In this Quick Hits, Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics Michael Driscoll talks Europe, Locke, coffee, and the Federalist Papers.
What is your favorite meal that your wife makes?
Tough one — she’s a good cook. There is this chicken and rice in a ginger and honey glaze that she makes that I really like. She makes a great beef roast, too.
Where would you most like to go in Europe and why?
I’m sort of a homebody, so this is a difficult question for me. I did go on a wonderful trip to Europe in 2011 for World Youth Day in Madrid. All things being equal, I’d like to see the basilicas of St. John Lateran and St. Peter’s in Rome.
What common student mistake bugs you?
Employing a quote as evidence and not explicating it. Or worse, saying that it shows that the person being quoted thought that the thing they were talking about was important.
Ketchup or mustard?
Ketchup, unless it is cheap with bad ingredients. I’m more likely to use mustard when I go out to restaurants because even cheap mustard doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup.
How do you drink your coffee?
A bunch of different ways. Straight, with a little raw milk, or with collagen powder, coconut oil, and a little maple syrup or coconut sugar.
John Locke or Thomas Aquinas, and why?
In the words of Admiral Ackbar, “IT’S A TRAP!” But jokes aside, while I don’t yet have much of a reputation academically, if I am known for anything, it is that I am the Catholic who likes Locke. I think that Locke is mischaracterized by more traditional conservatives, and what struck me in my research was just how much Locke had in common with a thinker like Aquinas. Take the natural law for example. Both St. Thomas and Locke say that the natural law directs men to preserve their lives, to procreate and educate children in stable families, and that men seeking out community should strive to be good to their neighbors.
What is your favorite Federalist paper and why?
If I had to pick a single paper, it would be Federalist No. 6, where Hamilton rejects the notion that a history of friendly relations or commercial ties alone are enough to keep independent nations-states from coming to blows. But picking a single paper is difficult because what interests me are the themes that pop up throughout the papers, especially the various arguments about human nature that are employed to demonstrate why the government under the Constitution will work.
Daily Mass or a daily rosary?
Right now, I am working on committing to a daily rosary, but I am often reminded by good friends that I can also grow in holiness and give thanks and praise to God by living out my vocation as a husband, father, and teacher.
What is the best thing about being a dad?
There are many things. I love when the kids line up at the door to wave to me when I go to work, and when they run up and jump on me when I come home. I love watching them play outside and tumble around in the grass, and I love reading and snuggling with them and answering their questions.
If you could improve one thing about Hillsdale, what would it be and why?
I really like Hillsdale, and there is not much I would suggest in terms of improvement. But my 4 year old says we do too many building projects: “I wish they would just leave campus how it was so that I could run and play where I usually do.
