In a 1922 essay about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in his book Prejudices: Third Series H.L. Mencken asked, “Am I the first American to note the fundamental nonsensicality of the Gettysburg Address”? One example of the nonsense of Lincoln’s rhetoric as explained by Mencken is as follows:
Natural rights are often regarded with deep suspicion by lawyers and economists, who are wary of the wild and extravagant demands framed in the language of human rights. A good example is the United Nation’s list of fundamental human rights, which Antony Flew derides as absurd in “Could There Be Universal Natural Rights?”:
One prominent person rarely associated by scholars with the Bastiat-Ferrara laissez-faire school was the eminent sociologist and economic theorist, Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto (1848-1923). Pareto was born in Paris into a noble Genoan family. His father, the Marchese Raffaelle Pareto, a hydraulic engineer, had fled Italy as a republican and supporter of Mazzini. The senior Pareto returned to Italy in the mid-1850s and gained a high rank in the Italian civil service.
Much of the developed world is slipping into a hyperregulated malaise. Growth rates are down across most major economies, and the developing countries are catching up to our errors almost as fast as they are growing. Increasingly, even in the US you would have to be outside the norm to afford a house by age forty.
Americans across the board have routinely spoken for term limits. Recently, however, this has been most common among Republican politicians. On January 29, Ron DeSantis announced his legislative priorities over social media as he found himself no longer focused on a presidential campaign, and his very first item on the list was enforcing term limits. Additionally, perhaps the most right-wing politician in America, Anthony Sabatini, routinely calls for term limits.
Most public-school graduates have heard that Thomas Paine wrote something that convinced the colonies to declare their independence—though if they’re older than twenty-one their memory probably needs jogging. A few can even name what he wrote: Common Sense. And some can even incorrectly attribute a famous line to that pamphlet: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
George Orwell wrote, “The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” More colorfully and in a similar vein, it has been said that blurry words carry deplorable thinking the way mosquitoes carry malaria.
It behooves us all to pay attention when people use words deviously or manipulatively not to inform but to conceal.
According to the latest polls, Europeans are expected to vote for political forces leaning toward the right side of the spectrum, often with euro-skeptic tendencies. We are talking about nine member states where these forces might emerge victorious, and another nine where they are projected to secure second and third positions.
So, what path has the European Union taken to cause such significant dissatisfaction and a desire for such a radical change for the first time? The answer seems to be simple and can be summarized as a loss of freedom.
A judge put the kibosh on the “Montana Miracle” – for now – showing the movement for housing abundance needs to do more than pass laws; it must also remember and rearticulate the nation’s unique values.
