The Great American Disconnect
“A disconnect ensues: Even as the American public has indeed polarized, our elected representatives have fled to the extremes to an even greater degree.”
Thomas Koenig
Andrew Sullivan Invites Us All Out Onto the Limb
“That commitment to truth seeking made Sullivan one of the earliest advocates for gay marriage and one of the most potent and consistent critics of ‘wokeness’ today.”
The Political Import of Jonathan Rauch’s “The Constitution of Knowledge”
“Rauch takes as his subject how we know what we know in public life, and what the greatest contemporary threats to our shared public knowledge are.”
Why We Should Love Democracy, with a Few Caveats
“But even if we should accept and defend democracy as an ideal, we should not make the mistake of forgetting that anti-democratic—or, at least, non-democratic—procedures and institutions are necessary for sustaining a liberal democratic society like our own.”
The Eviction Ban: A Case Study in Congressional Dysfunction
“Our members of Congress—no matter how extreme their ideological predilections—have a duty to quit using the institution as a performative stage and begin working within it to actually forge policy solutions to our most pressing issues.”
Liberal Democracy Lives on the Page, Not the Screen
“Here, I would like to reflect on the optimal mechanisms for sustaining the rational mindset that undergirds liberal democracy.”
Patriotism: The Supreme Political Virtue
“Here, Smith steps in, and he admirably makes a case to both the Left and the Right that patriotism is a worthy political virtue in need of resuscitation here in the United States.”
Review: Chris Bail’s “Breaking the Social Media Prism”
“To explain why the echo chamber corrective flopped, Bail puts forth an alternative theory of how today’s social media is helping drive polarization and mutual contempt between partisans.”
To Prevent Politics and Reality from Breaking Up, Keep It Local
“Therefore, if we want to ward off a divorce between our political narratives and reality, perhaps the best thing we can do is bring political affairs as close as possible to our lived, everyday realities.”
George W. Bush’s “Out of Many, One”: A Message of Gratitude
“And at a time when so many, on both the Left and Right, seem intent on tearing everything down, President Bush reminds us how much we have.”
Review: John Boehner’s “On the House”
“On the House does not provide a clear answer, but, if one reads carefully, one might find that Boehner’s short-term pessimism and long-term optimism are both warranted.”
Review: Jamal Greene’s “How Rights Went Wrong”
“Greene uses abortion jurisprudence as a real-world example of how American law’s approach to rights has gone wrong—and has helped split us up into warring tribes competing for a zero-sum rights pie.”
Everybody’s Getting the Filibuster—and the Senate—All Wrong
“But let us be clear: It is not fair to claim that the filibuster is a ‘relic of Jim Crow,’ either.”
Age Quod Agis
“From Saint Ignatius, this short phrase’s message is straightforward yet powerful: Do what you are doing.”
Is Joe Biden the Future of Liberalism? Let’s Hope So
“Will the Democrats prove captive to cultural grievance, identity politics, anti-racism, and the like? Or will they throw their lot in with Biden-style moderates…”
Let’s Make the Founders Less Unique
“If our halls of power are rife with mini Aaron Burrs, what does that say about us?”
Nicholas Kristof Discusses “Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope”
“One of the reasons our anti-poverty efforts in America don’t do better is we start too late. We need to help kids early on.”
James Madison, Greg Weiner, and What to Do about the Filibuster
“Patience ‘is the central constitutional virtue—and it is, by all signs, a lost one.’”
When Reading about Abraham Lincoln, in 2021
“As historian James Oakes writes in his new book, The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution, the Republican Party was once home to a tight union of moral principle and constitutionalism.”
David French Talks “Divided We Fall”
“Well, the first paragraph basically says it all. It begins with ‘The continued unity of the United States of America cannot be guaranteed.’”
The Foe We Need Is the Foe We Have
“At a time when we are losing a grip on the fundamentals of the American Experiment, a powerful foe has arisen that stands in direct opposition to those fundamentals.”
What Is the Intellectual’s Duty to Society?
“In his new book, Hope & Scorn: Eggheads, Experts, and Elites in American Politics, historian Michael J. Brown adeptly probes questions such as these as he delves into ‘the uncertain role of intellectuals in a democracy.’”
Francis Fukuyama: Making Identity Politics Work
“One of the core conclusions of Fukuyama’s Identity is that identity politics—the ‘demand for [political] recognition of one’s identity,’ whether that be a racial, ethnic, religious, or national identity—is here to stay.”
In Response to a Worthy Critic
“I will close here by thanking Senatore for his thoughtful critique of my review. I hope that this response convinces him that my ‘sweeping statements and feel-good-isms’ are not wholly without merit!”
