Jon Hersey

Franklin

Managing Editor, The Objective Standard Fellow and Instructor, Objective Standard Institute Hazlitt Fellow, Foundation for Economic Education

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Articles

From the Editor, Summer 2023

2 months ago | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey |Emily Austin |Philip Oltermann |Robert Zubrin

Welcome to the Summer 2023 issue of The Objective Standard. The TOS and Objective Standard Institute teams are gearing up for our annual conference, LevelUp, happening in Phoenix, AZ, from June 21–24.
From the Editor, Summer 2024

May 22, 2024 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

Welcome to the Summer 2024 issue of The Objective Standard. I hope to see you at LevelUp 2024, hosted by Objective Standard Institute in Atlanta, June 19–22. With talks on building a flourishing life, developing a happiness plan, defending freedom, getting maximum enjoyment from your romantic life, and much more, this will surely be a life-changing event. Register before the end of May to take advantage of 30 percent savings.
The New Guitar Storytellers: ‘Bringing Back the Instrumental’

May 16, 2024 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

Can instrumental music tell stories? This was a hotly debated question in the 19th century, during the , when notable composers and critics duked it out in the pages of music journals, but its cultural currency has receded with the ascendance of lyric-based songs. We’ve never lost sight of the fact that instrumental music can enhance stories, hence our celebration of such film-music geniuses as Michael Giacchino, Howard Shore, and John Williams.
Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America’s Founders by Dennis C. Rasmussen

May 3, 2024 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2021288 pp. $9.99 (Kindle)Is America on its last leg? Will some Edward Gibbon of the next generation be writing The Rise and Fall of the American Empire? And if so, will the knockout punch come from the “woke” left—or from reactionary national conservatives; from a Chinese social media company—or from WWIII? Or more pathetically, will it go out in a chorus of “c’mon man” answered with self-aggrandizing superlatives?
The Triumph of Defeat: Lust, Wine, and Rock ’n’ Roll

Mar 7, 2024 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

Pick your poison: Either you’re lost in the crumbling maze of your own mind, incapable of articulating anything coherent amid the disintegrated mess of half-formed thoughts; or you can be certain of one thing—that you are a victim, a slave of your own emotions and irresistible urges.
From the Editor, Spring 2024

Feb 22, 2024 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

Welcome to the Spring 2024 issue of The Objective Standard. This begins the journal’s nineteenth year in publication, and I’d like to thank everyone who subscribes and supports our work. It’s because of you that all of us at TOS get to do what we love doing, supporting reason, egoism, and capitalism. Ever since that last term, “capitalism,” was coined by the system’s detractors in the 19th century, capitalism has been scorned and lambasted with uncommon vitriol.
Here’s What Dreaming Louder Sounds Like

Jan 12, 2024 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

Arts & Culture, Noteworthy, Reviews Out today is the eighth album by Israeli jazz guitar phenom Rotem Sivan. Dream Louder is like a character-driven movie. Described as “a musical love letter to his wife Lore,” five of its seven originals are sonic sketches of Lore and members of her immediate family. Apparently, you can learn a lot about a person when the musicians on the job are as talented as these.
Christmas Music Masterpieces You Probably Haven’t Heard

Dec 19, 2023 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

Judging by the typical holiday playlist, an alien might reasonably conclude that humans stopped really trying to record great Christmas music roughly fifty years ago. As nice and nostalgic as it is to listen to the same old recordings year after year, it’s also nice—on the rare occasion that something measures up to the likes of Bing Crosby, Elvis, and Vince Guaraldi—to expand one’s holiday soundtrack palette.
What Is ‘Israeli Occupation’?

Dec 19, 2023 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

“Israeli occupation” is on the lips of everyone from Hamas militants to Harvard students, European protestors to American politicians. It is perhaps the most cited cause for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and some even consider it a moral justification for the shocking brutality that Hamas unleashed on Israeli civilians on October 7.
Dolly Parton Was Always a Rockstar

Dec 9, 2023 | theobjectivestandard.com | Jon Hersey

It’s sometimes hardest to see what’s right in front of our noses. When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame made a rare good call and nominated Dolly Parton in 2022, the singer, songwriter, actress, and all-around superstar declined, saying she hadn’t “earned that right,” and expressed her desire to “put out a hopefully great rock ’n’ roll album at some point in the future, which I have always wanted to do.” She later relented and was inducted.