The last illusions vanish

According to local media, Hong Kong police on Thursday conducted a raid on the office of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, where they seized reporting materials. Five executives have been arrested, including editor-in-chief Ryan Law, for alleged collusion and suspected contravention of the national security law in relation to articles published allegedly calling for sanctions to …

How leftist politics became religion

If religion gives meaning to the lives of the faithful, there are a lot more Americans now who lack that meaning than there used to be, and they’re concentrated on the left side of the political spectrum. It’s not difficult to imagine these people seeking the kind of meaning that religion would otherwise have provided …

Is power self-legitimizing?

Robinson raises the question of election. An administration’s actual legitimacy may be grounded in such demonstrations of bureaucratic power as gaining the acclaim of institutions. ‘We are in power because we can enforce possession’ may be immoral but enforceable. Even assuming a candidate cheated in an election his ability to get away with it would …