In mid-August of 480 B.C., the Greek allies defending the pass of Thermopylae were treated to a strange sight when four thousand Peloponnesian warriors marched into their camp. The most impressive of these troops were three hundred old men with shaved lips, red cloaks, and shields emblazoned with “Λ,” signifying their home country of Lacedaemon. Along with these soldiers marched seven hundred of the men called helots, natives of the country of Messenia subjugated by the Lacedaemonians, equipped as light infantry. During the battle that followed, the Spartans and their Helots cooperated to a degree unprecedented in Greek history: the […]

I’m interested in ideologies. What is an ideology? How, in practice, do ideologies gain followers? How do they organize? How, and why, do they suppress competing ideologies? The first five hundred years of Christianity are an epic of ideological warfare: the story of a tiny religious cult which grew to dominate a continent-spanning empire, and then, after the empire’s collapse, built an organization amidst the ruins which would endure for a thousand years. One core assumption I make is that people’s actions are moral and rational within the framework of their own ideology. Given Christian beliefs, it was rational for Christians […]

Though neoreaction is typified by a suspicion of democratic government and ideology and has produced numerous, powerful theoretical arguments against democracy, it must be conceded that the empirical case is not nearly so strong. Democracies have certainly made mistakes, pursued foolish policies, and committed atrocities, but the historical record does not show unequivocally that democracy is much worse as a form of government than other arrangements. The major problem with the empirical case against democracy is the lack of data. The first democracies arose in Greece, but we have good historical records for Athens alone, with partial information about Sparta, […]

Normalcy, and especially the great upholders of order who go beyond normalcy, must be ruthlessly subjugated to degeneracy and disorder. This is the creed of our class engineers. One of my favorite quotes is this astute observation from Italian political philosopher and economist, Vilfredo Pareto: “Equality is related to the direct interests of individuals who are bent on escaping certain inequalities not in their favor, and setting up new inequalities that will be in their favor, this latter being their chief concern.” Many make the mistake of thinking that our current decline and ever-spiraling civilizational death is because of the […]

The wars of the ancient Israelites follow a distinct pattern, especially when the Israelites lose. After a defeat, there are inevitably claims that God had withheld His favor on account of impiety among His people; the solution, obviously, being to redouble their religious devotions. With their faith reinvigorated, the Israelites then march out again and overcome their adversaries. To one skeptical of religion, this looks suspiciously like either superstition or propaganda. The hand of God did not actually give victory to the Israelites, but saying that it did certainly bolsters the case for believing in Him. Indeed, a god who […]

The circus that is the American election cycle has an added bit of flair this time. No, not the possibility of a female on the ticket. We had that buzz of excitement in 1984 and 2008. It is the spectacle of a self-promoting, billionaire blowhard taking the “Bulworth” approach towards a legitimate run for the presidency. Donald Trump has added spice to the 2016 presidential election cycle and in the slow, summer news season to excite cable news operatives. He has rocketed to the top of the polls, rustled Establishment jimmies, and caused conversations to take place that no one would expect. As […]