America’s Crisis of Contempt
By Megan Briggs | Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and former president of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), delivered a timely speech at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on February 6, 2020. Brooks, who introduced himself “first and foremost…
Why Are So Many Young People Still Unhappy?
By Dennis Prager | The rates of suicide, self-injury, depression, mass shootings and loneliness (at all ages) are higher than ever recorded. It seems that Americans may have been happier, and certainly less lonely, during the Great Depression and World War II than today, even with today’s unprecedentedly high levels of health, longevity…
Why Are Depression Rates Rising Fast for Girls?
By Jean Twenge | We’re in the middle of a teen mental health crisis – and girls are at its epicenter. Since 2010, depression, self-harm and suicide rates have increased among teen boys. But rates of major depression among teen girls in the U.S. increased even more – from 12 percent in 2011 to 20 percent in 2017. In 2015, three,,,
Classical Liberalism against Relativism
By Hadley Arkes | In his large nature, Robert Miller, my critical but dear friend, offered some kind words about my political works in the pro-life cause; and he sought also to shelter me from his blows as he loosed his terrible swift sword on Matthew Schmitz. Evidently Schmitz had vexed him for his critique of…
A Dead Man Won the Last Democratic Debate
By Deion A. Kathawa | What’s striking about this election cycle’s Democratic presidential primary debates is how much they’ve been absolutely dominated by a man who’s been dead for 90 years. That man is Herbert Croly, the intellectual godfather of the progressive movement and the first editor of The New Republic….
The Inertial States of America
By Anthony Esolen | I often file things that I read in my growing collection of 100-year-old magazines—in bound volumes, six months apiece, 1,000 large pages in small font—under the category, “Different World.” Such is an article from The Century Magazine, January 1900…
Language and Power
By Amanda Patchin | We wade through a torrent of words and images every day, and yet we mostly lack a clear understanding of what language is and can be for the human. The Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper’s slender little pamphlet Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power, first published in 1974, provides welcome clarity on this issue for we…
Understanding America’s Unique Beginning
By Mike Gonzalez | One of the best enunciations of the theme of the creed that we have is from 1921. Having embarked on his first visit to the United States, G.K. Chesterton, an English writer, wrote that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed.” Other nations don’t have a need for a unifying…
Decadent Art and Perishing Societies
By John Stonestreet | Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan is known for trolling the art world. One his projects featured an 18-karat-gold toilet. The toilet, valued at $6 million, was stolen in September. His newest project sold for $120,000 but didn’t fare much better. It was a banana taped to the wall at an exhibition…