The Rage Against God, by Peter Hitchens;
The Road to Serfdom, by F.A. Hayek;
Basic Economics, by Thomas Sowell;
The Secret Knowledge, by David Mamet;
A Conflict of Visions, by Thomas Sowell.
Deanne asked me why I was reading so much Economics all of a sudden. I mean, I learned most of the economics I know from Scrooge McDuck, and who could improve on that? I replied that Economics talks about the same issues that Sociology talks about, which talks about the same issues that Politics talks about, which talks about the same issues that Philosophy talks about: ideology; culture; the kind of world we live in, and the kind of world we should want to live in. And that all impinges on religion.
As far as the presidential campaign goes, nobody -- NOBODY -- in the race is talking about the things I value. I'm an old Whig, a Burkean classic liberal. I believe in civil society and the importance of tradition. I believe in personal freedom and personal responsibility. I believe in smaller government and I distrust elites of all sorts. I believe that "separation of church and state" is supposed to protect the church(es) from the state, not the other way around. I don't believe in throwing one's weight around, but I believe that bullies have to be stood up to -- whether those bullies are on the playground, or in the government, or running other countries. And most of all, I want to be free to live as a Christian and teach others how to do the same.