Political Currency
The Tucker Carlson Episode & the Teaching of Jesus
by S. M. Hutchens
In late April 2023, Tucker Carlson, the popular conservative news commentator on the Fox Network, was suddenly fired and his program cancelled. Thereupon followed a great deal of soul-searching—mostly of other people’s souls, as such things usually are—by commentators who stressed Mr. Carlson’s remarks on the general corruption of public discourse and policy at the hands not only of liberals, but also of conservatives who cannot bring themselves to respond appropriately to what could only be described by reasonable people as evil, and who are perfectly willing to “bend their conscience to their dealing” (J. R. Lowell) when it suits their purposes in the pursuit of money, power, and influence.
The general tenor of the commentary among conservatives, at least as I perceived it, was in favor of an “all power corrupts and a pox on all your houses” attitude with regard to political authority that bears a superficial resemblance to the essentially critical attitude that our Lord called for, but bears with it a kind of anarchic (and hopeless) skepticism which he did not allow.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on politics from the online archives
29.5—Sept/Oct 2016
on the Loss of True Community & Rising Political Desperation by Karl D. Stephan
33.4—July/August 2020
Our Views on the President Are Not Crucial by S. M. Hutchens
more from the online archives
27.3—May/June 2014
Religious Freedom & Why It Matters
Working in the Spirit of John Leland by Robert P. George
25.4—July/August 2012
The Corrosive & Far-Reaching Fallout of the Sexual Revolution by Anthony Esolen
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
