Tag: restoration

We Are No Longer Conservatives; We Are Restorationists

Jon Gabriel, Ed.
Jon Gabriel, Ed. Alumni
29026
 

Conservatives have long struggled to define the term “conservatism.” This makes sense since it’s always been less a political ideology than a life philosophy. Perhaps even an attitude.

When asked to define conservatism, Abraham Lincoln replied, “Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?”

William F. Buckley updated his answer for the mid-20th century, framing it in opposition to liberalism. In other words, an anti-ideology. In his book Up from Liberalism (1959), Buckley declares conservativism is  “freedom, individuality, the sense of community, the sanctity of the family, the supremacy of the conscience, the spiritual view of life.”

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Restoring a Shipwreck

Seawriter
Seawriter Contributor
1511
 

So you have a home restoration project and you think you have troubles? Consider the plight of the marine archaeologist, who has discovered a historically-significant wreck and has to decide whether and how to restore it.

Start at the beginning. You have found a wreck – a historically significant one. A lot of shipwrecks discovered in the Gulf of Mexico are found when a site survey for a planned oil well is done. Alternatively, it was found because a historic wreck was suspected to be in the area, and scanning of the ocean bottom was done. Either way, your wreck is under water. In fact, much of what remains is under the sea bottom by the time you find it. What does it look like?

Figure 1: Remote Sensing Survey Results

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May 29th Restoration: Oak Apple Day

Arahant
Arahant Member
347
 

Happy Oak Apple Day!

There once was a king who wished to be an absolute monarch, as were many of his neighboring kings, who were also his relatives. He dismissed his kingdom’s legislative body, and ruled without them for eleven years. You see, they were a contentious lot, as most legislative bodies are, and he really thought it better to do without them. Unfortunately, he had very limited revenue without them because of the laws of his kingdom. He made do and limped along for eleven years, often through forms of tyrannical application with the few taxes he had available to him. But he came to a pass where he needed to summon Parliament to raise new revenues.

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May 21 Restoration: Lin’s Revenge, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Disunited States of America

Lash LaRoche
Lash LaRoche Inactive
1210
 

flashback

Lin’s revenge. That thought kept recurring when I first read Flashback, a novel by the inimitable Dan Simmons, published back in 2011. Who is this “Lin” of whom I speak? Lin Zexu: a scholar and law enforcement official in Qing Dynasty-era China, assigned to the city of Guangdong as an imperial commissioner in 1838 to halt the sale and distribution of illegal drugs, namely opium. Lin was remarkably successful in doing so, and he not only went after Chinese distributors, but Western ones as well. It is estimated that more than two-and-a half million pounds of opium were seized and destroyed as a result of Lin’s activities. He was, essentially, a Chinese version of Eliot Ness.

The British were none too pleased with this development and responded violently, initiating what became known as the First Opium War (1839-42). China was defeated, Lin was exiled, and the Chinese people remained awash in opium, helplessly seeing their country dismembered – carved into spheres of influence – by a multitude of foreign powers over the succeeding decades.

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