Rebuilding Conservatism in a Post Trump World

Enough ink has been spilled over the disastrous day Donald Trump had, seeing his campaign manager convicted of 8 felonies and his personal lawyer plea to helping the candidate commit campaign finance felonies to cover up affairs with adult entertainers, that I won’t bother piling on here. Instead, I’d rather think a bit about what […]

Disruptors Disrupted

Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to share a couple drinks with me in the last four or five years has heard a version of this rant: disruption is just tech speak for “we don’t have to play by the same rules as existing competitors.” Let me crow for a minute. This has been a […]

Real Americans

The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday. Some people love the pomp and patriotism. Others the excuse to drink cheap domestic beer to excess and blow things up. My love of it is more abstract. I love how the holiday– or the idea of the holiday to be more accurate– represents the […]

Stephen Miller, Underpants Gnome

McCay Coppins has a story in the Atlantic that explains Stephen Miller’s influence over President Trump’s wildly unpopular immigration policies. “But for Miller, it seems, all is going according to plan—another “constructive controversy” unfolding with great potential for enlightenment. His bet appears to be that voters will witness this showdown between Trump and his angry […]

College Students Are Learning Plenty (When They Bother to Try)

Another day, another conservative screed against higher education. Today’s entry comes courtesy of Brad Polumbo, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, writing in the National Review. Polumbo points to a study claiming 45% of undergraduates show little improvement in their ability to think critically, reason, or write well after their first two years of […]

Living Authentically

One of the defining pursuits of modern American life is the quest for authenticity. To be real. This concept, at once amorphous and yet instantly recognizable, cuts across race, class, sexuality, gender, and region. While we might all know it when we see it, that doesn’t mean we all agree on what it is. Or […]

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

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 […]

It is Still Morning in America

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 […]

Porn and Guns

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 […]

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

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 […]

Rivers of Time

History, Politics, and Other Messy Narratives