In a time of great need, what does mutuality require of our leaders?
Archives for April 2021
Obama 2.0?
As my piece today at Current suggests, I see a lot of continuity between the Obama and Biden presidencies. Obama inherited the 2008 recession. Biden inherited COVID-19, an economic recession, racial tensions, and the Trump-induced threats to American democracy. Both […]
Bruce Springsteen’s embrace of liberalism
Yesterday we published Tony Norman’s piece on Renegades: Born in the U.S.A., the much acclaimed Obama-Springsteen podcast. Check it out here. Read Norman’s piece alongside Dennis M. Hogan’s essay at The Baffler. In “Runaway American Dreams,” Hogan traces Springsteen’s move […]
The Supreme Court is far more likely to rule in favor of religious rights
Perhaps those concerned about religious liberty as it relates to The Equality Act should consider this. Here is a taste of Adam Liptak’s parsing of a recent essay to be published in The Supreme Court Review: “For many today, religious […]
When Facebook replaces the local newspaper
The editor of Current, Eric Miller, is a resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. I wonder if he knows about The News Alert of Beaver County public Facebook group? I’ll have to ask him. Brandy Zadrony’s piece at NBC News reveals […]
“The ‘only 5 percent’ counts as ‘real infrastructure’ talking point is utterly bogus”
I wrote last week: “The opponents of Joe Biden’s new bill think “infrastructure” is just roads and bridges.” Paul Waldman nails it: First, let’s be clear that the “only 5 percent” counts as “real infrastructure” talking point is utterly bogus. It defines infrastructure […]
Current issues press release
This went out today: Introducing CURRENT, an online journal of commentary and opinion New Journal Provides Daily Reflection on Contemporary Culture, Politics and Ideas. Features Original Works from Influential Thinkers and Writers including Tony Norman, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, Katherine Lucky, Susan McWilliams […]
Biden’s Politics of Human Dignity
For Joe Biden, there is no individualism apart from solidarity
The New Republic gives Eric Metaxas a platform
The magazine is hosting a “conversation” between court evangelical Eric Metaxas and conservative writer Matt Labash titled, “An Epic Debate on Trump and True Evangelicalism.” The whole thing is pretty disgusting. Here is a taste of Metaxas’s side of the […]
More on evangelicals and the COVID-19 vaccine
Francis Collins is an evangelical Christian and the director of the National Institute of Health. In a recent appearance on CBS News he called the COVID-19 vaccine “”an answer to prayer.” Watch: Franklin Graham also tried to get his followers […]
It is time for prominent evangelicals to get their acts together or stop speaking on behalf of Christianity
Mike Huckabee is a Baptist pastor, Trump court evangelical, Christian television celebrity, and former presidential candidate (he won the Iowa caucuses in 2008) and governor of Arkansas. He also appears to be a racist. Here is Matthew Brown at USA […]
Current is here!
Check us out on the left side of the home page. For first-time visitors, I will be blogging every day at The Way of Improvement Leads Home (you are reading it now), the blog where I have been holding forth […]
The Author’s Corner with Robert Wooster
Robert Wooster is recently retired as Regents Professor of History at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where he taught for thirty-five years. This interview is based on his new book, The United States Army and the Making of America: From Confederation […]
Rooting for the Future
Americans have become less mobile. Does this signal a nation in decline? Or one that’s finally growing up?
Talking Too Much
When words stop working, what comes next?
Fifty Souls
In Greyhound, contemporary individualism meets ancient Stoicism—and much more
Born To Be Reborn
On Renegades, Obama and Springsteen let us in on a good conversation. Is it too much to ask for a better one?
Beyond Productivity
The pandemic has left us with some work to do—including rethinking the relationship of work to care
In the Arena
It’s time to play
Easter Break
I will see everyone on Monday for the big launch of Current! Learn more here and please consider supporting our work at Patreon.