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Do New Inventions Kill Old Liberties?0
- History
- March 13, 2020
There is one aspect of modern science and machinery that nobody has noticed. It is quite new, and it is enormously important. It is this; that the very fact of using new methods makes it easier to fall back on old morals, especially if they are very immoral morals. These prescient words came from the
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The Coronavirus is Scary, But Remote Work Shouldn’t Scare You 0
- Culture
- March 13, 2020
It’s always fun to observe people’s reactions when I tell them I work from home. Pity is not uncommon (“How lonely!”). Occasionally it’s jealousy (“Man, that would be nice!”). Often it’s bewilderment (“How did you pull that off?”). The most common reactions, though, are avowals from people who say in various ways they couldn’t possibly
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Missing Jim Lehrer, the Master of Candidate Wrangling at Debates 0
- Politics
- March 13, 2020
Boy, do I miss Jim Lehrer. I thought of the late PBS anchor and legendary presidential debate moderator fondly while watching the last two Democratic debates in Charleston and Las Vegas. The constant interruptions, the lack of decorum and the complete disregard for time limits on candidates’ answers all worked to cause viewers like me
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Why ‘Medicare for All’ Isn’t the Right Prescription for a Pandemic 0
- Economics
- March 13, 2020
Is a pandemic, like other crises, a terrible thing to waste? For progressives, it looks like a golden opportunity to outlaw Americans’ private health insurance and create a single-payer system of national health insurance for every legal or illegal resident in every nook and cranny of the country. Take it from the irrepressible Rep. Alexandria
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An Old Guy Looks at Coronavirus 0
- Culture
- March 13, 2020
Ignorant. That word might well serve as my middle name. I know little of science, though my college professors taught me physics and biology. Higher mathematics is beyond my ken, though I minored in math in college. I recognize the names and the general ideas of certain philosophers, but can’t readily reconstruct Plato’s ideas about
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Coronavirus Reminds Us What Education Without School Can Look 0
- Education
- March 12, 2020
As the global coronavirus outbreak closes more schools for weeks, and sometimes months – some 300 million children are currently missing class – parents, educators, and policymakers are panicking. Mass compulsory schooling has become such a cornerstone of contemporary culture that we forget it’s a relatively recent social construct. Responding to the pandemic, the United Nations declared that “the
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