The Politicians Who Almost Never Were

“Although these no doubt play a role, even a cursory glance at recent election results (not to mention those of the past) makes clear that variables beyond the control of the candidate are often determinative, as well as that the best man does not necessarily win.”

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Daniel A. Cox: Taking the Pulse of Gen Z

(Creative Commons)

“One of the really significant differences in terms of how young people are being raised today and their formative and teens years and previous generations is how slowly they’re reaching major milestones, such as getting married [and] owning a home, the sort of signs of adulthood…”

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Taking a Second Look at Nikki Haley

(Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaking with attendees at the Republican Jewish Coalition's 2023 Annual Leadership Summit at the Venetian Convention & Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada/Gage Skidmore)

“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.”

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Young Voters Do Not Belong Inevitably to the Left

(Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images)

However, outside of the contemporary United States and United Kingdom, a look at the composition of certain right-of-center political movements casts doubt on the reflexive association many hold between young people and voting for the Left.”

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Slavoj Žižek: “Freedom: A Disease Without Cure”

(Bloomsbury Press)

“So you see why people are not satisfied: I don’t propose simple solutions. In my old age, I’m returning from Marx to Hegel.”

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Wessie du Toit: When a Society Decenters Leisure

(Rischgitz/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“Meaningful work is as important to life as leisure, I think. I just think that we’ve lost the balance.”

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The Press Mustn’t Ignore America’s Gang Problem

Police investigate a suspected gang-related crime in Los Angeles. (AP/Damian Dovarganes)

“There is a formula—unfortunately, I have noticed—when it comes to many in the reality-denying national press: Make a few accurate micro-points but use them to arrive at a conclusion that no reasonable person should believe.”

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Urgently Reconsidering the Doctrine of Multiculturalism

An October 9th demonstration in Sydney, Australia (AAP Image/Dean Lewins via REUTERS)

As is sadly often the case, it is only when an issue becomes overwhelmingly acute or when it is too late to correct course, that those once derided as alarmists are dutifully acknowledged to have been correct all along.”

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Samuel G. Freedman: What a Young Hubert Humphrey Can Teach Us

(Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images)

“Humphrey’s insurgency at the convention basically lashed Truman to the mast of [Humphrey’s] own civil rights agenda. And desegregating the armed forces was arguably the single most important civil rights cause of that moment in time.”

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Matt Johnson: “How Hitchens Can Save the Left”

(Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

“There really hasn’t been anybody like him since he passed…This is why there are these long compilations of ‘Hitchslaps’ on YouTube. It’s why most of the tributes to him focus on his rhetorical prowess—and just his brilliance on the debate stage.”

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Clay Routledge: Breaking Ground in Psychology, Outside of the Academy

(Clay Routledge)

“Regulating your own emotions is something most people are capable of doing…It doesn’t require you constantly expressing [a problem], thinking about it, [and] sharing it with everyone…There’s something about not fixating too much on your own problems and really dwelling on them but, instead, doing something.”

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Shawne Merriman: From the NFL to “Xtreme Fighting”

(Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

“One thing I’ve learned [from] being in combat sports is that it’s internationally watched everywhere, in every country.”

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Should You Read the Same Book Twice?

“Amid this exchange about the importance of recentering the essential literature of our history, I posed to Mac Donald a question that has been on my mind since my days as a student at The Haverford School: Should one make a habit of reading the same book twice?”

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Waller Newell: The Characteristics of Tyranny

“We will be nothing like the way we are now. It will be like a night and day transformation. And it always does require violence because, as you said, that class or race enemy that stands in the way of future bliss simply has to be gotten rid of.”

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Faisal Saeed Al Mutar: Iraq, 20 Years After the Fall of Baghdad

(Gilles Bassignac/ Gamma-Rapho/Getty)

“There is a lot of hope. Every time I go there and meet with the new generation, I think that they definitely want for their country to be a successful one. And that’s the conversation in Iraq. Most people have now forgotten about the war.”

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