French philosopher Étienne Balibar does not think so. Here is a taste of his interview with Jacobin: The idea of liberty has itself been contested and challenged since its very origins in modern times because the very notion of “liberty” […]
democracy
Trump’s 3-fold plan to undermine American democracy
Here is Georgetown University public policy professor Donald P. Moynihan at The New York Times: Donald Trump, the former president and current candidate, puts it in apocalyptic terms: “Either the deep state destroys America or we destroy the deep state.” This […]
The Author’s Corner with David Houpt
David Houpt is Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. This interview is based on his new book, To Organize the Sovereign People: Political Mobilization in Revolutionary Pennsylvania (University of Virginia Press, 2023). JF: What led […]
“I want to keep politics out of schools”
I’ve been doing some last minute homework before I enter the ballot box tomorrow. As I was researching my local school board candidates I was struck by how many of them use their platforms to say something like this: “Politics […]
SUNY-Potsdam puts 14 degree programs on the chopping block. Mostly liberal arts.
The hits keep coming. Most of these proposed cuts are liberal arts programs. I am sure Daniel K. Williams, Christopher Gehrz, Sarah Huffines, Daniel Hummel, Dixie Dillon Lane (see here), Shirley Mullen, Betsy Lasch-Quinn, and Brad Frey might have something […]
Abraham Lincoln and democracy
Here is Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo at National Affairs: Lincoln’s “idea of democracy” only establishes what democracy is not, or at least what it cannot include. He never offered a more thoroughgoing definition of what democracy is. But it’s not […]
Michael Walzer on “liberal” as an adjective
Close readers of this blog will recall that I recently added some quotes from Michael Walzer to my commonplace book. The quotes come from Walzer’s latest book The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On “Liberal” as an Adjective. Walzer is […]
A conversation with Sean Casey
Eerdmans recently invited me to join ethicist and diplomat Sean Casey to think about some connections between his book Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom (2023) and my book Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump. Casey was the […]
Danielle Allen wants America to “pull together”
Harvard political philosopher Danielle Allen believes the United States “is in desperate need of democracy renovation” and she wants to devote her Washington Post column to get us thinking about how to pull it off. We at Current will be […]
Newspapers and democracy
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
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
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
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
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
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”
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
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?
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
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
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 […]