The best of intellectual conservative thought, every Thursday

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CATEGORY: POLITICS (6 MIN)

Shockwave on the airwaves

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For six years, one nightly cable-news show dominated not only the 8 p.m. timeslot but also the next day’s headlines: Tucker Carlson Tonight. This week’s revelation that Carlson was departing Fox News sent tremors across the nation. Carlson not only commanded a huge primetime audience—he also represented a seismic shift in American politics.

ISI alum Ross Douthat, in his New York Times

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opinion column, analyzes the effect Carlson had (and will continue to have) on American conservatism. Douthat argues that Carlson himself underwent a significant transformation. Carlson changed from a regular Republican pundit to a rejector of the establishment and a hero for more unique thinkers on the right.

Douthat points to Carlson’s frequent far-left guests and his anti-government position throughout the COVID pandemic to reveal the underlying theme in Carlson’s work: suspicion. Carlson, like many of today’s young conservatives, developed an innate distrust of establishment institutions, and it enabled him to appeal to viewers both old and new.

This skepticism, Douthat believes, will continue to develop across America, no matter who replaces Carlson on Fox.

Read Douthat’s entire column, without a subscription, right here

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CATEGORY: MILITARY (7 MIN)

No country for young men

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In Marvel’s Captain America, a senator drafts the newly-muscle-bound Steve Rogers into the service. Not the military, mind you, but the war bond sale trail. Thus follows a rapid-fire montage with patriotic hoopla and plenty of red, white, and blue on display for crowds of thousands.

Such a scene seems impossible in today’s America. And that’s no surprise, argues Rob Henderson, given the way the military advertises itself today.

For The Free Press

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, Henderson notes the plummeting support for and trust in our country’s armed forces. And he chalks it up, at least in part, to the military’s new strategy: bring new recruits onboard by putting them first instead of the country first.

Henderson highlights advertising lines like “Build a future without being burdened by debt” and “Be all you can be,” which starkly contrast with older pitches like “Fight for Us” and “Uphold Our Honor.” Henderson believes this strategy is a desperate attempt to boost enlistment numbers from an increasingly selfish and complacent generation. In doing so, Henderson fears that our armies will weaken and that more disillusioned soldiers (like leaker Jack Teixeira) will undermine our strength.

Discover Henderson’s thoughts on Teixeira in his full article here

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CATEGORY: ISI NEWS

Free speech under threat

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Last week, ISI held a debate at the University of Pittsburgh between Michael Knowles and Brad Polumbo titled: Should Transgenderism Be Regulated by Law?

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. Since the debate, news outlets have covered the violent protests on campus.

Read more:

“Violence Is Not Free Speech”

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by ISI President & CEO, John A. Burtka IV | Newsweek

“'I Was in the Pittsburgh Trans Debate. Activists Had Me Scared for My Life'”

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by Brad Polumbo | Newsweek

“Protests break out at Pitt over speaker at event over transgender issues”

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by Mike Valente, Kalea Gunderson, Tori Yorgey & Allen Warren | Pittsburgh Action News

“Transgenderism on Trial: Michael Knowles vs. Brad Polumbo”

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by Libby Krieger | The American Spectator

“'We would do it again in a heartbeat': The right continues to discuss transgenderism despite violent pushback”

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by Gabrielle M. Etzel | Campus Reform

Who do you think won last week's debate on transgenderism?

Michael Knowles

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Brad Polumbo

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Just tell me the results

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ISI’s Annual Homecoming Weekend

June 2nd - 3rd, 2023

Hosted on ISI’s beautiful 20-acre campus in Wilmington, Delaware, this year’s Homecoming theme is “The Next Great American.” Through engaging presentations, we will explore the statesmen, titans of industry, and artists that have shaped our nation throughout its history. Special discounted rate of only $50 for ISI students and alumni under age 30! RSVP before tickets are gone here

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Join us in Wilmington, DE >>>

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Because our student editors and writers are bravely bringing conservative ideas to their campuses, we’re highlighting their efforts here.

“Princeton’s Carl Field Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding Hosts ‘Creating a Pleasure Practice with The Fat Sex Therapist’”

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via The Princeton Tory

“...Princeton’s Pace Center for Civic Engagement and the Carl A. Field Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding hosted an event entitled ‘Creating a Pleasure Practice with The Fat Sex Therapist,’ featuring Sonalee Rashatwar.”

“Stanford’s Office of Revolutionary and Secular Liberalism”

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via The Stanford Review

“This is the central, dangerous dogma of the secular liberalism at the heart of religion at Stanford: no faith is truly complete or fully true. No one can claim that their tradition has the full picture, so we must aggregate them all together.”​

CATEGORY: CONSERVATISM (12 MIN)

From the bottom up

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The anti-institutional wave that has swept through the American right has certainly played an important role in highlighting deeply-rooted issues in our country’s systems. But what is the future of such a movement? And if current flawed institutions are successfully removed, what could take their place?

For this week’s Intercollegiate Review

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archive, Andy Smarick reviews Yuval Levin’s A Time to Build, the winner of ISI’s 2021 Conservative Book of the Year Award. Smarick recounts Levin’s argument detailing the longstanding problems with American institutions. These include media corporations, all three branches of government, and the giant social media corporations which control so much of American life.

Levin’s solution, according to Smarick, includes bringing substantial transparency to these existing institutions so that the American people know what’s really going on. Smarick then agrees with Levin that we must engage in institution-building at a local level.

“Conservatives should recognize this not as a time to promote nationalism… but as a time to create policy and legal environments that empower citizens to build close-to-home, formative institutions with real power and real purpose,” Smarick writes.

Read Smarick’s full review right here

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Thought of the Day:



“...we must all accept the responsibilities that come with the positions we hold, and we must ensure that obligations and restraints actually protect and empower us. We need to inhabit these institutions, love them, and reform them to help make them more lovely to others as well.”



- Yuval Levin

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