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"Pushing the Boundary of Public Debate" ![]() ![]()
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The Mood of America is changing. All is not what it was. the fall of two tall towers cast a pale shadow of peril over every hearth and
home. Terror is taking its toll. its safety and security can no longer be assured. It wants life to return to normal, but has gotten a glimpse of the grave
challenges it could confront And it isn't just the matter of mapping out a winning battlefield strategy, hammering out a hardened shield of homeland security, and sending our sons and
daughters into danger Once again the nation is at war and once again it confronts an old,
familiar dilemma. How can we afford to spend ever larger sums to assure public safety and maintain a strong national defense, while furnishing myriad forms of social assistance and managing an already unimaginable national debt? How much suffocating smoke might all that spending stack on an economy laboring to produce the jobs and supply the bountiful standard of living we all depend on but, like liberty itself, too often take for
granted? The
"Guns-and-Butter" debate is back . . . . . . and it begs a multitude of lesser budgetary questions, in fact, too many to
ever balance or reconcile. Which and what number of specific ledger items should Congress and the President cut in order to raise spending for who knows how many "essential" services the public sector must still perform? How many hundreds of special interest groups will rush their representatives in Washington, to insist that "the other
guy's" programs get pared first? How can so many questions and contests be reduced, so that the odds of avoiding future calamity may be steadily
increased? A decision to set clear priorities according to a single standard, a uniform national interest, would certainly represent a novel departure. And it would leave us
with just a few questions to address. But what momentous
questions they are. Of what does the national interest consist? And what is the purpose of government, per se?
Not easy questions, no. But once they are raised, complexity can be reduced to simplicity and answers that pack a real political punch can finally be placed on the block for debate.
**************************************** Only back in Washington, it's business and bickering as usual. The competitive atmosphere that permeates American politics, that produces piecemeal compromise and permanent conflict and that so many Americans, today, find so very troubling is as it is precisely because the kinds of questions that could finally quell the acrimony and contention continually escape public notice.
This workshop of ideas and political commentary seeks to change the culture of
controversy in this country. It proceeds from the opinion that much of what passes for profound political debate is really just shallow trench warfare, a quagmire over questions that are essentially inessential, hence inconsequential,
and unproductive. The most explosively charged debates are simply too dull to penetrate the surface of things. So our leaders end up dealing in details, never hitting any real
pay dirt.
On the premise that it is the basic questions that matter most, this website aims to get to the bottom of
things, This can be done only by peeling the skin off the "hot-talk" topics ripped from today's headlines & biting into the attitudes and assumptions, the principles and precedents that lie at the core of our current
predicaments. The preservation of the American way of life deserves as much and demands no less.
In sum: The commentary that will appear on this site is informed by deeper historical and conceptual reflection and guided by an abiding respect for this nation's founding traditions and
institutions. The selections consist of essays and chapter excerpts drawn from the published and unpublished writings of
**************************************** Jerome Huyler. **************************************** "There is nothing this nation now needs more than a spirited body of patriot intellectuals."
**************************************** Stay tuned for further installments and announcements and thank you for your interest. We hope you will come back often & pass the word around.
**************************************** And, yes, do consider: If you're not satisfied with the PRESENT It's very likely that for much of the PAST You didn't think hard enough about the FUTURE Select:
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