The Breakdown of American Culture: An Interview with Prof. Amy Wax

On the current trend towards drug liberalization: “Everybody I know who functions at a high level in society is fairly reliable and trustworthy. My husband is an oncologist, and I can tell you that hardworking cancer doctors don’t spend their free time getting high.”

On February 13th, Professor Amy Wax of the University of Pennsylvania school of law joined Merion West’s Erich Prince to discuss her controversial Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed on the decline of traditional values in American society, the backlash she received from colleagues and students, drug policy, and the state of conservatism in America today.

Thank you, Dr. Wax, for being with us today. To begin, could you talk a little bit about the op-ed you wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer and how you chose that publication as your outlet to share your views on the “breakdown of the country’s bourgeois culture?”

It was an accident more than anything else. My co-author, Larry Alexander, whom I’ve known for many years, asked me if I would participate or co-author this piece with him. He sent me the piece about the loss of bourgeois value because I did some editing of it. I said “okay, I’m willing to go in with you.” I sent it to an editor I knew at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and he said we’ll publish it. I thought very little about it at the time. It was the dog days of summer, August 9th. I all but forgot about it until this conflagration greeted me.