Editor’s Choice: The Top Five Merion West Articles of 2017

A look back on our editor’s choices for their favorite Merion West articles of 2017.

5. “We Need More Moderate Voters to Reduce Polarization” by Congressman Jason Altmire

In this June op-ed, Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), a centrist former member of Congress, discusses the various institutional pressures—from ideologically-extreme primary voters to gerrymandering to the role of the donors—responsible for both his defeat for re-election and an increasingly polarized Congress. His recommendations for an antidote to the current culture of division seem tailor-made for the mission of Merion West.

4. “Thoughts on the Public Discourse over Climate Change” by Professor Richard Lindzen

In this controversial summary of his life’s work published in April, Richard Lindzen argues that much of the current discourse on climate change is alarmist and misleading. This article, which was the most read in the history of Merion West, spurred staunch support from the right and stinging rebuttals from the left. Responses to this landmark article would surface across the globe in publications from Breitbart to Melbourne, Australia’s Herald Sun.