Category: Politics
Dwyane Wade’s Selective Essentialism
Dwyane Wade’s enthusiasm for his child’s gender transition offers a fascinating example of transgender ideology’s selective performativity. Wade’s 12-year-old son, born Zion, recently announced he wanted to be referred to as a “she.” During an appearance on Ellen, Wade discussed...
The Key Question for the Sanders Campaign
Last night Bernie Sanders, unsurprisingly, won the New Hampshire primary. FiveThirtyEight now gives him a 38% of winning the Democratic nomination—his leading rival, at this point, is a brokered convention, which the site gives a 33% chance of happening. Prior...
On Chosen Family in East Village Vaguely Soviet Speakeasies
Last night, we launched Issue 23 of Plough Quarterly, at the Red Room at KGB Bar on East 4th Street. I went there first when I was probably sixteen or so, for a book launch of my father’s, and I’ve...
Why Protecting Rivers is a Conservative Cause
Rivers play a pivotal role in our national imagination. In school, we learn about Abraham Lincoln’s travels on the Mississippi River, or Lewis and Clark’s passage along river routes toward the Pacific Ocean. From the Bible, we learn of the...
Leviathan, Zarathustra, and the End(s) of Liberalism
Enter scene left: House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi harangues the House while pointing to a giant styrofoam board with the pledge of allegiance emblazoned across it. Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff walks the articles of impeachment from the House to the...
Come, Desire of Nations, Come: An Advent Reflection
And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. -Haggai 2:7 Congregations always enjoy a spirit of levity for Advent hymns. Everyone...
Who’s Afraid of John Calvin? Answer: Thomas Jefferson
In 1822, Thomas Jefferson was enjoying a quiet retirement at his beloved Monticello. His family troubles gave him sleepless nights but he found solace in his correspondence and, as always, in his books. The former president’s mind turned over Virginia’s...
The Democrats (Probably) Won’t Outflank Themselves
The Bulwark’s Jonathan Last is the latest conservative commentator to take up a line that is increasingly popular amongst the Never Trump right: If the Democrats don’t pivot toward the center they’re going to lose in 2020. The argument is relatively...
The Liberty of a Christian in a Democratic Age
Writing for the Catholic Herald, my friend Matthew Schmitz argues that the current political divide opening up in America confirms that Christian life and contemporary American ideas of liberty cannot permanently coexist. Eventually the two will come into conflict and...
There is No Wealth but Life: Rootedness in an Orphaned World
There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings. ~ John Ruskin “You surprise me,...