Public Discourse

The Bookshelf: The Return of Sybil thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100509/

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100449/ A marriage is a sacrament that goes beyond the couple because it opens the couple to God.

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/02/100241/ We are, as I said, mixed-up creatures. It turns out that Richard Weaver’s bestselling work, Ideas Have Consequences, is his worst book. But an author with his contempt for mass democracy would probably appreciate that irony.

Zohran Mamdani Is Not Radical Enough thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100502/

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/02/100228/ Within this tradition, one finds neither an open-borders policy nor a call for overly strict controls, but rather, an attitude of compassionate concern toward migrants that also considers the good of the host community.

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100437/ Unlike the Iraq war, Trump’s Iran war is being fought without a clear plan or congressional approval. For these and other reasons, it plainly does not meet the conditions for a morally acceptable war, as set out by traditional just war doctrine.

Conservatism’s Formation Crisis thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100487/

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100424/ In this demanding moment of crisis, the ultimate task of giving voice to Cicero falls decisively to us.

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/02/100216/ Lent ought to be the training ground for how to approach things of value with proper reverence. In other words, Lent retrains our loves.

Beware the Cul-De-Sac of Weirdness thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100475/

"Being a grateful person on a day-to-day basis is an important form of preparation for suffering well, and Sasse’s posture of gratitude is a salutary reminder of that fact." Christopher Tollefsen @PublicDiscourse

Worth reading on conservatism(s) today, @PublicDiscourse. "This is a most consequential way to spend our days: learning how to practice and even enjoy the difficult but indispensable virtues of humility and charity."

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100413/ America is great because America is good: that is the proposition. But is the proposition plausible? And “good” means ... what?

Beautiful Losers thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100463/

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/02/100195/ All of us labor under the same death sentence that Sasse does, and so it is worth our time to reflect upon the lessons he offers us.

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100400/ The conservative legal movement has come far, but we’re just getting started.

A Sacramental Theology of Marriage: A Q&A with Fr. José Granados thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100449/

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/02/100181/ Zhao’s adaptation of Hamnet fails is visually luscious, and boasts a fantastic performance by Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare, but it doesn’t trust its audience to have enough media literacy to handle the subtlety of the book.

thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100390/ The “universal humanism” that Ex Corde Ecclesiae invokes for Catholic universities is certainly and rightly capacious ... but at the same time it is oriented fundamentally toward “the supreme Truth, who is God.”

America’s Conflict in Iran Is Not a Just War thepublicdiscourse.com/2026/03/100437/