There seems to be no shortage of explanations these days for America’s unrelenting political polarization: addiction to outrage, populist suspicion of the elites, a psychological preference for revenge over compromise, racial and gender differences, even an epidemic of loneliness that has presumably led to the collapse of online decorum. But while some of these […]
The Culture War Over Our Fiscal Crisis Read More »
One of the most familiar New Testament parables tells the story of a man preparing for a long journey, who called in three of his servants to entrust them with some property, each according to his ability. (Matthew 25:14-30) To the first the master loaned five talents, to the next two talents, and to
Fiscal Reformer as Spiritual Healer Read More »
Ever since New York Governor Mario Cuomo accused Ronald Reagan of practicing “social Darwinism” in a speech at the 1984 Democrat Party convention, progressive politicians have attempted to cast conservative economic policies as sanctioning predatory business practices. But if we were going to judge policies more by their results than by stated intentions, the label
Secular Progressives: the Real Social Darwinists Read More »
The novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, physicist Andrei Sakharov, mathematician Igor Shafarevich, historian Vadim Borisov, and art publisher Evgeny Barabanov – these and other Russian thinkers once admired for their daring criticism of the old Soviet Union are now mostly forgotten. But were they writing in our own time, what would they make of American conservativism’s
Anti-Socialist Primer from Russia’s Bravest Thinkers Read More »
Perhaps the biggest threat to secular progressivism’s claim to scientific validation is the growing awareness of just how little of that validation can be replicated experimentally. In 2005 Dr. John Ioannidis, co-director of Stanford University’s Meta-Research Innovation Center, wrote a now-famous paper showing that much of what has passed for “settled” research in the
The Biggest Threat to Secular Progressivism Read More »
“God draweth straight lines but we call them crooked.” — Horace Mann, pioneering educator and president of Antioch College (1853–1859) “One does not live for emergencies, but the emergency discloses what manner of life we have lived.” — Caroline Hazard, president of Wellesley College (1899–1910) Let things flow or ebb, the chain will hold to
3 Spiritual Thoughts for a Contentious Election and Continuing Pandemic Read More »
Technology disrupting the workforce is not a new phenomenon and it has never proved a lasting impediment for those eager to work. The invention of, say, the internal-combustion engine put buggy-whip makers and carriage assemblers out of business, but it created many more jobs in the manufacture, advertising, sales and maintenance of automobiles. Other technologies,
Robots Can Never Replace Human Labor Read More »
There is, it must be admitted, a seemingly valid case for allowing expert opinion, especially where public health and safety are concerned. It goes without saying that credentialed authorities do, generally, know more about their respective fields than laypeople. And conversely, there are more than a few internet users all-too ready to accept poorly
Why the Experts Aren’t Always Right Read More »
A recent study by Connecticut hedge fund manager Ray Dalio for his book Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises suggests an unexpected spiritual impact of the coming debt crisis. After closely examining every recovery from the brink of a sovereign bankruptcy since ancient Greece, Dalio concluded that all successful government bailouts have one necessary
More on How the Debt Crisis Will Spark a Great Awakening Read More »
It has been said that the total of U.S. federal, state, and local debt, in combination with future spending commitments, foreshadows the most predictable financial disaster in human history. Washington’s obligations, growing at an estimated $1 trillion annually, now exceed $23 trillion, while neither of America’s two largest entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare,
Will the Economic Crisis Spark a Great Awakening? Read More »