Archive
A collection of 1894 articles.
Please Stop the Profanity
Education professor Karen M. Prince expresses her disenchantment with the pervasiveness of profanity in contemporary life. Sadly, even the presence of children is typically not enough to discourage swearing. She asks us to consider holding our tongues when tempted to let the expletives fly.
A Life Made Unlivable: Prejudice Takes on a New Meaning in Africa
The West has long abandoned draconian measures to enforce morality, guided by the belief that every individual—sinner and saint alike—has dignity. In this personal story, Tony Njoroge reminds us of the consequences of twisting moral concern into hatred, a cost still borne in parts of Africa.
The Poet as Thief
“Donc le poète est vraiment voleur de feu.” — Arthur Rimbaud Was Prometheus a poet? Rimbaud says he was, stealing fire from the gods: technology, knowledge, human arts and sciences. He paid a terrible price for his audacity. Whatever was he thinking? Look what we have done with what he gave
The Age of Self-Capital: Work, Identity, and Artificial Intelligence
As AI reshapes labor markets, the most valuable forms of work are no longer tasks but traits. Al Binns examines how AI accelerates a system in which personality and identity are increasingly monetized. The question is not whether work will disappear but what kind of human life will remain.
Wilfred McClay: The Civilizational Role of the Bible in the American Founding
As controversy swirls within the conservative movement regarding the role of Judaism and Jewish Americans in the history of the country, Wilfred McClay and Stuart Halpern's book makes clear that the Old Testament was one of the guiding lights of the early United States.
Three States Triptych
The 7th Burial Mound
Teaching Students to Think for Themselves Is Never Apolitical
Journalism professor Robert Jensen considers how educators should handle contentious politics in the classroom, from the Iraq War to more recent American actions in Venezuela. He argues that honest disclosure of one's interpretive framework is essential to teaching students to think critically.
How the High School Diploma Can Restore Its Credibility
Despite soaring education costs, literacy among young people is declining. Education expert Bruno V. Manno explains how diplomas became detached from actual skills while offering a practical blueprint—informed by encouraging stories from across the country—for reversing the decline.
The Forty-Ninth Year
Unraveling
Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)
Live from the Hadal Zone
Ten Notable Articles from 2025
As is tradition at our magazine, senior editor Jonathan Church offers his selections of the ten articles published in 2025 that most deserve to be reread and reconsidered.
Are We Ready to Be Governed by Artificial Intelligence?
Experts Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders explore how Artificial Intelligence is already shaping the executive, judicial, and legislative branches, showing that we are already, at least in part, governed by AI—with more likely to come.
Reflecting on Tragedy: From Brown University to Bondi Beach
Senior editor Jonathan Church, writing in the wake of horrific shootings in Rhode Island and Australia, reflects on the death of his own mother, wringing meaning from tragedy, and what it is to live in a grief-laden world.
Grace
Reflection: My Interview of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Then-contributing editor Vahaken Mouradian’s May, 2021 interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali has taken on increasing urgency amid the growing number of reports of rape in Europe by migrants, especially as two Afghan asylum seekers were sentenced this week for the assault on a 15-year-old English girl.
Animal Instinct
Today a Cooper’s Hawk perched itself outside our bedroom window on a low branch of a small tree not twenty feet away. The courtyard of our condo complex. Frequented by all sorts of wildlife: sparrows and wrens, mourning doves, juncos, hummingbirds, now and then a cardinal, chipmunks, rabbits, lots
Fresh Off the Press: Collection III
Dear Member, On this frosty Philadelphia afternoon, we are pleased to present to you the latest issue of our magazine. Merion West's third collection is available for your reading enjoyment–by a fireplace, perhaps–by following the link below: ▷ Read COLLECTION III Sincerely, Henri & Erich
COLLECTION III
Published December 8, 2025
Can "Deliberative Polling" Solve Polarization?
As Washington emerges from a historic shutdown, Stanford’s James Fishkin outlines how Deliberative Polling offers a path toward rebuilding trust across the partisan divide. His decades of work suggest that genuine deliberation can still depolarize American politics.
Why Charles Murray Is Taking Religion Seriously
One of America’s best-known political scientists has been turning his attention to religion. In this interview, Charles Murray discusses his new book and the slow, unexpected path that took him from reluctantly attending Quaker meetings to defending the veracity of many religious claims.
Wonder Me
Orchard Season
Pray Silence (The Mind of the Meeting)
Three Elegies for the Everyday
Public Servant in Name Only: Rob Bresnahan Hardly Alone
A young congressman elected on promises of integrity has quickly become one of Washington’s most prolific stock traders, writes editor-in-chief Erich J. Prince. Is it any wonder why so many Americans feel nothing ever really changes at the Capitol?
