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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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The Fabric of Reality
Roger BerkowitzTimothy Snyder argues that the abyss of American democracy is fed by a crisis in truth that has left us in a pre-fascist moment. But Snyder recognizes that President Trump never could bring himself to embrace fascism. He alienated the military, on which a fascist government would need to depend. He emboldened militias, but never organized them into a unit. His social media attacks were constant but scattered.
01-14-2021
Our Political Crisis
Michael Lind writes that “Many Democrats claim that Republicans are destroying the republic. Many Republicans claim the reverse. They are both correct.” This is not at all to equate the two sides of our political dystopia, but it is to recognize that there is a feeling of disempowerment and Armageddon on across the political divide. Lind argues that this premonition of imminent destruction maps onto five crises facing the American Republic.01-14-2021
Hope is Necessary
Ann Heberlein has written a new biography of Hannah Arendt, translated from the Swedish as, “On Love and Tyranny: The Life and Politics of Hannah Arendt.” Anand Giridharadas says that he knew he had to interview Heberlein “when I read these words about what she believes we today can learn from Arendt: “to love the world so much that we think change is possible.”01-14-2021
The Political Uses of Shame
Manu Samnotra argues that shame—an intensely private emotion—can play an important role in political engagement. Building on Hannah Arendt’s writings, Samnotra argues that shame can motivate people to create political spaces and engage in political action.01-14-2021
Change Happens
Neil Roberts called his recently-turned 18 year-old goddaughter after the polls closed in Georgia on Tuesday to congratulate her for voting. One day later, chaos broke out in our nation’s capital. Roberts asks, what he should say now to his goddaughter. 01-09-2021
Trump’s Conspiritualist Army
Jules Evans has written an important and well-researched essay on Jake Agnelli, the self-initiated QAnon Shaman who was so prominent in the mobbing of the Capitol building on Wednesday, January 6th. You’ll recognize Agnelli, who wore a Racoon hat with horns, no shirt, carried an American flag and sported prodigious tattoos on his shirtless torso.01-09-2021
Politics and the Humanities
In a podcast conversation with Ben Klutsey of Discourse Magazine, Roger Berkowitz speaks about pluralism, citizen assemblies, and liberalism. He also explains why the humanities are so important for politics.01-09-2021
The Habits of Democracy
Roger BerkowitzOn May 31, 1887, William James gave a speech dedicating a monument to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts regiment that he led. The Massachusetts 54th was the first black regiment in the United States. Gould, an abolitionist, led the regiment into battle and he, along with many of the soldiers, was killed during an assault in 1863 on Fort Wagner in South Carolina.
01-07-2021
What We're Reading: Nihilism
Nolen Gertz writes that if we are going to talk meaningfully about our nihilistic age, we should understand what nihilism really means. And he begins, appropriately enough, with Hannah Arendt.01-07-2021