matthews

We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future
$26.95
This is a well-written, thoughtful and very timely book that I believe every American would do well to read, regardless of political persuasion. Whether you're liberal or conservative, you will learn something about the history of American political ideas, and you'll learn a lot about how profoundly different our government is today from the American government of the 1787 Constitution. You'll encounter scores of amazing quotes from the Founders and 20th century figures that you've probably never heard.

The book focuses on ten principles: Liberty, Equality, Natural Rights, Consent of the Governed, Religious Freedom, Private Property, the Rule of Law, Constitutionalism, Self-Government, and Independence. It concludes with two chapters -- The New Republic, which describes the ideas of the Progressive movement, and American Renewal, which makes the case for a return to the ideas of the American Revolution.

The author, Matthew Spalding, is associated with the Heritage Foundation. This may cause many on the Left to dismiss the book without reading it, and many on the Right to expect another conservative manifesto, but both of them would be wrong. If you read this book, you will have a better appreciation of the history and evolution of ideas that gave us the government we have today. In The New Republic, Spalding does a remarkable job of connecting the dots from the new thinking about relativism and human nature in 1900 to the New Deal, Great Society, public education, and the role of the judiciary, in a single chapter.

You will gain from reading about the Founders' idea of natural rights, and the Progressives' very different idea of rights that should be guaranteed by government. These different ideas are at the basis of many political debates and conflicts. You may or may not change your mind, but you will better understand the "other side".

This is a book about ideas and principles, just as the subtitle says; there's only a page or two about current political issues. In American Renewal, Spalding is concerned with systemic issues such as civic education in high schools, treatment of the Constitution in law schools, how Congress delegates legislation to bureaucrats and regulators, and how government has become so much more centralized. But it's hard to see what would cause these things to change, unless there's a broad reawakening on the part of the American public.

The book begins with an introduction about the National Archives building in Washington, where the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution are on display. It quotes President Harry Truman, dedicating the building in 1952, saying that liberty "can be lost, and it will be, if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of our profound beliefs, but merely as curiosities in glass cases." It grieves me to say this, but I think that is where we are today. Most Americans I know have at best a fuzzy idea of what these documents say, and almost no idea what they mean in practical terms. It's obvious that Congress pretty much ignores constitutional limits on its power (this book will help you understand how this came to be). But Spalding is optimistic: In his final chapter he writes "Our principles always await rediscovery, not because they are written on faded parchments in glass cases, but because the immutable truths of liberty are eternally etched on the human soul." I hope that he is right.

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall [Blu-ray]
$29.98
Concert itself: 5 stars
Video quality: 5 stars
Audio quality: 5 stars
Extras: 3 stars
Others: The audio is simply perfect... but doesnt have low frecuencies for obvious reasons...

Rivet De Cru Men's Matthew Straight Fit Denim, Dark Raw Denim, 28
$92.00

Shop Class As Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction Series)
$31.95
When it's good it is really good. Crawford has clearly given this subject a good deal of thought.

He evidently overpowered his editor in many places where the writing is simply too dense for the subject material. Still, I plodded through these passages in anticipation of the next gem of insight...

For any gear head that with an intellectual bent this is a great read.