have to say I prefer The Hunger Games. 

I caught most of the movie version of The Road one day on cable.  I felt genuinely sick afterward. 

Not so much fantasy... usually I almost exclusively read nonfiction history, econ, etc. or classic literature.  The Hunger Games was a real departure for me.  What I liked about it was (other than some of the hokey technology) most of it was believable.  The world had gone bad, but it wasn't that far removed from ours.  Any recommendations for YA fiction that is good, believable, not too far out, and without gratuitous eroticism?  I fear the Japanese Space Mormons, other worlds, ferries, or cat creatures may be a bit much for my daughter and I don't want her to believe The Hunger Games was some sort of anomaly (which I suspect she may).  I've tried to get her to read Dickens... my personal favorite... but it's hopeless.  Ugh. 

G.K. Chesterton... nice reference. 

I'm constantly after my 14-year-old daughter to read more (she takes tough courses and eschews additional reading), but she devoured The Hunger Games novels & the movie.  Given her interest, I felt compelled to read the novels & see the movie.  I'm not sorry I did.  I thought Collins wrote in mostly clear prose, invested the reader in the characters, stayed away from overtly political or religious points of view (except that oppression and exploitation are bad and fighting tyranny is good.. and it's good to be on guard against it, even in your own camp), showed a progression and focus in the main character's world view, and steered clear of the eroticism that so many authors gratiutiously throw into their novels.  Look, it's not Dickens, Austen, or Hugo, but, for its intention, I thought it succeeded admirably and was really kind of wonderful.  It got my daughter to read more, after all. 

Aside: the soundtrack has some haunting tracks that really re-tell parts of the story.   Worth a listen. 

Amy, thanks for the recommendations.  I'll check into Weber and Pratchett (isn't Ricochet kind of fabulous for stuff like this?!). 

Welcome, Sir. Glad to have you. Have used "The Four Big Bangs" video in Sunday school presentations more than once. Thank you. Love Prager U!

Appropos...

Oh the shame of having my alma mater get this one so wrong.  Ugh. 

I think our primary fossil fuel for generating electricity is coal & I think the trains in the movie were electric, or seemed to be. 

The technology I assumed they inherited from the civilization that committed suicide & begat that top down structure. 

Perhaps I gave them too much credit. 

I gave it a 7.0/10.  My 14 year old daughter has a pretty heavy load of honors classes, so (much to my chagrin) doesn't read much that isn't required for school.  She devoured the novels in a few days, so I was compelled to pick them up (any parent with teenagers will be sympathetic to trying to find any way to connect with them).  They were actually pretty good.  Clear prose that moves the story along at a pretty good clip and invests you in the characters.  I was impressed that Collins was able to write the entire series without any nod to a particular political philosophy, except for one reference to representative republics and the evolution of the central character's focused hatred.  Also, there are no visible corporations to pillary, just the Capitol, the Districts, the Peacekeepers, and the citizens.  I was grateful that Hollywood didn't taint the story with their wont to make corporations the perpetual villians... they stuck pretty much to the book, at least for the first movie (there will be three total, perhaps four). 

It's not Dickens, but still worth a look.  I wasn't sorry I did. 

Mollie, you forgot the now obligatory:

Obamacare delenda est!

(I think I may have a sweatshirt or ball cap made with that inscription.) 

The operative word in Chief Executive is "Executive".  Romney is the antithesis of Obama.  Obama is a stellar campaigner who creates a rockstar kind of presence, is comfortable playing fast and loose with the "facts", and touches all the right politically correct buttons (African American, doesn't come from money, ultra-liberal, etc.), BUT, he's a horribly inadequate executive.  Romney is an OK campaigner who creates a serious, adult presence, is serious about policy (excepting that 10th Amendment Romneycare explanation), and is politically incorrect (rich, conservative, religious white guy who comes from money and made a lot more), BUT, he's a stellar executive.  He did actually cut spending in his term as MA Governor, he made a pile of money directing and investing in businesses, and he straightened out the Olympics when it was mired in bureaucracy and controversy.  The guy knows how to run an organization.  I fear that theme is not being trumpeted enough.  Not only is it his advantage over Obama, but it is his primary advantage over every other GOP candidate. 

Is he boring?  Yes.  But after Obama, shouldn't a boring, capable Chief Executive be a welcome change? 

Thanks Mollie. 

Chesterton on parallel Roman decay: 

... not only did the poetry grow more immoral, but the immorality grew more indefensible. Greek vices, oriental vices, hints of... old horrors... Semitic demons began to fill the fancies of decaying Rome, ...like flies on a dung heap. 
...There comes an hour in the afternoon when the child is tired of 'pretending'; when he is weary of being a robber or a Red Indian. It is then that he torments the cat.
There comes a time in the routine of an ordered civilisation when the man is tired at playing at mythology and pretending that a tree is a maiden or that the moon made love to a man. The effect of this staleness is the same everywhere; it is seen in all drug-taking and dram-drinking and every form of the tendency to increase the dose. Men seek stranger sins or more startling obscenities as stimulants to their jaded sense.
They seek after mad oriental religions for the same reason. They try to stab their nerves to life, if it were with the knives of the priests of
Baal. They are walking in their sleep and try to wake themselves up with nightmares.