Why We Should Return to Ivan Turgenev’s "Fathers and Sons"
In this essay, Sadhika Pant helps us to see why Turgenev’s fourth novel remains the most enduring portrait of Russia’s 19th-century ideological storm. More than a mere history, the novel continues to resonate as an antidote to the revolutionary spirits of today.
FLATLAND
In the Valles Caldera
If Being Virtuous Feels Easy, It Could Be Junk
Although no one likes to admit to doing it, virtue signaling is a practice that is a natural part of being a human. Yet, in this essay, philosopher Jimmy Alfonso Licon advises caution by comparing the practice to the culinary equivalent of junk food–tempting but counterproductive.
Bubble of Loneliness
Agnosticism Is Not Reasonable
Refusal to make a choice is a choice of its own. Although often presented as the intellectually humble third option between belief and atheism, Stuart Doyle argues that agnosticism presents a false middle path that is neither coherent nor practical.
Ancient Cooperation
Easter Plum
Pistachios
The Conservatism of Russian-Speaking Jews
Simon Maass, a German writer of Soviet Jewish descent, contends that Jews who left the Soviet Union often hold distinctly conservative views—and are steadily shaping politics in their new homes.
Ars Poetica: or, Benzaitan’s Rules for Poems (That She Told Me In A Dream)
The Oldest Hatred, the West’s Latest Test
Following the October 2nd terrorist attack in Manchester, England, Gerfried Ambrosch examines the ideological convergence between the Western left and Islamist movements—and calls for renewed resolve in confronting anti-Semitism in all of its forms.
Why We Need Better College Rankings
As the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. In this interview, Washington Monthly’s editor argues we should stop equating a college’s worth with its U.S. News & World Report ranking and instead use a ranking system that holds schools accountable for real-world outcomes.
Is the Current Era of Free Speech Over?
Considering the rest of the developed world, it is a miracle that the First Amendment continues to reign in the United States. Tracing the precarious history of free speech in the country, legal scholar Eric Heinze writes that shifting bipartisan attitudes are placing it under threat.
Ready to Read: Collection II
Dear Member, Fresh off the digital press, Merion West's second issue has been published and is available by clicking below: ▷ Read COLLECTION II Sincerely, Henri & Erich
COLLECTION II
Published October 3, 2025
Dream Person
The Morning News
Heat of a Bayou
Interview: The Man Who Dared to Imagine If God Were an Investor
At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, a pair of believers envisioned an investing firm whose goal was not limited to maximizing returns, but to make the world better. Founded before ESG came into vogue on Wall Street, the company manages billions today and shows no signs of slowing down.
Caste Remains the True Test of Inclusion in Corporate India
Across boardrooms from Bangalore to Delhi and inside Western corporations staffed by an increasing number of Indian employees, caste continues to influence who advances and who does not. Ignoring this reality, writes Indian scholar Disha, makes all other efforts at fostering inclusivity ring hollow.
The State Sovereignty Question Again Rears Its Head
Tom McDonough argues that Governor JB Pritzker’s recent appeal to “state sovereignty” misreads the Constitution. Revisiting the works of Orestes Brownson, McDonough warns that treating the Constitution as a tool of convenience risks reviving old errors about sovereignty and federal authority.
Dämmerschlaf, or, Twilight Sleep
What You Could Not Spare
Let's Teach Young People Hope—Not Doom
Education expert Bruno Manno argues that when educators present social and ecological problems as intractable, this can foster hopelessness in students. This school year, he urges, we should teach students that problems can be solved, not merely bemoaned.
The Perennial Allure of Political Violence
Writing from across the Atlantic, Gerfried Ambrosch condemns both the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the disturbing celebrations that followed, ending with a forceful defense of free expression.
Why Today’s Atheism Requires a Leap of Faith
Who commands intellectual authority between believers and secularists? Rather than dismissing faith as irrational, Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies invite readers to consider whether atheism itself withstands logical scrutiny.
Alan Dershowitz: On His Magnum Opus, The Preventive State
In this, his 57th book, the legendary law professor presents a framework he's been working on since his 20s that grapples with the trade-off between infringing liberty and preventing harm.
Emergency Room
We Ought Not Tolerate Reckless Driving
Our editor-in-chief argues that reckless driving must be treated as the urgent social ill that it is. Driving is dangerous enough already, and those who wantonly flout traffic safety need to be consistently held accountable.
From Austerity to Arms: Europe’s Recurring Escape from Deflationary Paralysis
Europe’s turn from austerity to rearmament recalls an older pattern: economic stagnation broken by military spending. This essay traces the parallels—and the risks—for the European Union’s future.
