“The gold was never coined for which I would barter my individual freedom of acting and thinking upon any subject, or would knowingly interfere with the rights of the meanest human being.” -Lydia Maria Child, 1833

Lydia Maria Child was a 19th century American “abolitionist” and “women’s rights advocate”–or to use today’s word for someone who [...]

America’s favorite reality television program, the presidential election, aired its latest episode this week. As I have argued previously, presidential debates and television debates in particular degrade public discourse by their very nature, regardless of who the candidates are. Nonetheless, it is hard to ignore the two men seeking to be chief executive. [...]

The people have had their bread—now it’s time for their circus.

1.      Their standard for excellence.

The first way debates make us dumber is by forcing us to accept a standard for excellence that is utterly irrelevant to public policy, knowledge, or virtue. Debate success is the one-liner. Debate failure is the gaffe. [...]

“If there’s an Arab-American family that is being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties,” proclaimed Barack Obama during his famous Democratic National Convention Speech in 2004. ”It is that fundamental belief–I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper–that makes this country work.” How far [...]