Musings of a Christian Humanist

     I have never acted to conceal the truth that I am a Trekkie. Additionally, I have never hidden my conviction that I am a traditionalist and a conservative in the way defined by Russell Kirk. While there are thematic and ideological elements worthy of criticism in the Star Trek worldview, there is much that can be redeemed. On the 60th anniversary of Russell Kirk's magnum opus, The Conservative Mind , it is certainly worth the time and energy to revisit this essential reading. My reexamination of the key points in this most important work has been shaped recently, in part, by my rethinking of how much some of our current political, cultural, and social moment is reminiscent of the Borg.      While there is much for mind and soul in this volume, I would like to rethink the essence of conservatism, as discovered by Russell Kirk, and contrast it with collectivism and consumerism as an antidote to these contemporary toxins.  No doubt many have been taken with Kirk's examinatio

" And if we should know what government is, we should observe, in Thucydides' laconic account of the revolution at Corcyra, what happens when it fails. " Stringfellow  Barr      Most keen observers would say that our government has been in failure mode for a number of decades, and this is not easily refuted on empirical grounds. Readers of the Great Books might suggest we begin not with Thucydides, but with Plato and Aristotle. One should not quibble over such matters. Instead, go now, and get a copy of Thucydides' The History of the Peloponnesian Wars . Turn and read book III, chapter X. The only immediate background needed is this: The time and place of the revolution is at Corcyra in the fifth year of the Peloponnesian War. We find ourselves in a trial of sorts.      Thucydides describes a world where words have little to no meaning. With the collapse of communication, so comes the collapse of community. The spiral from order to chaos is inevitable. It is clea