This is the second installment in a series based on questions asked about the Electoral College.

I’ll start with a claim that is both non-controversial and controversial: to be a conservative (of the sort I am) is to be skeptical of abstractions.

We may not live in “unprecedented” times — you’d need to have a narrow historical horizon to think so — but that hasn’t stopped us from profligate use of the modifier.

The current crisis of social isolation and political polarization found in the United States and to a lesser extent in other liberal democracies has led recently to an upsurge of interest in friendship as a political category.

The idea of reflecting on a political order has an interesting history and generally occurs under two circumstances…

I recently had the chance to talk with a group of high school students who asked me questions about the Electoral College.

One of the ironies of our current political conversations is that many people have opinions about politics, but don’t necessarily have a clear understanding of what politics is.

One of the central conceits of this website is that good action comes from sound thinking, and sound thinking requires attention to how words are used.

For about a decade beginning in 1965, NBC late night weekend programming consisted of Best of Carson reruns.

The men and women of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives love their job so much they are afraid to do it; because if they do it, they may lose it.

Of late 18th century American novels only Uncle Tom's Cabin outsold and out paced in significance Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, the story of Julian West, who falls asleep in 1887 amidst the chaos of late capitalism and awakes to the socialist utopia of the year 2000.

Back in my school days when I was a philosophy major I would usually get the question “what could you possibly do with that degree?”

Political parties are a bedeviling feature of democratic politics.

Betty Ford wrote two autobiographies. One, The Times of My Life (1978), tells the story of a young girl from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who became—much to her surprise—the wife of the President of the United States.

Although Gerald Ford was a man of quiet faith, his Protestant upbringing informed his excellent character.

When people say they want freedom, always ask: Freedom to do what?

Too often we are inclined to attribute our Constitution and its subsequent success — we should not forget that its 236 year continuing legitimacy is one of the great accomplishments of the modern world

One of the best presidential ranking polls is conducted from time to time by the Wall Street Journal, which strategically interviews a relatively small but ideologically balanced group of scholars.

It is difficult to think of two world leaders more widely divergent from one another.  Gerald Ford, the 38^th President of the United States, is admired today for his lifelong commitment to decency, honesty, and integrity. 

Today I write of President Ford and the liberal arts. The liberal arts are transformative.