In Defense of Rugged Individualism... From 100 Years Ago

The Rugged Individual Was Never a Rugged Individual Alone

I first heard the phrase “rugged individualism” not in a history book but on the radio. Like many Americans of my Gen‑X generation, I instinctively associate the term with Rush Limbaugh—his booming voice, his snarky confidence, his emphasis on personal responsibility, self‑reliance, and independence from government. All these years, “rugged individualism” functioned in my mind as shorthand for talk‑radio conservatism, often set against concerns about government over-reach, compassion and the common good.

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What Is Spiritual Authority? Neither Authoritarianism nor Anti-Institutionalism

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“somewhere in between the late middle ages and today, Christians began to detach their view of spiritual authority from the church and began to locate it the individual….Not only are various authorities pitted against one another, such as the spiritual against the political. All authorities began to be pitted against the individual and the individual conscience.” - Word by Word

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To Renew Culture, Give Up Control

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“social media, newsletters, podcasts, YouTube, and more have given consumers the ability to curate their information sources to their exact ideological preferences. And yet, many people report lower trust in the information they get.” - The Dispatch

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On the Changing of the Dictionaries

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“…in our day everything is political and that all of society’s structures and institutions are being made subservient to political ends. …Second, it affirms that in our society self-definition is considered unassailable so that a person’s individual defining of a word must reign over a dictionary’s.” - Challies

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Unhelpful Advice in ‘Turning Red’

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“the film ultimately advocates a wrongheaded central message under the guise of empowerment: embrace who you are, even your reckless vices and dangerous impulses, and don’t let anyone stop you.” - TGC

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Why are perceptions of the Church so far from the reality?

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“In 1979, sociologist Christopher Lasch wrote The Culture of Narcissism, arguing that as the bonds of religious identity and family erode, Americans were increasingly looking inward for security and meaning. In such a culture, feelings and subjective experiences aren’t just considered the most important thing in the world: They’re considered the most accurate view of the world.” - Breakpoint

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Does anyone care who John Galt is anymore?

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“Ayn Rand’s plot and unsubtle message were so relentless that reading the book, the essence of her Objectivist philosophy, was much like being struck repeatedly over the head with a rolled up copy of, say, Foreign Affairs, annoying but not bad enough to cause actual pain or loss of consciousness.” - Acton

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