Mission
In light of the constant terrorization and persistent undermining of our most cherished institutions, and the leveling of all horizons in our society, the need for a clarification and reevaluation of the premises, principles, and values of our society and our way of life is as evident today (if not more) as it was during the founding of this nation. Does this nation that was once dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, does it still hold those truths to be self-evident? Does it still cherish the faith in which it was conceived and raised? Or have those truths lost altogether their original life and color. Have their meaning become almost incomprehensible? Given our present situation where the market place of public opinion is the arbiter of truth/s, terms like “natural right,” “humanity” and “conscience” have now become almost incomprehensible. The proponents of epistemological and moral relativism have deprived this nation of its most sublime fruit through their terrorization of the conscience and by imposing on this nation the yoke of their own thoughts. The majority among the learned interpret the principles of the Declaration of Independence not as expressions of natural right but as an ideal, if not as an ideology or a salutary truth. In their opinion the standard that the founding fathers subscribed to is nothing but an ideal adopted by this society, an arbitrary and blind preference. When it comes to ultimate principles they have no other support than our arbitrary and blind preferences. To quote one philosopher, “it seems we have become men who are sane and sober when engaged in trivial affairs and who gamble like madmen when confronted with serious issues.” Wholesale madness. It is of no surprise that the marketplace of public opinion has become the predominant authority in our society.
This is also seen in our society’s penchant for nihilism. If our principles have no other support than our arbitrary preferences, everything man is willing to dare is permissible. The rejection of ultimate principles, e.g. natural right, can only lead to nihilism. Nay, it is identical to nihilism. It is of no surprise that our politicians and policy-makers have lost their archimedean point (Justice) in evaluating and creating policies that will allow for human flourishing and human excellence. Oh America, with your dissolution of morals, how many men and women have you sacrificed to the false delicacy of progressivism and how many great things has the Spirit of Democracy, so fertile in our nation, cost you?
James Madison wrote in The Federalist Papers (Federalist no. 51), that “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society.” What he meant by it was that all policies must be judged in light of a standard of action with reference to better or worse which requires moral judgment or moral evaluation. When we decide whether certain policies are for the better or worse one must do so in light of a standard of good or bad. All political action has then in itself a directedness towards knowledge of the good. Knowledge of the good life, or of the good society. But, if there is no knowledge of the good, of ultimate principles, then one has no way of evaluating a choice/policy, whether it is for the better or worse, other than blind preferences. What mostly happens as a result is that one ends up evaluating options based on what is held in high regard in the marketplace of public opinion, i.e. what the majority sanctions.
Thus, in light of the crises of our time this website is directed by a serious concern with the myopic intellectual milieu of our country. The website will discuss issues such as conscience, natural right, human dignity, justice, the proper regime for human flourishing, and many more. Its aim is to clarify, review, and reevaluate the premises, principles, and values of the American way of life. Together we will journey through the intellectual landscapes in a society that is constantly in flux and change to discover the archimedean point, the immovable point “in order to move the entire earth from one place to another,” i.e. the fundamentum absolutum inconcussum veritatis from which to take our bearings. And perhaps, change the attitudes of those who have fallen into a deep whirlpool, who are tossed about that can neither touch the bottom with their feet nor swim to the top. Perhaps the website will serve them as a lifeline to pull themselves out from under the yoke of relativism/nihilism and come to see the American principles that were once so cherished as the proper edifice for our way of life.