Not Quite Touching Sestos
Why We Should Reacquaint Ourselves with William Blake
Mark Vernon, the author of a recent book on William Blake, urges us to rediscover the wisdom contained in the writings and artwork of the great British polymath.
Published: First Merion West Collection
A Silencing
The Machiavellian Keir Starmer
British writer Seamus Flaherty, channeling Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund's new book, dissects the Machiavellian approach British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has brought to his political career and now premiership.
Crepe Myrtles
Revisiting "The Classical Liberal Case for Israel"
Walter E. Block and Alan G. Futerman's book, which was published in 2021, has taken on ever greater import since the October 7th attacks. In this essay, historian Paul Gottfried questions some of the book's assumptions and its use of history.
Deny Your Surface Self
Who Pays for "Free" Speech?
Law professor Eric Heinze reminds us that for all the rhetoric about free speech, demonstrations and protests often impose on the public costs of millions of dollars.
Văcărești
I Wake Up Daily Which Cannot Continue Forever.
Engineering Morality in the Age of Driverless Cars
Once the realm of ivory tower thought experiments, the trolley problem is increasingly relevant in the real world as algorithms replace the human behind the wheel, argues philosopher Jimmy Alfonso Licon.
A Prison Love Story
An unconventional love story, but a love story just the same.
How to Write a Poem
While We Were in Motion
Year of the Plague: Jake Gardner and the Ghosts of 2020
Returning to a night in Omaha that rattled the nation, Matthew Chabin presents another side of an old friend in the middle of the tragedy. An intimate meditation on the fragility of friendship in a black-and-white age, Chabin calls for understanding over condemning one's enemies, including his own.
Exit Terra
Porschegasbord
Visions of Hell: What One Man Sees in October 7th
How does a French filmmaker best ivory-tower experts and global intelligence agencies? In this interview spanning both geopolitics and moral reckoning, Pierre Rehov shares the insights—and warnings—that led him to anticipate Israel’s surprise strikes on Iran in June.
In Search of Dreams
At the Cardiologist’s
Mystifying Answers to Magic 8 Ball Questions Regarding Recent Political Events
The Clash and the Quest
In this essay, Alexander Zubatov traces how the stories that fill the boundless canvas of Western canon are, in essence, reflections of two contrasting Homeric archetypes. Venturing beyond the literary, the motifs offer the frames through which one can interpret existence itself.
Bad Angel's Home
Solaria
An Alternate Ending
Gilgandra, 1963
Words Unheard
Senator Lankford's Timely Reminder of the American Ethos
In an interview with our editor-in-chief, the senator advocates for the uniquely American ideal of individual agency amid increasingly many citizens looking to Washington, D.C. for answers. Additionally, he shares lessons from the Capitol and thoughts on the President's first 100 days.
When Therapy Fails Artists
As a challenge to conventional advice about rest and recovery, poet Nada Faris explains the importance of working amid suffering for those who derive meaning and inspiration from their craft. Shakespeare, Woolf, and Orwell did some of their best work in times of despair, after all.
Summer in the Mountains
The Enduring Question at the Heart of Gone with the Wind
Sadhika Pant revisits the 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, a book recently targeted for cancellation by certain activists. Pant suggests that Scarlett O’Hara and Ashley Wilkes represent two dueling approaches to living, and this dichotomy invites nothing short of civilizational questions.
Haberdasher
What an Exiled 19th-Century Economist's Letters Tell Us about the Tariff Debate
Perhaps there truly is nothing new under the sun. Robert Rich revisits the writings of Friedrich List, whose pragmatic views on economics were eclipsed by classical orthodoxy but, amid today’s debate over free trade and American exceptionalism, prove surprisingly resonant.
Four Questions to Ask Before Using Artificial Intelligence
Professor Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin, an expert on artificial intelligence, provides a four-point framework for thinking about whether or not to employ new AI technologies in day-to-day life.
Mother-in-Law
The Supreme Court Takes a Welcome Stand against Reverse Discrimination
Jonathan Church, a long-standing critic of the excesses of the critical social justice movement, examines how a recent ruling dismantles the legal double standard that required some Americans to meet a higher burden of proof in discrimination cases.
Stealing Baby Jesus
The headline in today’s Inquirer shocked me to my very soul: “Baby Jesus Stolen from the Shrine of St. John Neumann,” Northern Liberties neighborhood, Fifth Street & Girard. In broad daylight, too. Okay, it was only a plaster figurine, not expensive, though very much beloved— according to the shrine’
The Movement James Burnham Began
David Byrne, the author of a recent biography of the mid-century conservative intellectual James Burnham, traces the thinker's influence on Goldwater, on Reagan, on Musk.