Ouch! That hurts!

Ross Douthat proves himself worthy of an op-ed slot at the nation’s still-number-one newspaper with The Principles of Rand Paul. Along the way, he mentions two of my old favorites who have been banished from polite society: Samuel Francis and Joseph Sobran.

I see myself at risk, or perhaps guilty, of some of the same things.

Is “polite society” a public accommodation? Should there be a law to protect guys like Francis, Sobran — and me — from ostracism if our autodidact imaginations wander too far?

UPDATE: And Daniel Larison, with a reply to Ross that I hadn’t noticed in my original post, proves himself worthy of a place at our best (only?) paleoconservative magazine.

Red Tories | Front Porch Republic

I haven’t decided yet whether I like The American Conservative enough to renew my subscription, but the June issue is excellent, and I’d recommend that you pick it up before the next issue rolls around.

The feature article of the June issue is “Shattered Society,” an essay by Brittish philosopher and politics wonk Phillip Blond, who styles himself a “Red Tory.” The subhead is “Liberalism, Right and Left, has made lonely serfs of us all,” and asks “Does the Red Tory tradition offer a remedy?”

The article is powerful. The responses (e.g., Daniel McCarthy, Nicholas Capalidi) are provocative. Like Daniel Larison at Front Porch Republic, I thought Capaldi’s response was badly misguided. I even though it was condescending psychobabble, probably a calculated hatchet-job commissioned by corporate interests. That’s why I blog while Daniel Larison blogs and can actually get a job writing professionally. He insinutes the same sort of thing but does it more nicely.