Less provocative and deadly incidents than the latest Paris terror massacre and the November 24 Turkey-Russia aerial incident have ignited very large and destructive wars. Both incidents are serious, both involve U.S. NATO allies and both have already produced chain reaction political consequences. Review the headlines. On Nov. 13, NATO member France suffered a devastating […]
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Sometimes we have to do the right thing
A red cup. A few days ago, some people seemed to find that one of the most vexing moral problems of the day. Starbucks unveils a minimalist design for its holiday coffee cups — a red field, a green logo, no snowmen, snowflakes or fir trees — some guy makes a video lambasting the decision, […]
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Taking in all of the man
At Princeton University, the image and name of Woodrow Wilson could soon be erased. He was the school’s president from 1902 to 1910, reforming it, transforming it and setting it on the path to academic excellence. He left the school and soon became America’s 28th president — a great one, some people believe — but […]
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The discipline of gratitude
WASHINGTON — Thanksgiving is about gratitude, which is a disposition, a virtue and a way of thinking all at once. We often trivialize gratitude as little more than a passing feeling that gets expressed on greeting cards or in quick thank-you notes (although I’d make a strong case for thank-you notes, which I do not […]
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Obama at odds with popular opinion
President Obama has put a new twist on the Islamic invasion now taking place across Europe and the United States. Speaking to reporters last week during his visit to the Philippines, the president compared Syrian refugees to “tourists,” saying they are no bigger a threat than people who come to sightsee and visit attractions. Seriously? […]
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A tale of two rerrors: Paris and New York
Like most people, I’m thinking of the terrorist trauma in Paris, though with a somewhat different perspective. I was in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, and my thoughts go in this direction: What is the future of cities in which psychopaths have killed crowds of bystanders? In New York, the future as we’ve known […]
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U.S. faces a new battlefield
WASHINGTON — The horrific massacre in Paris reminds us of the Achilles’ heel of American foreign policy. Ever since World War II, our foreign policy has rested on an oft-silent presumption that shared prosperity is a powerful and benevolent force for social stability, peace and (often) democracy. All the emphasis on free trade and globalization […]
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Obama’s sanctimony on Syrian refugees
From the tone of President Obama’s post-Paris remarks, you’d think that a sophisticated terrorist assault on a major Western city is a setback; sentiment in the U.S. against taking more Syrian refugees is an atrocity. Obama warned this week against “that dark impulse inside of us,” as if we were debating whether Syrian refugees should […]
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What matters most to the public?
WASHINGTON — Politics is not only about competing views on issues. It is also about which problems come to the forefront in the public conversation and in the minds of citizens and voters. The battle over what matters most could determine the outcome of the 2016 election. One set of concerns, related to race, immigration […]
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America forgets what it stands for
“Let’s stop worrying about people’s rights.” Sadly there are dozens of junctures in American history from which that shameful quote might spring. It could date as far back as 1798 when President Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, making it illegal to criticize the U.S. government. It could come from the 1870s when Southern […]