Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) reminded President Trump earlier this year, “America is an idea, not a race.” That idea is actually a plural of concepts based on our Constitution, our system of democratic institutions and norms, and our belief in the American Dream—the notion that regardless of where you come from, you can realize anything, go anywhere.
Is the world turning pinker? Is all for the best (as Voltaire’s Dr. Pangloss claims in “Candide”) in the best of all possible worlds — or at least, better than in any previous state of the world? Or is the world turning a darker shade — blood red rather than pink? In the wake of yet another massacre at yet another American school by yet another political extremist with yet another screw loose and yet another assault rifle, it is hard to swallow the pinker thesis.
Hoover Institution fellow Timothy Garton Ash outlines the principles of the free speech debate, with a particular regard to the situation in universities.
I've heard many people on Facebook and elsewhere talk about how politicized the 2018 Olympics are. In this case, though, I think politics is in the eye of the beholder. Sure, I thought that Mike Pence had incredibly bad manners in standing only for the U.S. team at the opening ceremonies. And some of the mainstream media went gaga over the sister of North Korea's chief murderer. But if you choose to focus on that, that's your choice.
