There is a lot to dislike about the president.  Mr. Trump is a sneerer, mocker, boaster, and person of bad character.  But Mr. Obama (like his vice president) was also a sneerer, mocker, boaster, and person of bad character.

The current system of education, both lower and higher, is getting ready to implode -- not as quickly as some expect, but much more quickly than others think, and the higher will go first.

Some have asked how to replace the system (for example with video instruction by superstars).

For all sorts of reasons, opinion polls mean far less than we think.

Some people don’t trust promises of anonymity, and either refuse to participate, or tell the pollsters what they think they want to hear.  This is especially true in an era when some opinions are subject to harsh penalties.  You can lose your job.

A generation ago, the New Left followers of Herbert Marcuse preached the theory of “repressive tolerance,” which meant that tolerating the free expression of all opinions is repressive, because it hinders the triumph of the good ones.  Like socialism.

Query:

I am relatively new to Thomism and find your blog posts helpful, but I have a question.  Does our knowledge of the natural law begin with sense data?  Is the natural law a sensible thing?  If so, by which sense?  St. Paul states that the natural law is written on the human heart.

The classical natural law tradition holds that there really are such things as exceptionless moral precepts, rules that must never be broken, lines of conduct that can never be placed in right order to the ultimate and final good.