The West’s cultural shift in attitudes about cigarettes, same-sex marriage, and several other controversial topics is a godsend to the state and its political class. Conservative legal theorist Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) left important clues as to why governments and their supporters are the prime beneficiaries of this sea change.

Culture and SocietyGovernment and PoliticsLaw and LibertyPolitical Theory
Other Independent Review articles by William P. Baumgarth, Sr.
Winter 2020/21 Is Nothing Sacred? Aristophanes’s The Clouds and Moral Taboos
Spring 2019 From Red to Rainbow: The Transformation of the Left—Some Key Intellectual Sources