Get the First Principles Right…and All Else will Flow Clearly

By Charlie Johnston I have always been a big believer in what I call “First Things,” foundational principles which you then use as your interpretive template on all extrapolations. (Imagine my delight when, in 1990, the late Fr. Richard Neuhaus founded First Things Magazine – a profoundly orthodox Judeo-Christian publication that often has profound intellectual […]

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Cast Out Into the Deep

By Charlie Johnston It is a peculiarity of modern life that a lot of people have a very superficial knowledge about many things, but no depth of knowledge on anything. Then we have cohorts who have extreme depth of knowledge on certain niche subjects (usually technology) but little general knowledge beyond that. Weirdly, this combination […]

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Prepare For a Great Blessing

By Charlie Johnston Long ago I saw that, at a decisive moment, our technology would fail. I’m no Luddite. I do not regard technology as either intrinsically evil or intrinsically good. It is just a tool which, like any other tool, can be wielded by its user for either good or evil. But we withhold […]

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A Hope and a future

By Charlie Johnston (Though it covers some old territory as a preliminary, this is a foundational piece. If you read nothing else, please read the last paragraph of the first item. It is critical, going forward. Sorry it is so long. I just didn’t have time to write a shorter piece – CJ) When I […]

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The Vine and the Branches

By Charlie Johnston I have written obliquely before of how disturbed I am at the rise of antisemitism in some quarters of the right and the traditionalist Catholic community. I’m going to be more blunt now. If you are afflicted with this, you have welcomed a demon into your counsels. Keep nurturing it and the […]

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We Are God’s Beloved

By Charlie Johnston There was a fellow I collaborated on five or six big campaigns with. It was a great partnership most of the time. He loved the administrative duties – which often weary me. I loved strategy and the field, meeting people, exhorting them, unifying them, laughing with them and fighting together with them. […]

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Spooking the Horses

By Charlie Johnston “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” – Galatians 1:8 When an organization is fractured by deep divisions, I usually encourage a “Don’t spook the horses” policy for about a year. That […]

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Watching the World Burn

By Charlie Johnston I have had several people contact me to see if I am okay, due to the sporadic nature of my posting lately. I did have a significant and serious health issue arise. As is my wont, I did some heavy research, and came up with a treatment protocol. (As you know, I […]

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By the Dawn’s Early Light

By Charlie Johnston It was late in the War of 1812, September 13, 1814, to be exact, just over three months before the war was formally ended. The British had unleashed a brutal attack of rockets and incendiary shells on Ft. McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. American patriots were fearful that Ft. McHenry – and perhaps […]

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