Progressive Education: The End of Reason

The June issue of the New Republic is dedicated to “American Fascism,” the phrase on the cover written in red Fraktur on a foreboding black background beneath a portrait image that melds the faces of Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. The editor of the series, Michael Tomasky, insists that it is not hysterical, that the contributors are “our leading intellectual historians of fascism.” I’ll take him at his word that he believes it. The series exemplifies the smug sanctimony of modern progressivism, which is so focused on the slivers in the eyes of conservatives that it cannot recognize the beams in its own eyes.

That sanctimony is on full display in the article by Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale University. Tomasky describes him as “one of our most incisive cultural critics.” Stanley’s article “Education: The End of Civic Compassion” is thick with the ironic double standards that always accompany sanctimony, beginning with his title.

NS

About the Author

Nathan Schlueter

Nathan Schlueter is a professor of philosophy and religion at Hillsdale College. His most recent book is Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives?: The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate (Stanford University Press).

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Defending Western Civilization

The June issue of the New Republic is dedicated to “American Fascism,” the phrase on the cover written in red Fraktur on a foreboding black background beneath a portrait image that melds the faces of Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. The editor of the series, Michael Tomasky, insists that it is not hysterical, that the contributors are “our leading intellectual historians of fascism.” I’ll take him at his word that he believes it. The series exemplifies the smug sanctimony of modern progressivism, which is so focused on the slivers in the eyes of conservatives that it cannot recognize the beams in its own eyes.

That sanctimony is on full display in the article by Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale University. Tomasky describes him as “one of our most incisive cultural critics.” Stanley’s article “Education: The End of Civic Compassion” is thick with the ironic double standards that always accompany sanctimony, beginning with his title.

NS

About the Author

Nathan Schlueter

Nathan Schlueter is a professor of philosophy and religion at Hillsdale College. His most recent book is Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives?: The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate (Stanford University Press).