LITERARY INSIGHT from PRESENT & PAST " WHATWE’RE READING Newt Gingrich can draw a direct line from his work in Congress to the upheaval now taking place around the globe. But as he surveys the wreckage of the modern political landscape, he is not regretful. He's gleeful... "It's essential," he says, "if you want Western civilization to survive." The ManWho Broke Politics The Atlantic
As we near the 2018 midterm election, a look back at the last midterm election when a Blue Wave swept America. From the outset of the 2014 campaign, Republicans had a simple plan: Don't make mistakes, and make it all about Obama, Obama, Obama. Battle for the Senate: How the GOP Did It Washington Post First is an excerpt from a speech to the Constitutional Convention by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin talks bluntly about the fallibility of individual partisan judgment and makes an eloquent statement concerning democracy's need for both compromise in politics and consensus on principles. