Articles

‘The Gulag Archipelago’: An Epic of True Evil AA

By Gary Saul Morson - May 5, 2023

Principles of Government · September 12, 2025 ·

By Gary Saul Morson – How was such evil possible? … but those who commit the greatest harm think of themselves as good. Before interrogators could torture prisoners they knew were innocent, they had to discover a justification for their actions. Shakespeare’s villains …had no ideology,” nothing to compare with Marxism-Leninism’s “scientific” and infallible explanations of life and ethics. “Ideology—that is what . . . gives the evil-doer the necessary steadfastness and determination . . . the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good . . . in his own and others’ eyes.” Read More

A New American Grand Strategy to Counter Russia and China

By John Bolton - April 12, 2023

Principles of Government · September 28, 2023 ·

By John Bolton – First, Washington and its allies must immediately increase defense budgets to Reagan-era levels relative to gross domestic product and sustain such spending for the foreseeable future. Federal budgets need substantial reductions to eliminate deficits and shrink the national debt, so higher military spending necessitates even greater reductions domestically. So be it. Neither the obese welfare state nor massive income-redistribution schemes protect us from foreign adversaries. Higher levels of economic growth, freed from crushing tax and regulatory burdens, will underlie the necessary military buildup. Read More

The Reagan Lesson for the Trumpian Right on Ukraine and China B

By Kate Bachelder Odell - May 19, 2023

Principles of Government · August 25, 2023 ·

Kate Bachelder Odell – If “we’re going to ask our allies in Asia to stand fast with us on a more confrontational, assertive posture toward China, a lot of their trust in us, commitment to us, or even our credibility, will depend on how they see us acting in other parts of the world. Do they see us cut and run and abandon the Ukrainians?” Will Europe help the U.S. check China if the U.S. leaves “the festering wound of a defeated Ukraine in their backyard”? Read More

For Saner Politics Try Strong Parties AA

By Gerald F. Seib - April 20, 2023

Principles of Government · September 22, 2025 ·

By Gerald F. Seib – Today, the movement to weaken the national party structures that began in 1968 has reached its logical result: The power of the two national party organizations has declined so dramatically that they sometimes appear to be bystanders to a political system in which they were once central actors. This trend… is now contributing to the polarization and dysfunction of America’s political system. The decline of party organizations has opened the way for the rise of more extreme voices and, crucially, turned much of the financing of campaigns over to less-accountable players. The extremes of left and right have been strengthened … Read More

Why Independence Day Matters AA

By Michael B. Poliakoff - June 29, 2023

Principles of Government · August 24, 2023 ·

By Michael B. Poliakoff – What these books have in common is an intense commitment to the liberal democracy that gives us the right to participate in it, indeed to criticize it. And, with that, the absolute obligation to instill the values and principles of our free society. Dr. Haass and President Daniels call not only for better K-12 civic education, but, like past president of Harvard University Derek Bok, for a required college course on American history and government….Those in our nation who do not understand the blessing of freedom and the price past generations paid for it are likely to scorn that heritage. Read More

A New American Grand Strategy to Counter Russia and China

The Reagan Lesson for the Trumpian Right on Ukraine and China B

For Saner Politics Try Strong Parties AA

Why Independence Day Matters AA

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