“Can their good works ever balance out any of the harm they have caused?”
Political Interviews – The Latest
Latest from the Arts
Latest Book Review
On the Record: Past Interviews
Tag: Essay
Who Qualifies for a Second Chance?
Germany’s Been Down the Road to Serfdom; Now, China Is Doing the Same
“Like 20th century Germany, the PRC’s embrace of socialism, nationalism, and the worst elements of collectivism have resulted in unspeakable horrors.”
Conservatives Are Getting Lost in “Ideas”
“Shapiro’s most recent book How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps presents the United States’ problems, which he sees as near-fatal if left unaddressed, as rooted in the world of ideas and political philosophy.”
When John F. Kennedy Saved the World (Part II)
“Kennedy no doubt considered his relations with Khrushchev in making his decision. He had been groomed by his father to be a ruthless competitor.”
A Brief History of Nothing (Part III): From Dada, to Dachau, to Davos
“While seemingly contrary in ‘theory,’ the great totalitarian systems—fascism and communism—would have a great deal in common in practice. Both are manifestations of the human Ego flailing about in a world reduced to Nothing.”
James Madison, Greg Weiner, and What to Do about the Filibuster
“Patience ‘is the central constitutional virtue—and it is, by all signs, a lost one.'”
When John F. Kennedy Saved the World
“Kennedy proved his mettle in response to a Soviet breach of the Monroe Doctrine, defusing a crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster.”
When Reading about Abraham Lincoln, in 2021
“As historian James Oakes writes in his new book, The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution, the Republican Party was once home to a tight union of moral principle and constitutionalism.”
The Necessity of Acceptance
“What place does acceptance have in this wasteland of a year? My view, informed and influenced by living with a severe inherited disability, a fragile skin condition is that it has a central, vital place.”
Lefties Have More Fun
“Left movements exude the zest of adolescence, which is why they can generate so much thrill and camaraderie and—when they occasionally succeed—such deflated confusion and hollowness.”
An Alternative Take on Cancel Culture
“But this, in my view, has little to do with people being overly sensitive and much more to with the very economic system that conservative critics of cancel culture regularly prop up.”
When Conservative Christians Invoke Nietzsche
“Given this, we can recognize that Nietzsche would have seen layers of irony in these contemporary conservative figures appealing to his ideas to critique contemporary socialists…while simultaneously expressing concern about declining Christian values.”
On the American Economy Being “Rigged”
“The evidence is overwhelming; the American economy is rigged in favor of the government-business elite and has become more so over time.”
Cutting Through Identities: to Alter the Body or to Heal the Mind?
“But this article is not actually about cutting. If one has not yet guessed what it is really about by now, it is time for me to pull back the curtain.”
The Inhumanity of Disease
“Worst of all, it isolates us.”
