Editor's Notes: Our Headless Opposition Party System
The opposition to Trump is diverse, diffuse, decentralized, and lacking in leadership.
25 articles
The Master Key of Modern Politics?
Ibram X. Kendi's new book "Chain of Ideas" promises an alluringly straightforward model of modern politics.
Trump Didn't Invent the Tribunate Presidency
John Adams' rocky presidency illuminates the long-running conflicts over how Americans conceive of the executive power.
The Empire of Reason
Citizens of liberal democratic societies have grown rich and prosperous off the ideology of rational control, but have unfortunately become complacent in its defense.
The Blood Circle
Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill were part of a small but blood-soaked circle of liberal thinkers who embraced the murderous logic of empire.
Return of the White Man's Burden
Just as in a previous age of colonialism, today's neo-imperialists justify themselves in terms of "uplifting" inferior foreign peoples.
And Should I at Your Harmless Innocence Melt?
The promise of future blessedness can never authorize the murder of innocent human beings and the desacralization of the human form.
Critical Thinking, Liberal Internationalism, and Historical Heroes (The Editors' Chat #13)
Note: If you support us on Patreon you can find the episode on that platform. The Editors' Chat is
Remembering the Weight of Life and Death in a Profane Age
Donald Trump is unrelenting in his boastful indulgence in the ugliest facets of the human personality. There is another way.
Too Great for Any One Man
Since the founding generation, there has been a consistent and rational fear that the office of president was too powerful to be constrained by democratic institutions.
The War That Still Haunts the United States
Remembering another war America was unable to extricate themselves from.
Call You This Liberty?
"Once a mask is involved, people understand it as a sign of weakness. That the government has something to hide."
The Liberal Conscience Must Be Fostered With Accurate History
A knowledge of the injustices of the past and the reasons for their occurrence is vital to the development of a liberal conscience.