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CATEGORY: MILITARY (4 MIN)
This week, we celebrated our nation’s 247th birthday. We watched fireworks explode overhead to commemorate our independence, and by extension, to commemorate those who fought to preserve that independence. Our Founding generation stepped up to defend our newborn country—could we do the same today?
Daniel McCarthy feels doubtful. For the New York Post, McCarthy, the Vice President for the Collegiate Network at ISI and editor of Modern Age, considers the current generation too unprepared to face the challenge of a war for survival. He believes that we have lost the proper conception of human nature, and in waiting for perfection, we cannot face fallenness.
McCarthy points out a recent report indicating that more than three out of every four young Americans would be disqualified from military service due to physical, academic, or criminal issues. He places much of the blame on the older generation for making life too comfortable and easy. Without difficulty, McCarthy says, freedom faces a future lacking strong defenders.
In contrast, the Founders stayed ready. They organized militias, strengthened their bodies and minds, and maintained tight communities to face the coming threat. If such a threat approaches today, McCarthy warns, disaster may loom.
Read his entire article here.
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Weekly Poll
RESULTS: 6/29/23
Last week, we asked: In your opinion, has the cost of thriving gone up or down in America? 92.6% of respondents believe the cost of thriving has gone up and 7.4% believe it has gone down.
Do you think most Americans in the 17 – 35 age range could join the military?
[A] Yes
[B] No
[C] Unsure
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CATEGORY: EDUCATION (5 MIN)
The Supreme Court struck down the longstanding regime of affirmative action at the end of last month in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and University of North Carolina. The decision brought praise for the preservation of a merit-based system that does not discriminate based on race.
But Sohrab Ahmari cautions conservatives about romanticizing “mere meritocracy.” In an article for Compact, Ahmari posits that meritocracy itself can lead to systematic inequality of another kind: the perpetuation of the elites. Ahmari discusses the early-1900s vision of the education system, one which would create a small upper ruling class and keep it freshened with new choice graduates.
Ahmari notes that equal opportunity does not become a sudden solution to our problems. Instead, it opens the door to a cunning few who can prevent the majority of Americans from owning land or holding significant power. This was a future, Ahmari writes, that our Founders wanted to avoid.
Ahmari still thinks meritocracy is superior to the affirmative action system. He simply cautions revelers to take these potential concerns seriously and pursue policies that help Americans thrive.
Discover Ahmari’s thoughts right here.
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CATEGORY: ISI NEWS (2 MIN)
“Two Regent Square residents have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges connected to a protest during an April debate [held by ISI] at the University of Pittsburgh.
The release said ‘...Brian DiPippa, concealed by his wife, Krystal DiPippa, ignited and threw a large explosive firework into the group of Pitt officers, causing a loud explosion and injuries to several officers.’”
Read the entire article here.
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ISI’s 70th Anniversary Gala &
Linda L. Bean Center Dedication
September 28th, 2023
This fall, join us at our 70th Anniversary Gala featuring Tucker Carlson, Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, and Linda Bean, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Together these are some of the most influential figures in America today.
We will also host a pre-event panel featuring longtime friends of ISI including Annette Kirk (Russell Kirk Center), Gene Meyer (The Federalist Society), Ed Feulner (The Heritage Foundation), and Dan McCarthy (ISI), discussing the 70th anniversary of three conservative classics: Russell Kirk’s The Conservative Mind, Leo Strauss’ Natural Right and History, and Robert Nisbet’s The Quest for Community.
We will have a lobster dinner in honor of Tucker and Linda’s mutual connection to the state of Maine and seating will be limited to 150 guests. Our VIP ticket holders will have the chance to meet ISI trustees and event speakers in a private reception beforehand.
Reserve your tickets here!
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.
President Eisgruber’s Affirmative Action Doublethink via The Princeton Tory
“When it comes to the University’s mission of achieving diversity, President Eisgruber cannot have it both ways. Either Princeton’s current process takes a holistic view of its applicants, thus reducing racial identity to just ‘one factor among many’ in determining an applicant’s potential fit, or it makes racial identity one of the major, stand-alone factors in determining this fit, thus undermining the University’s commitment to ‘holistic’ admissions.”
Affirmative action is gone, Cornell should take the lead via The Cornell Review
“We should take advantage of the Court’s ruling to build a new Cornell that expands opportunity without discrimination. Race has been a divisive issue on campus, and this nation, for far too long. Let’s seize the moment and unite as one university that focuses on excellence and merit.”
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CATEGORY: HISTORY (21 MIN)
Why do we constantly appeal to the Founders for authority? After all, they largely believed that man is fallen, which of course implies that they too were fallen. Can a group of varied people from nearly two and a half centuries ago who faced many personal and public challenges truly provide us with guidance for the future?
In this week’s Intercollegiate Review archive, Robert P. Kraynak answers this question with a yes. He takes readers on a journey through many of the basics of the Founders’ thought to remind us of the timeless ideals they communicate to us even today.
Kraynak focuses on the Founders’ conception of ordered liberty, the foundation of a successful nation. He breaks that broad idea into four pieces: republicanism, constitutionalism, natural law, and cultural tradition. Through each element, Kraynak extracts the most important gleanings from our forefathers, highlighting their impact on our present day.
“The main concern we should have today is losing the complex balance of political, legal, and social elements that the American Founders thought were essential for ordered liberty,” Kraynak says.
Read Kraynak’s detailed reminder of our Founders’ importance here.
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Thought of the Day:
“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army.”
- George Washington
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Who We Are, What We Do
Too many college students feel isolated or attacked for questioning the ever-narrowing range of debate on campus.
We introduce you to the American tradition of liberty and to a vibrant community of students and scholars so that you get the collegiate experience you hunger for.
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