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 […]
democracy
Current contributing editor Adam Jortner on Moore v. Harper
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?
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”
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?
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
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
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
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
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 […]
Is the current Republican Party compatible with democracy?
Timothy Shenk asks this question in a review of Matthew Continetti’s book The Right: The Hundred Year War for American Conservativism. Here is a taste of the review at The New Republic: Of course, January 6 was only the beginning. […]
The Author’s Corner with Clarissa J. Ceglio
Clarissa J. Ceglio is Associate Director of Research for Greenhouse Studio and Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Connecticut. This interview is based on her new book, A Cultural Arsenal for Democracy: The World War II Work […]
David Blight on fighting the Trumpian Lost Cause
The Yale historian wants us to keep battling for democracy. Here is a taste of his piece at The Guardian: On 6 January 2021, an American mob, orchestrated by the most powerful man in the land, along with many congressional […]
Will American democracy survive another Trump presidency?
Yale historian Timothy Snyder is not optimistic. Here is a taste of his interview with Charles Davis of Business Insider: Let’s revisit this scenario where Trump and the Republican Party have claimed victory and have had some legal cloaking of […]
The world’s democracies tell the United States to get its act together
It happened at a major national security conference in Nova Scotia. Here is Politico: If “America is back,” someone forgot to tell America’s allies. At a major national security conference this weekend designed to rally the world’s democracies against autocratic […]
Speech of the day
Angus King, independent senator from Maine:
Episode 92: “Original Sin and the History of American Democracy”
Our guest in this episode is historian Robert Tracy McKenzie, author of We the Fallen the People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy. In the spirit of the 20th-century theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr, McKenzie places the Christian doctrine of […]
Episode 86: A Conversation with Eric Miller, Editor of Current
In this episode we introduce Current, a new online platform of commentary and opinion that provides daily reflection on contemporary culture, politics, and ideas. Editor Eric Miller talks about Current‘s vision, some of his favorite articles, and the history of the […]
Snyder: “The war on history is a war on democracy”
Yale historian Timothy Snyder sees a lot of similarities between the discussion of race happening right now in American schools and the 20th-century European totalitarianism regimes thought about the past. Here is a taste of his piece The New York […]
Do Marxists, critical race theorists, and Tucker Carlson have anything in common?
Anne Applebaum is going to catch hell for this column, but she is right. The subtitle of her Atlantic piece reads: “Marxist literary scholars and popularizers of critical race theory have one thing in common with certain GOP commentators: a […]
100 prominent political scientists: American democracy is in danger
New America, a Washington D.C. think tank, gathered 100 political scientists to sign this statement of concern: June 1, 2021 We, the undersigned, are scholars of democracy who have watched the recent deterioration of U.S. elections and liberal democracy with […]