ILLUMINATIONS
Patriot Dust
by Anthony Esolen
Last year, during our quadrennial national masquerade, partisans of the left made a plea that was pitiable in its pathos and insubstantiality. "We must support the government," they said, "because government is the only thing we all share in common." And that must end us; that must be our cure.
Our fathers would have shaken their heads in sadness. Do we Americans share nothing else? What about the very place where we live, the templed hills, as the lovely old hymn has it; not the majestic mountains and rivers so much as the rocks and rills of our native country? What has happened to home? The words of Walter Scott ring in my ears:
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Anthony Esolen is a professor at Magdalene College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, New Hampshire, and the author of many books, including Life Under Compulsion (ISI Books), Real Music: A Guide to the Timeless Hymns of the Church (Tan, with a CD), Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture (Regnery), and The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord (Ignatius Press, 2019). He has also translated Dante's Divine Comedy (Random House). He is a senior editor of Touchstone.
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