By CDD Staff
The Annual Edisto Beach Shag Festival takes place every Labor Day weekend at Bay Creek Park in Edisto Beach. From Sept. 4-5, this family-friendly event celebrates the Carolina shag dance and beach music, offering a lively atmosphere for all ages. Plan your Edisto Labor Day trip with shagging in mind.
Find the festival at 3706 Dock Site Rd. at Bay Creek Park, which is next to the Marina at Edisto. Learn all the details by clicking here: https://tinyurl.com/mucv8xj.
By Capers Tabrizian
Gardeners and nature enthusiasts can learn more about sustainable growing during Food Forest Gardening Morning in Summerville. The community program gives participants an opportunity to work in and learn about a food forest, where edible plants are grown together in a diverse garden designed to resemble a natural ecosystem.
The Food Forest Gardening Morning will be held Tuesday, Aug. 18, in Summerville. The program is organized by Summerville Parks and Recreation. For more information, click here.
There’s no contradiction between national interest and civilizational alliance.
By John-Henry Keenan
At the outset of Marco Rubio’s tenure as secretary of state, his department introduced a new paradigm for United States-European relations: civilizational alliance. Rubio and his aides have persistently sought to remind Europe that our relationship is based not merely on trade deals and defense agreements, but ultimately on a shared Western anthropology and history.
Rubio’s July 4 message declared:
[America’s] seeds were planted by the philosophers of Athens, the imperial majesty of Rome, the monks and kings of medieval Christendom — centuries of European exploration, science, faith, and restless ambition finally unleashed from every constraint on the boundless American frontier. America was the destiny of an entire civilization.
These overtures, though sometimes welcomed by European citizens bearing the brunt of civilizational decline, have been met in conventional diplomatic circles with reactions ranging from ambivalence to indignation. European elites are loath to admit they have a civilization to maintain, and if they do, they speak of it with contempt. Rather than face the matter head-on, the most typical response has been to accuse the U.S. of brashness and insincerity. Critics scoff that we are hypocrites for touting civilizational alliances while unabashedly pursuing America First policies. This apparent contradiction rests on three errors.
First is ignorance of the very Western tradition Americans wish to revitalize, in which duty to one’s country is second only to God. This wisdom was passed down from Cicero to Augustine to Aquinas, who taught that “just as it belongs to religion to give worship to God, so does it belong to piety, in the second place, to give worship (cultum) to one’s parents and one’s country.” The duty of patriotism stems from the gift of life we received from particular people in a particular nation. Naturally, those who see no significance in national origin can see no duty stemming from it.
But in truth, even nations that share a common civilization are perfectly free — and indeed obliged — to be patriotic and to pursue their own interests for the sake of their citizenry. Working to preserve a shared civilization is exactly what helps them clarify the just pursuit of interest or “interest well understood,” as Tocqueville calls it. For example, a businessman who is outmaneuvered in the market never objects to competitors seeking their own prosperity. He objects only if they cheat to get it. So too with nations. This is doubly true for the civilization that produced Aquinas and Tocqueville, Parliament and Congress.
Second, these dynamics of Western civilization are lost on contemporary Europeans because they have abdicated both individual and national sovereignty. They fear individual action apart from collective consensus. Of course, this is to misunderstand both consensus and individuals, since authentic consensus arises only from the free assent of individuals. But contribution to a consensus is far from the only sovereign power individuals hold.
There are a host of matters that individuals may decide for themselves without needing permission from anyone else. The sum of these choices makes up moral character, and indeed, sovereignty itself. To circumscribe them is to destroy the possibility of the moral greatness and virtue that the West champions. As is true for individuals, so also for nations.
The nations of Europe have to a large extent surrendered their sovereignty to the E.U., which acts like a nation but does not take responsibility for its actions. Those in Brussels claim merely to be following the consensus of European nations, whose leaders themselves take no responsibility and dutifully follow the decisions of the E.U. To those within a system built on a shared abdication of responsibility, the sight of Americans letting their yes be yes and their no be no is an unconscionable disturbance of global order — and, if European member states catch on, to their job security.
Third, abdication of sovereignty is not applied equally. The real objection is not so much to any national interest but to the assertion of American national interest. If Ghana or Paraguay stood up at the U.N. and cited their national interest, everyone would murmur appreciatively. Only strong nations are not supposed to seek their interests, and since the U.S. is the strongest, we are expected to support the interests of others over our own. This moral hierarchy is one of the glaring symptoms of how much globalist institutions have been captured and perverted by radical “Third Worldist” policies.
But this critique rests on another false premise: that American national interest is inherently at odds with the welfare of others. In practice, the opposite is often true.
America might be prosperous, but we also have millions of poor people living here, so many that we spend around 25 percent of our considerable budget for their ostensible welfare. The U.S. is also deeply concerned with global welfare. We dismantled boondoggle institutions like USAID precisely to redirect funds from woke nonsense to real needs. Just recently, Secretary Rubio spearheaded $100 million in direct aid to the Cuban people. Finally, another 15 percent of U.S. spending goes toward preserving the longest large-scale peace since the fall of Rome, enabling billions of otherwise vulnerable people to live in relative security.
