The best of intellectual conservative thought.
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CATEGORY: POLITICS (4 MIN)
What to believe
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With only a couple of weeks to go until the first major party convention of the election season, Republicans and Democrats have begun another debate. Instead of their candidates battling on stage, though, their members are fighting over what goes in the party platform. These statements of mission and belief have become battlefields for internal debates over hot-button issues.
Tim Chapman, writing in National Review, urges the 2024 Republican Party to resolve these conflicts in favor of the strong stances from the 2016 party platform (which was re-adopted in 2020). Chapman points to several categories of issues to highlight the power of the earlier positions and to argue for the maintenance of moral clarity.
For example, Chapman discusses the pro-life messaging of the past platform. It declared in no uncertain terms that “the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.” Chapman says some elements in the GOP have argued to lighten the pro-life position—he rejects this compromise in favor of a clear and bold message.
Chapman gives similar warnings about other platform components, like the traditional definition of marriage, strong support for Israel, and reform for entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Read his entire appeal to the 2024 RNC right here.
Read Now
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Weekly Poll
Who do you think won the first 2024 presidential debate?
[A] Joe Biden
[B] Donald Trump
[C] It was a draw
[D] I didn’t watch
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RESULTS: 6/20/24
Do you plan to watch the first 2024 presidential debate?
[A] Yes, the whole thing - 39.1%
[B] Yes, but probably only part - 11.6%
[C] No - 37.7%
[D] I haven’t decided - 11.6%
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CATEGORY: POLITICS (6 MIN)
Plans change
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While the major parties debate their platforms, both candidates are also trying to finalize their policy plans if they successfully take office. Donald Trump made much of his popularity in 2016 on strong immigration stances and a concerted effort to promote American jobs. Now, Trump has proposed a new plan: instantly giving green cards to any foreign national who graduates from an American college.
In The American Conservative, Peter Van Buren criticizes this plan while fully understanding the impetus for its adoption. Van Buren says there are several weaknesses with Trump’s plan as stated. He points to the many foreign students who simply come to the U.S. to get any job they can. These students, even if they do not do well in school, could undeservedly benefit from Trump’s plan, Van Buren writes.
Van Buren sees the benefits of retaining highly skilled foreign immigrants who excel in the U.S. education system, though. He suggests some edits to Trump’s plan that could capitalize on those men and women. Specifically, Van Buren argues for a merit-based system that takes into account in-demand majors, excellent grades, and the very best schools.
If we focus on the students who succeed the most under those rubrics, Van Buren says, as well as looking at their proficiency in English, the country could truly benefit.
Read Van Buren’s proposal here.
Read Now
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CATEGORY: VIDEO
The Problem of Cheating in Universities | Phil Magness
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Join us for an enlightening Conservative Conversations episode with Phil Magness, renowned economic historian and scholar, as he sits down with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute to discuss:
- The pervasive problem of academic plagiarism in universities and its root cause and potential Solutions
- Root causes and potential solutions
- Magness's extensive research and experience in the field
- His pivotal role in exposing the Claudine Gay scandal at Harvard
- Implications of high-profile academic misconduct
- Insights into his latest economic research
- Significant economic trends
- Historical contexts and their relevance today
- A balanced critique of the best and worst ideas emerging from both the left and the right
- Challenges and considerations for contemporary ideological movements
Tune in for an episode that promises to inform, challenge, and inspire with Phil Magness and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
Watch Now
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ISI's Annual
Homecoming Weekend
Join ISI on September 20-21, 2024, for a garden party that’ll welcome students, professors, alumni, and friends of ISI from across the country.
Every year, we host ISI’s annual Homecoming festivities right on our 20-acre campus tucked away into a bucolic pocket of Wilmington, DE. Our Homecoming sets the tone for the new school year and is an opportunity to celebrate and network with our impressive community of students, teachers, alumni, and professionals from a variety of backgrounds.
Official Homecoming Schedule:
Friday, September 20 (6:30 pm – 11 pm)
Guests will gather at ISI’s campus for a reception, bonfire, and open house
Saturday, September 21
Guests will gather at ISI's campus for an 8:00 am breakfast
9:00 – 10:00 am: Reagan and Nixon Revisited
Speakers: George Will and Lord Conrad Black, moderated by Dan McCarthy
10:30 am: The Democratization of American Christianity
Speakers: Rusty Reno, Nathan Hatch, and Joshua Mitchell, moderated by Johnny Burtka
Top 20 under 30 Awards Ceremony
12:00 – 1:15 pm: God and Man at Yale 2024
Michael Knowles (lecture) and moderated discussion feat. Michael Brendan Dougherty
1:15 pm: Lunch and festivities begin
Reserve your ticket>>>
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CATEGORY: AMERICA (10 MIN)
Fourth faithfulness
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This week, the nation celebrates its 248th birthday. The Fourth commemorates the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important documents in the American canon. Some conservatives, however, have criticized the Declaration, either downplaying the importance of its stated rights or criticizing those rights for giving rise to a hedonistic society.
For this week’s article from the Modern Age website, Glenn Ellmers defends the Declaration from these two wings of criticism. He cites the work of Harry Jaffa to support his arguments. Ellmers starts by rejecting the claim that the natural rights theories of John Locke didn’t substantially impact the Declaration. He points to the people who signed it, the later documents they wrote, and later state constitutions to highlight the influence of Lockean rights.
Ellmers then rebuts the other detractors—those who argue the Founding was “liberal” in a derogatory sense and opened the door for the death of objective morality. Once again, Ellmers pulls from many different documents to show the moral grounding of the Founding Fathers. He instead blames progressives who have taken over societal institutions for the corruption of America.
“If the right wants to rouse the American people to a recovery of our republican liberty,” Ellmers concludes, “it can do no better than to rally around the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence—to which our forefathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.”
Read Ellmers’ full piece on the Modern Age website.
Read Now
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Thought of the Day:
"I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared."
- Thomas Jefferson
Join ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club
It’s never been easier for you to support our mission—and stay part of our community—with ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club!
For just $19.53 a month, you can join the fight and “pay it forward” by educating the next generation for ordered liberty.
Join the Club
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