What Happened to Columbia University?
Op-Ed - “Seventy years of an educational ideology steeped in ‘openness’ has wreaked havoc on the United States, and what we see at Columbia University (and at other American universities) is clear proof of that.” 4/24/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/2024_Columbia_pro-Palestine_protest_24-960x640.jpg)
When Promoting Clean Energy, Patriotism Beats Moralizing
Op-Ed - “The debate over whether to go green is not a debate over whether to incur costs. It is a debate over which set of costs to incur, and people’s willingness to bear tangible burdens to achieve goals supported by affluent, educated progressives is limited.” 4/22/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/Climate_change_activist_holding_a_banner_with_the_message_22The_world_is_dying_and_so_are_we22_51524974053-960x639.jpg)
The Freedom to Be Religious as an Atheist
Op-Ed - “In other words, now that I have become an atheist, I feel free to appreciate and even dabble in various religions. To put this in terms of Waits Paradox: Once one has quit religion, he is free to be religious.” 4/12/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/tomwatts-960x550.jpg)
Sanctimony: A Political Vice from Which We Must Escape
Op-Ed - “Watching this quasi-religious mentality migrate leftward and displace more rational, humanistic values has been painful.” 4/5/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/The-Need-To-Resource-Feminist-Movements-Has-Never-Been-Greater—So-Wheres-the-Money-for-Feminist-Organizing-1024x478-1-960x448.jpg)
The Age of Jihad
Op-Ed - “As a result, an air of fear hangs over society, regardless of the fact that the likelihood of falling victim to such an attack is very low indeed. But this is how terror works.” 3/27/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/russia-shooting-01-960x640.jpg)
What Jordan Peterson’s Conversation with Destiny Can Teach Us
Op-Ed - “Paradoxically, as the amount of online content available for consumption increases, conversations with as interesting a dynamic range as the one between Peterson and Destiny seem fewer and farther between.” 3/26/2024
![(Youtube)](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/jp-960x525.png)
A Possible Solution to the Standardized Testing Debate
Op-Ed - “The video games also adapted to my inputs and choices in real time, which meant they could capture my strengths and weaknesses, a fuller view of my aptitude than just a number from how many multiple choice questions I got right.” 3/23/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/testing-istock_custom-9b43852df212c2f0f96fc490518ce1d441d817b2-s1600-c85-960x607.webp)
America Has a Writing Problem. How Do We Solve It?
Op-Ed - “According to the most recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 24% of eighth and 12th graders are ‘proficient’ in writing.” 3/20/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/computer_desk_email_laptop_programming_smartphone_technology_typing-913528.jpgd_-960x640.jpeg)
Texas and Florida Content Moderation Laws Would Open Pandora’s Box
Op-Ed - “A transparency mandate passed by Congress can avoid the controversial and difficult work of legally defining the terminology and specific guardrails for online safety and viewpoint neutrality.” 3/13/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/137231145_ee1de99f8c_b-960x720.jpg)
The Other Victims of the Surveillance State
Op-Ed - “No doubt [Araya] Baker’s experience is legitimate, and, of course, it is true that state surveillance is a very serious problem, but paranoid delusions are real, too.” 2/18/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/pexels-photo-169978-960x630.jpeg)
The New Killing Fields of Europe
Op-Ed - “Civilizational states such as Russia and China have a cohort of national and cultural values that are far more deeply enshrined (like them or loathe them) than those of the West.” 1/28/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/220118163708-russian-forces-ukraine-border-file-2021-960x540.jpg)
Taking a Second Look at Nikki Haley
Op-Ed - “It is true that one of the most important rules in politics is that ‘You can’t lose your base,’ but it is also true that in order to win competitive elections, broadening one’s base is essential, and Ambassador Haley might be able to accomplish that.” 1/25/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/Nikki_Haley_53299196876-960x640.jpg)
“The Great Awokening” and Christianity
Op-Ed - “Just as wokeness has eroded traditional liberal values like free speech, freedom of thought, merit, and individualism at an institutional level, it has also eroded traditional Christian doctrine within churches, seminaries, and Christian publications.” 1/24/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/blm-scaled-1-960x864.jpeg)
The Age of Unnecessarily Complicated Academic Writing Is Over
Op-Ed - “The fact is that effective communication is hard. Clear writing is hard. For the typical undergraduate—and no doubt the typical academic scholar or scientist—it is easier to string together vague buzzwords in meandering sentences than it is to say something clearly and concisely.” 1/22/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/pexels-photo-5009083-960x539.jpeg)
Collective Punishment for Gaza? No. Collateral Damage? Unfortunately, Yes
Op-Ed - “Any dictatorship (and Hamas is one, of the Islamic theocratic variety) is first and foremost at war with the civilian population it controls, and then against other surrounding countries, only second.” 1/19/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/Flickr_-_Israel_Defense_Forces_-_Troops-960x639.jpeg)
What Happened to the American Psychological Association?
Op-Ed - “When the most influential psychological association in the world wants to replace an ethic of care for all individuals with a new woke normativity that is gaslighting the next generation of psychologists, their patients, and the public, it should lose all credibility.” 1/17/2024
![](https://cdn.merionwest.com/app/uploads/The_American_Psychological_Association_headquarters_in_Washington_D.C-960x742.jpg)