Public Square

‘It’s Not About Crime, It’s About Values’ Lee Harris 07/12/2012

On the moral pussyfooting of contemporary liberalism.

A Face for the Faceless Nathan Smith 07/10/2012

Jose Antonio Vargas and others who have made their illegal status public are giving a face to millions, and turning undocumented immigration into a mass civil disobedience movement. Their movement has just seen its first victories.

It’s Not a Welfare State, It’s a Special Interest State James V. DeLong 06/14/2012

The concept of ‘welfare’ has become an open, bottomless vessel into which every desire can be poured.

Energy Abundance vs. the Poverty of Energy Literacy Kenneth P. Green 06/12/2012

Energy is all around us and we consume copious quantities of it. We only question it when it’s expensive or not there. Therein lies a challenge for politics and society.

Are Americans Too Dumb for Democracy? Lee Harris 06/09/2012

The best hope for democracy still lies in the unregulated marketplace of ideas, in which the maxim ‘Let the buyer beware’ remains the surest safeguard against cheats and charlatans, including those waving their PhDs in your face.

Duty and Sacrifice Ralph Kinney Bennett 05/25/2012

Memorial Day is not about death. It is about duty.

Obama and TV News Tevi Troy 05/15/2012

The Obama White House is both very aware and very thin-skinned about what reporters, and particularly TV reporters, say about it.

The Life and Death of Great American Cities Nick Schulz 05/11/2012

Roger Scruton on the possibility of renewal in urban America and why China’s urbanization is one of the great ecological disasters of our time.

The Occupy Movement and the Communism of Everyday Life Lee Harris 05/07/2012

As Occupy protesters turn violent, it’s worth reflecting on why the movement failed in the first place.

Markets, Risk, and Fashion: The Hindenburg’s Smoking Lounge Edward Tenner 05/04/2012

The idea of a smoking lounge immediately under 7 million cubic feet of flammable gas should seem ludicrous. But it wasn’t.