The word has become a catch-all term to mean “the things that conservatives hate.” However, that does not mean it has lost all usefulness. It is still a good description of a certain strain of progressive liberalism. Still, I have yet to hear a good definition of what that strain is and, more importantly, what to do about it. So, I would like to do that myself.
The abortion conversation has been stuck in the language of rights for some time. One person argues they have a right to abortion, and another argues a child has a right to life. Unfortunately for the pro-life movement, as soon as we get into a discussion of rights, we’ve already lost. The way Americans talk about “rights” has no place in the abortion debate. Rights are a negative claim. They…
Is Inequality Unjust? This one could get me in trouble. Bear with me. Part of my journey into post-liberalism has been a process of reevaluation. Certain values intrinsic to American liberalism do not fit what I have come to understand as the first principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Recently, one of those reexamined values has been equality. When I was a kid, “equality under the law” was touted as an…
If you listen to my podcast or have had the displeasure of speaking to me about politics in the past year, you may have heard me use the term “post-liberalism.” I think the time has come I actually say what that is. When I was in college, I encountered Catholic Social Teaching for the first time. I learned there were a few basic principles: subsidiarity, solidarity, a preferential option for…
When it comes to Facebook, I lean more towards the “burn it all down” camp. Based on reactions to the Facebook Papers, I’m not alone. Several scandals have broken out in the past year regarding Facebook and every time, I shake my head thinking that maybe we would be better off without it. However, I’m coming to realize that perspective reflects my Western privilege. I live in a country where…
My grandfather died this August. I’m not ready to write about my grieving process because I’m not quite sure how one grieves about these things.
I received an interesting reply from a reader yesterday about my post on phone addiction. She mentioned she was worried adopting the tool mindset would make her hard to reach. “One thing I really struggle with is how as a college student we are expected to text back really quickly and use our phones to make plans with people…I would love to be able to keep my phone in a…
A few months ago, I wrote an article for the Life Teen blog called “Curbing a Social Media Addiction.” Where I listed seven steps for teenagers to handle social media addiction or just a phone addiction in general. I didn’t mention this in the article, but I based it off the 12 Steps in Alcoholics Anonymous. The first step in AA is to admit that you have a problem. More…
A while back, I hadn’t been to confession in a month and a half. That might not seem like a long time, but I’m used to going twice a month, sometimes once a week. But for that month and a half, I neglected confession because of my experience with the priest. My Worst Confession That Saturday, I ended up at a parish far from where I lived. I knew all…
This year, I decided to read 100 books in one year. I didn’t announce it because I was worried I’d get halfway through January and forget about it, but here we are: done with the first quarter of the year and I’ve read over 25 books. I’m rereading a few things I want to dive deeper into, but most of these books are new to me and I’d like to…