“After Trump”
“In what ways can we further immunize our governing institutions from the political malaise of today and tomorrow?”
What Ails Us?
“The loss of faith in America, its promises, and its constitutional and democratic ideals augurs not only American decline, but American collapse.”
Kevin Williamson: How to Improve the Lot of Those Left Behind
“And he wrote this very famous novel called Infinite Jest, which he described as a very sad book about the pursuit of happiness. And so, I think in some ways, I’ve written a very sad book about the pursuit of happiness as well.”
Thomas Ricks: Politics, as Seen from Aristotle to Trump
“And so I remembered from college: When you’re facing a problem that seems deeply puzzling, go back to fundamentals, go to first principles. So I took Aristotle’s Politics off my shelf, my old college copy, and reread it in the context of the election of Donald Trump.”
The Historic Unifying Potential of the U.S. Constitution
“Professor McConnell’s extensive study of the substance and scope of presidential power under the Constitution has convinced me that the unifying capacity of the Constitution could perhaps be revived.”
H. R. McMaster: How He Sees China, and the World
“And so I think we have to resist the tendency to try to define a new administration’s foreign policy mainly as an opposition to the administration that came before it.”
Walter Lippmann and the Dilemma of Democracy
“In his 1922 book, Public Opinion, Lippmann notes that in a representative democracy, members of the public are expected to form opinions regarding public affairs with which they have no direct contact.”
Kristof and WuDunn’s “Tightrope”: an Essential Book
“Whether one agrees with none, some, or all of their policy prescriptions, Tightrope approaches the status of a must-read.“
Blowing Up “The Big White Ghetto”
“Williamson puts his finger on a certain, pervasive resignation that hobbles so many lower-class Americans—a resignation that must be explicitly attacked if our nation is to live up to its promises…”
Can a Constitution of Genius Work for a Nation of Imbeciles?
“Ricks writes: ‘In a nutshell, Washington was sensing the limits of virtue as a driver of the new country. He is not often seen as a political philosopher, but in his own quiet way he was ahead of most of his peers.’”
Review: H.R. McMaster’s “Battlegrounds”
“As citizens, though, thankfully we can do more than just hope. We can engage in the sort of good-faith, learned analysis which General McMaster has provided us in Battlegrounds.”
The Center Must Hold
“Having engaged with Schlesinger’s thinking, readers should ask themselves: Here in the 21st century, what are the greatest threats to the liberal democratic project at home and abroad?”
Review: Carlos Lozada’s “What Were We Thinking”
“Lozada’s book provides a comprehensive, incisive analysis of the intellectual debates that defined the Trump-era. As we plunge forward into a post-Trump presidency politics, it is a must read.”
Review: Ted Cruz’s “One Vote Away”
“One Vote Away serves as a useful primer on some of the great constitutional issues of our day, while also proving that legal judgment and political judgment are separate matters.”
Meritocratic Tyranny: Big, If True
“But Sandel’s critique of meritocracy runs deeper than lamenting the obvious gap between meritocratic ideals and reality; Sandel takes issue with the ideal of meritocracy itself.”
We’re Divided. But Will We Fall?
“French dedicates his book to James Madison, saying, ‘May we remember that you were right.’”
America: Strained But Strong
“Hopefully, the reality of neither party being dominant will translate into a shared recognition that virtues like tolerance must be rediscovered and resuscitated in our political life.”
“A Cry from the Far Middle”: Lots of Laughs, And a Few Important Insights
“If there is an underlying argument here, though, it is that Americans ought to quit taking themselves—and their own tribe’s political convictions—so darn seriously.”
To My Fellow Catholics, Just Before Election Day
“We must face the reality that the prevalence of abortion is a manifestation of our distressed sociality and corrupted sense of mutual responsibility.”
What Struck Me Watching the Final Presidential Debate
“Our public discourse must turn away from retrospective litigation and verbal crossfire and, instead, shift towards real politics…”
Paging Mr. Moynihan
“We can only hope that Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s approach to politics will be rediscovered. Books like American Burke should function as essential guides in this most necessary search.”
What Ever Happened to Answering the Question?
“These were not typical evasions regarding policies; they were evasions regarding principles.”
Assuaging Conservatives’ Fears about a Biden Presidency
“The former option is President Trump; the latter is politics.”
Power Over Principles: the Dual Dangers of Trumpism and Anti-Racism
Donald Trump rode the politics of power and emotion to the White House. If his opponents continue to respond in kind, he might have killed the politics of principle in the process.