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(02/05/18 6:05am)
“These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” These words open Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis,” a series of pamphlets written in 1776 to inspire a young nation on the verge of collapse. Paine’s point is simple: crisis demands action, and action alone deserves praise.
(01/22/18 5:42pm)
“Let it make no difference to you whether you are cold or warm, if you are doing your duty; and whether you are drowsy or satisfied with sleep; and whether ill-spoken of or praised.”
(12/07/17 5:00am)
I have found great consolation in Markings, the journal of U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. It baffles me that this work is not yet widely taught. He wrote, in 1953, “Maturity: among other things—not to hide one’s strength out of fear and, consequently, live below one’s best.” We, as a nation, must live this maturity more fully. Once we were a grassroots nation of farmers and shopkeepers, jealous of self-government. Now my job is to live, my duly-elected official’s job is to govern, and never should living and governing meet.
(11/27/17 6:48pm)
The old English epic poem Beowulf tells of how the beast Grendel terrorizes the people of a Danish lord. By day, the Danes rule and revel. By night, their reality shrinks to the scope of a single terrible threat. “All were endangered; young and old were hunted down by that dark death-shadow who lurked and swooped in the long nights on the misty moors; nobody knows where these reavers from hell roam on their errands.” No matter how bright the day seems, we must face the beasts that will come at night. And this is the their greatest terror: we do not know their purpose.
(11/09/17 5:00am)
In his dystopian masterpiece 1984, George Orwell predicts the fate of critical free thinking. “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” Dialogue and debate will become nearly impossible as the powers-that-be whittle away at how we use thought.
(10/26/17 4:00am)
“You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds…What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can.” These words were written by the English jurist Saint Sir Thomas More. He captures a very important insight into any political reality: We are afloat until we have sunk. And if we give up before we have exhausted every possible recourse—do we share any of the blame for the consequences?
(10/12/17 6:22pm)
“Look at nothing contrary to ritual; listen to nothing contrary to ritual; say nothing contrary to ritual; do nothing contrary to ritual.”
(09/28/17 4:00am)
Eighty years ago last week, The Hobbit was published. Few of us are unacquainted with J.R.R. Tolkien’s prequel, how an unassuming hobbit leaves all things familiar to do what’s right. While like many literary works Tolkien’s fantasy can seem fantastically distant, The Atlantic’s Vann Newkirk II explores an aspect of The Hobbit few of us consider. The work praises the “the dignity of humanity, the virtue of generosity, a respect for life, [and] a duty to do good.” When everything else is confusion, right and humanity remain.
(09/14/17 5:03am)
In all likelihood, Robert Mueller, Esq.
(08/31/17 4:47am)
What is complicity? The British liberal titan John Stuart Mill gives a hint: that action and inaction toward the same object carry equal weight. It does not matter whether we committed some act, or did not prevent it: we bear some blame either way.
(07/07/17 12:51pm)
Long story short: in the Icelandic epic Njal saga Brennu, the nobleman Gunnar is betrayed by his fellows and exiled from Iceland. In one of the proudest moments of Icelandic literary heritage, Gunnar is thrown from his horse, sees the bucolic beauty of his farmstead, and decides to stay in his home. To the death, if necessary. America needs more Gunnars.
