Today, it seems harder than ever to discern fiction from reality. Our President frequently laments the “Fake News” while journalists detail the myriad of lies and scandals that plague his administration. Conspiracy theories masquerading as documentary films proliferate insane ideas like the government is controlling your mind by putting fluoride in the water or poisoning […]

Read more "Mister Rogers, NRATV, the How to Win Hearts and Minds Through Video Content"

America is becoming more like itself again. More Americans are trying to make it so, in more places, than most Americans are aware. Even as the country is becoming worse in obvious ways—angrier, more divided, less able to do the basic business of governing itself—it is becoming distinctly better on a range of other indicators […]

Read more "It is Still Morning in America"

Few subjects illustrate the stark philosophical divides in American culture like porn and guns. Obstensively, these are two of the nations most popular products. We create and consume them in numbers that almost defy belief. By at least one study, roughly 10% of internet use involves pornography. In 2012, Americans tried to purchase over 17 […]

Read more "Porn and Guns"

Conservatives education reformers have spent the better part of 40 years running down the idea that a liberal arts education is something most Americans should strive for. They aggressively promote vocational education with the argument that there are a plethora of “good, high-paying jobs” just waiting for any eager young man or woman who would reject the […]

Read more "Looking for “Changemakers?” Try your Local Liberal Arts College"

In the hours and days following the election of Donald Trump, I took a lot of phone calls and emails from concerned friends and acquaintances. Beyond the “how did this happen” confusion was a palatable fear for what would come next. While I had my own anxieties (did we really just give the nuclear codes […]

Read more "The Reign of Incompetence"

I grew up in a solidly red Rust Belt town that has consistently elected conservatives to state and national offices. Many of my friends from college were not just right-leaning kids parroting their parent’s views on taxes and patriotism, they were politically active Republicans. From 2000-2016, these folks were loud. In person and online, they let […]

Read more "Where Have All the Conservatives Gone?"

Higher education, long considered a positive force for social, scientific, and economic development, has come under increasing fire in recent years. Many of these fights boil down to money– how much of our public capital should be spent on the venture? Colleges and universities have become targets for polemicists who paint them as “liberal” indoctrination […]

Read more "The Purpose of Colleges and Universities"