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In 1836, at the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, a 28-year-old lawyer named Abraham Lincoln delivered one of his finest addresses. Lincoln condemned the sharp increase of mobs in America, which had exploded in number as the debate over slavery and regional animosity intensified. “Accounts of outrages committed by mobs, form the every-day news
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So, morality is all a matter of personal preference. There is no way to have a rational argument between competing moral claims, or about whose vision of life is more correct. All we can do is agree to disagree, or try to force other people to agree with us through non-rational means. At least,
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The debate over the merits of private schools versus public schools tends to revolve around their relative success in boosting test scores, graduation rates, and college admissions. Which are more successful in giving children the skills they need to thrive in today’s economy? Utilitarian questions like these frame most contemporary discussions of the value of
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Donald Trump’s stunning victory has everyone talking, especially about the surprising gains that he made with minority, youth, and women voters. As a woman, I was told that most of us would be voting for Harris because she was a champion of women’s health. It didn’t happen. In fact, Harris barely won the majority of the
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We’re heading into two weeks (or possibly … two months? two years?) of the kids at home. It’s called Christmas break, as if it’s a break from learning. But that’s just our Puritan Work Ethic talking—the idea that if something is fun, it is a pause from our real job, which is to always be hard
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The last orchestral performance I went to was shortly after our local orchestra resumed limited, socially distanced performances after the initial shutdown. That was in November 2020, nearly two full months after Governor DeSantis had removed any official statewide restrictions. It was a Kafkaesque experience. At the dawn of the night, I felt really good about it.
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