So separating U.S. interest from the interests of the poor and marginalized is dodgy at best.
But on a deeper level, the contention that strong nations have no legitimate self-interest is a dangerous absurdity. Yet it is embedded deep in the minds of Western elites who distrust not the self-governing individual in principle, but only those who govern themselves well. The weaker, the meaner, and the baser, the more license they grant, particularly over those who are naturally stronger.
This is the logic that has afforded migrant rape gangs the protection of law in Britain and outlawed objection to them. It is the logic that grants or withholds jobs and benefits based on race and victim status. It is the logic that demands the U.S. submit to tyrannical institutions like the International Criminal Court that could not even exist without the Pax Americana.
It is difficult to pinpoint the source of these inversions. Many have suggested they spring from a perversion of Christian charity. That may be, although I hesitate to blame even the perversion of a theological virtue. Rather, one of the seven deadly sins seems a more likely culprit: despair.
Many on the left believe that the West never offered humanity anything besides oppression and that it now offers a vast storehouse of ill-gotten gains, good only for distribution and dissolution. On a fundamental level, Western nations have no right to pursue their own interests because they have no right to exist.
America disagrees. Humanity’s best hope does not live in the grave of the West. It lives here, where the flame of Western civilization has been burning for 250 years. We intend to keep it burning, both for our own sake and for the world’s.
John-Henry Keenan is the owner of Archetype Media, a conservative digital communications company based in Washington, D.C. He holds a degree in philosophy from Sacred Heart Major Seminary and a degree in communications media from John Paul the Great Catholic University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree from Hillsdale’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government. He and his wife reside in Alexandria, Virginia.
This article originally appeared in the Claremont Institute’s The American Mind.
By James DeLo
Daniel Island will get one more big dose of summer rock when the Goo Goo Dolls come to Credit One Stadium on Saturday, August 29, joined by Neon Trees. Expect plenty of ’90s and early-2000s nostalgia from the Goo Goo Dolls, whose catalog includes longtime favorites such as “Iris,” “Slide” and “Name,” while Neon Trees brings its own upbeat pop-rock sound to the bill.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. at Credit One Stadium, 161 Seven Farms Dr. It will be the stadium’s last major outdoor concert of the summer before Hayley Williams takes the stage on Sept. 6. Click here for ticket information.
By Capers Tabrizian
Artists and beginners alike can capture the natural beauty of the Lowcountry during a Marsh Paint-Along Acrylic Workshop on Isle of Palms. The guided program gives participants an opportunity to create their own marsh-inspired painting while exploring the colors and scenery that define South Carolina’s coastal landscape.
The Marsh Paint-Along Acrylic Workshop will be held Saturday, Aug. 22, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Isle of Palms Recreation Center, 24 28th Ave. on the Isle of Palms. Advance registration is available through Isle of Palms Recreation. For more information, click here.
By CDD Staff
Chris Beard — often dubbed the “Prince of the Blues” — will deliver a high-energy, contemporary electric blues performance Aug. 22 in Port Royal that blends deep traditional roots with a modern, rocking edge. His shows feature searing guitar work, soulful vocals, and interactive crowd engagement. He is the son of New York State’s, “King of the Blues,” Joe Beard.
This event is part of the town’s street music series, which some call “tailgating for grownups.” The music starts at 6 p.m. and will be at 902 Paris Ave. in Port Royal.
By James DeLo
If you’ve ever wondered what happens after a sea turtle nest hatches, Edisto Beach State Park is offering a rare behind-the-scenes look. The park’s Environmental Learning Center team and permitted volunteers will inventory recently emerged nests, counting hatched and unhatched eggs — and, on occasion, even discovering a live hatchling still beneath the sand.
The remaining inventories are scheduled for August 19, 21, 26 and 28, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Visitors should meet at the beach day-use area of Edisto Beach State Park. Because the programs depend on recent hatchling activity, guests are encouraged to call the Environmental Learning Center at (843) 869-4430 beforehand to make sure that evening’s inventory is still taking place.
By James DeLo
Sister Hazel is heading back to the Isle of Palms for the 20th anniversary of The Hang at Hazelnut Isle, a three-day beachside weekend at the Windjammer. Set for August 28 through 30, the weekend will feature Sister Hazel alongside The Wood Brothers and Mark Bryan of Hootie & the Blowfish.
Beyond the concerts, the weekend includes a Saturday lunch and intimate set with Sister Hazel, a Sunday matinée performance, a “Hazelnut Happy Hour,” late-night concerts and a private Friday night party. Saturday’s centerpiece will be Sister Hazel’s sunset concert on the beach.
The fun begins Friday, August 28, with doors opening at 4:00 p.m. The event is open to those 21 and older, or younger guests accompanied by a parent. For ticket information, please use this link: https://the-windjammer.com/event/hang26/
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