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democracy

Newspapers and democracy

John Fea   |  December 28, 2022

Click the link to Nancy Gibbs’s piece at The Washington Post and spend some time with the interactive map on the declining state of the American newspaper. Here is a taste of the piece: If you’re a Democrat hoping to...

Mark Lilla on “beautiful souls” and democracy

John Fea   |  December 24, 2022

What is a beautiful soul? In 2020 essay at Liberties, cultural critic and humanities professor Mark Lilla defines it this way: What is a beautiful soul? For Schiller, who coined the term, it was a person in whom the age-old...

The class conflict at the heart of the American Revolution

John Fea   |  December 12, 2022

Over at Jacobin, historian William Hogeland discusses his ongoing work on “workers” and “elites” in the late eighteenth century. Here is a taste of his interview with Astra Taylor: ASTRA TAYLOR: Can you talk about what your narrative of America’s...

Petitioning as a civic duty in a democracy

John Fea   |  December 2, 2022

What does it mean to participate in a democracy? Historian Sarena Zabin argues that between the American Revolution and the Civil War it was petitioning, not voting, that was the important way people performed their civil duties. Here is a...

A few words about Jay Green’s piece on Christian political discourse

John Fea   |  November 29, 2022

I woke up this morning to a Twitterstorm of attacks on Jay Green’s essay, “The New Shape of Christian Public Discourse.” Some people want us to remove this piece from our site. Let me assure that that is not going...

Jay Green and Daniel K. Williams discuss the need for liberal democracy

John Fea   |  November 29, 2022

If you have been following the Twitter debate over Jay Green’s Current piece, “The New Shape of Christian Public Discourse,” you might also be interested in Daniel William’s interview with Green over The Anxious Bench blog. Here Jay brings further...

Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan: “I have the privilege to concede this election to J.D. Vance”

John Fea   |  November 9, 2022

He lost to Vance, but in the process he showed how democracy works. Thanks Tim Ryan. It’s a shame that we live in a country where Ryan had to say this. Watch:...

Former Pennsylvania governors urge Doug Mastriano and Josh Shapiro to accept the election results

John Fea   |  November 8, 2022

Former governors Tom Ridge (R), Mark Schweiker (R), Ed Rendell (D), and Tom Corbett (R) have urged gubernatorial candidates Mastriano and Shapiro to accept the results of the 2022 election, which will be decided today. This warning probably applies more...

What is the Civics Secures Democracy Act?

John Fea   |  October 29, 2022

James F. O’Connor, the president of the Ohio Council for the Social Studies, explains in a piece at the Cincinnati Inquirer: A famous tale about Benjamin Franklin goes as follows: Franklin was walking out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional...

Historian Jeremi Suri on Abraham Lincoln’s funeral

John Fea   |  October 25, 2022

Here is an excerpt of Suri’s new book Civil War By Other Means. It is published at Lit Hub: The reverence for the slain president grew in coming days. On April 19, a horse-drawn hearse carried Lincoln’s body to the...

How to “defeat fascism” and save democracy

John Fea   |  October 18, 2022

According to writer Anand Giridharadas, we can save democracy by commanding attention, making meaning, meeting people where they are, picking the right fights, helping people find a “home” where they feel safe, and telling better stories. It’s a really helpful...

How can evangelicals help to preserve democracy during this election season?

John Fea   |  October 18, 2022

Current contributing editor Daniel K. Williams offers some helpful advice. Here is a taste of his piece at Christianity Today: Harvard historian James Kloppenberg, author of Toward Democracy, argued that democracy in the US will succeed only if parties on both...

Current contributing editor Adam Jortner on Moore v. Harper

John Fea   |  October 5, 2022

Check out Jornter’s piece, “The Supreme Court’s biggest case this term threatens American democracy.” Here is a taste: Moore v. Harper is perhaps the most significant case of the U.S. Supreme Court term beginning Monday. At stake is the question of...

Can the United States Constitution survive the social media age?

John Fea   |  August 16, 2022

The United States Constitution, James Madison argued, only works when people are spread-out geographically. Social media shrinks that distance. Here is a taste of political scientist Danielle Allen’s piece at The Washington Post. When we teach constitutional history, we often...

American historian Sean Wilentz on Marco Rubio’s “fake populism”

John Fea   |  August 15, 2022

Distinguished Princeton historian Sean Wilentz was recently part of a group of historians (and others) that Joe Biden invited to the White House to discuss the fate of American democracy. Marco Rubio called the group “elitists” and “snobs” working against...

Should Catholics promote democracy?

John Fea   |  July 27, 2022

This is the title of a Commonweal podcast with Catholic historian and University of Notre Dame provost John McGreevy. A summary: For most of its history, the Catholic Church clung to a deep skepticism concerning the legitimacy of democracy.  But...

American democracy is dying

John Fea   |  July 22, 2022

This is the diagnoses of Brian Klaas, a political scientist at University College London. Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic: I’ve spent the past 12 years studying the breakdown of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism...

I’m not going to pay for that guy’s kid to be educated

John Fea   |  July 12, 2022

What is the common good? Should a person or couple with no children have to pay taxes to support public education? It seems to have to come this. Here is Michael Tomasky, editor of The New Republic: The Times’ Dan Barry reported on...

Early thoughts on the first January 6th Committee hearing

John Fea   |  June 10, 2022

I am building these comments around the live-tweeting I did last night. I am sure we will all have more to say in the coming weeks. Bill Barr began by calling the idea that Biden stole the election “bullshit”: Later,...

The Author’s Corner with Olivier Zunz

Rachel Petroziello   |  May 3, 2022

Olivier Zunz is James Madison Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Virginia. This interview is based on his new book, The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville (Princeton University Press, 2022). JF: What led...

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