The Eternal Iniquity of John C. Calhoun

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE

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n my last piece, I alluded to an article by Hunter Derensis of The American Conservative, which makes the case that conservatives should look to John C. Calhoun, of all people, for political guidance. Though I didn’t have space to fully address it yesterday, I believe Derensis’s argument is historically illiterate and intellectually shabby enough to merit a longer response.

Derensis begins his piece by sounding a note of alarm about the growing hostility of progressives toward the Supreme Court, the Senate, the Electoral College, and America’s other counter-majoritarian institutions. He cites various voices on the left who have been spouting …