Powerful though Jefferson was, Tocqueville, blessed by a stronger-yet connection to philosophy’s ancient task, could go beyond the Jeffersonian critique of governing systems, to unveil a deeper, more personal, source of the malaise in the democratic age.

As Roger Scruton observed in half a dozen books and many essays, the fight to preserve classic music has not gone particularly well over the past century. Truth, beauty and a sense of the divine have been all but erased from our shared musical palette -- victims of modernity’s anti-aesthetic march and the ever-present neo-Marxist will to destroy

True, the compulsion of any citizen into forced national service is a grave matter for a free nation to countenance. What Abbott has recognised, however, is the evident gravity of our national predicament. Amid China's aggression and doubts about US military strength and policy, there are three paramount reasons why his suggestion needs to be taken seriously

Just as the Stradivarius was meant to serve as a vehicle for the greatest music in human history, so the supply-side market was meant to serve as a vehicle for the flourishing of the human race: its passions, its intellect, its love of freedom, and its deep want for unleashing the creativity of the individual