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Temptations of Tyranny
Rod Dreher’s conflicted support for President Trump illustrates a broader crisis among intellectual conservatives who fear the "soft totalitarianism" of liberal institutions yet embrace the hard authoritarianism of executive overreach. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s political thought, the essay contends that true freedom is preserved not through charismatic leaders but through the multiplication and decentralization of citizen power. Revitalizing democracy, it argues, requires stubborn, local acts of collective governance rather than the dangerous temptation to concentrate authority in a single figure.04-27-2025
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Leaderless Crowds
Recent riots in Britain reveal the complex interplay between political grievances and emotional drivers of collective violence. This analysis challenges simplistic explanations, arguing that the core appeal of riots lies in their ability to foster belonging and power among participants. It highlights the role of misinformation and leaderless crowd dynamics in modern civil unrest.08-11-2024
An Independent Press
This article discusses the challenges faced by The New York Times in cultivating a culture of independent journalism among a new generation of reporters, as explained by Executive Editor Joe Kahn. Kahn emphasizes the importance of intentionally building a newsroom culture that values impartiality, resilience, and the willingness to cover difficult stories, while also supporting journalists who face backlash for their work on sensitive issues.08-04-2024
The Two Saviors Who Would Destroy Us
In Fintan O'Toole's reflection on Biden's savior complex, he observes that those who define themselves by their opposites risk becoming like them. Biden's struggle against Trump's shadow, vividly seen in his disintegration during the CNN debate, illustrates this dangerous parallelism, where Biden's attempts at differentiation are overshadowed by Trump's presence, eroding his own persona and political effectiveness.07-05-2024
The Web of Deception
Last week I wrote about the flight from reality evident in Donald Trump’s lascivious lying and the code of silence and delusion by the President’s inner circle surrounding Joe Biden’s mental health. It is now obvious, as more information comes out, that there has been a conspiracy afoot for nearly a year to conceal the seriousness of Biden’s mental decline from the American people.07-05-2024
What we're listening to: Victims, Villians, and Settler Colonialism
Mike Cosper explores why the West requires Israel to play by different rules when it comes to defense and modern warfare.03-24-2024
"Mafioso Politics"
Roger BerkowitzHannah Arendt insists that we look reality in the face and seek to understand even what is most strange, difficult, and horrific. In a new essay, Timothy Snyder analyzes the context of how Trump is seeking to normalize criminality and violence. Snyder’s essay reminds us of Arendt’s worry in her final essay, that “Public opinion is dangerously inclined to condone not crime in the streets but all political transgressions short of murder.”
03-24-2024
Chilling Pro-Palestinian Speech
Eyal Press, has written about my Bard College colleague and collaborator, Ken Stern, who has become a critic of the chilling effect of using the the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (I.H.R.A.) definition of antisemitism to shut down criticism of Israel on college campuses. Stern was one of the original creators of the definition, which was intended to help quantify incidences of antisemitism. But he has always opposed the use of the definition to shut down or regulate speech.03-17-2024
The End of The Golden Age
Franklin Foer has an essay arguing that “The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending.” What Foer calls the Golden Age was not only good for Jews; the emergence of Jewish-Americans helped define a new American liberalism, one the shed the assimilationist metaphor of the melting pot for the hyphenated-identity of the mosaic. But that Golden Age is ending. Antisemitism, once relegated to the fringes of American society, is back with a vengeance.03-17-2024
A Non-Ideological Thinking
Roger BerkowitzIn a speech at The Federalist Society last week, Bari Weiss points out the many similarities between what happened in Israel on October 7, and what happened in New York City and Washington DC. on September 11, 2001.
11-19-2023