Harvard’s False Path to Wisdom

Over the past year and a half, the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., have handled themselves with a fervor and...

Five Lies Our Culture Tells

Four years ago, in the midst of the Obama presidency, I published a book called “The Road to Character.” American culture seemed to be in decent...

Cory Booker Finds His Moment

How do you answer hatred? How should you respond when your political opponents assault you with insult, stereotype and contempt? That’s the moral...

‘Medicare for All’: The Impossible Dream

The Brits and Canadians I know certainly love their single-payer health care systems. If one of their politicians suggested they should switch to the...

An Agenda for Moderates

Ideas drive history. But not just any ideas, magnetic ideas. Ideas so charismatic that people devote their lives to them. In his 1999 book, “The...

How the Left Embraced Elitism

Over the past generation, global capitalism has produced the greatest reduction in human poverty in history. Over the past 10 years, American...

Your Loyalties Are Your Life

In 1900, there were two great philosophers working side by side at Harvard, William James and Josiah Royce. James was from an eminent Boston family...

Washington’s New Power Structure

Dear Senate Republicans, I really enjoy spending time with you. You are interesting and excellent company (I really mean that!). When I’m with you,...

The Morality of Selfism

You probably want to be a good person. But you may also be completely self-absorbed. So you may be thinking, “There is no way I can be good if I’m...

2019: The Year of the Wolves

In Willa Cather’s novel “My Antonia,” there are two kind Russian farmers named Peter and Pavel who have settled on the Nebraska prairie. On his...

The Sidney Awards, Part II

In her essay “Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex?” Kate Julian takes a question that seems to have a simple answer (porn) and shows that it...

The Sidney Awards, Part I

At the end of every year I give out the Sidney Awards to celebrate and recommend great examples of long-form journalism. I do it so that we can step...

A New Center Being Born

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about America’s future? I’m optimistic. I say that because there have been many moments in our history when old...

Who Killed The Weekly Standard?

I’ve only been around Phil Anschutz a few times. My impressions on those occasions was that he was a run-of-the-mill arrogant billionaire. He was...

It’s Not the Economy, Stupid

We’re enjoying one of the best economies of our lifetime. The G.D.P. is growing at about 3.5 percent a year, which is about a point faster than many...

Liberal Parents, Radical Children

When I meet someone who runs an organization in a blue state, I often ask: Do you have a generation gap where you work? The answer — whether the...

The Return of the Chastened Establishment

What should we do during the next two years of divided government? We could spend them as we’ve spent the last two: React to every Trump outrage....

Fighting the Spiritual Void

Wherever I go I seem to meet people who are either dealing with trauma or helping others dealing with trauma. In some places I meet veterans trying to...

The Rise of the Resentniks

There’s a powerful moment at the start of Anne Applebaum’s recent essay in The Atlantic. She’s recalling a party she threw on Dec. 31, 1999, at...

The Struggle to Stay Human Amid the Fight

I watched Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece “Paths of Glory” last weekend, prompted by all the World War I centenary tributes. Set in the trenches...

What the Working Class Is Still Trying to Tell Us

I was ready for massive Democratic turnout for the election on Tuesday. But I was surprised how massive the Republican turnout was in response. The...

The Central Challenge of the Age

National identity is the most powerful force in world politics today. Most of the strong leaders around the world were swept to power with a strong...

The Retrenchment Election

One of the pleasures and challenges of this job is you do a lot of traveling. I’ve been in 23 states over the last three months. The general...

The New Cold War

There’s always a pile of bodies at these massacre sites. Whether it’s at a synagogue, church, nightclub or school, there’s always an assault...

Yes, I’m an American Nationalist

Here’s a question: To which layer of society do you feel most attached: your neighborhood, town, county, state, nation or humanity as a whole?...

The Materialist Party

Donald Trump and the other populists around the world have transformed politics in three gigantic ways. First, they told a different narrative. Their...

The Neighborhood Is the Unit of Change

The Rich White Civil War

Two Cheers for Feminism!

A Really Good Thing Happening in America

A Complete National Disgrace