Who killed the American Dream? David Leonhardt, a senior writer at The New York Times, picks up his magnifying glass and investigates in Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream. Note the past tense in the title. In order to find the culprit, we must first learn about the deceased. What was the American Dream? As Leonhardt notes, while the range of definitions is vast, at its root, the American dream is about progress. In particular, he zeroes in on a “core part” of the dream, that children will lead better lives than their parents did. Leonhardt makes the definition … [Read More...] about Whither the American Dream?
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Stuck in the Middle With You
In 1944, Friedrich Hayek wrote in “Why the Worst Get on Top” in his The Road to Serfdom: It seems to be almost a law of human nature that it is easier for people to agree on a negative program—on the hatred of an enemy, on the envy of those better off—than on any positive […]
Battle Cry in the Culture War
Let’s start with a quick quiz. Name this book: The United States is in great peril because it has abandoned its Christian roots and is being taken over by people who are immersed in a humanistic worldview which is antithetical to God. The result will be a tyranny which will oppress Good Christians everywhere. Trick […]
Crafting a New Evangelical Imagination
“All great systems, ethical or political, attain their ascendancy over the minds of men by virtue of their appeal to the imagination; and when they cease to touch the chords of wonder and mystery and hope, their power is lost, and men look elsewhere for some set of principles by which they may be guided.”Russell […]
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A Funeral Pyre for Books
“When people ask me what I do, I usually say I’m an essayist or a critic. More honorable terms, both, and they mostly fit. They almost conceal the fact that the greater part of what I do is read and write about books.” In writing that, Sven Birkerts expanded his repertoire into writing about reading […]
That is the Law; Are We Not Men?
Not to go on all-Fours; that is the Law. Are we not Men?Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not Men?Not to eat Flesh or Fish; that is the Law. Are we not Men?Not to claw Bark of Trees; that is the law. Are we not Men?Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not Men? Hmm. I’d […]
Conflicting Visions
A question prompted anew by Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy: Imagine a municipality which levied taxes in order to pay for a state-supported brothel. Think of it like a public park. Also imagine that the workers in the brothel are conscripted. Think of it like the military draft. […]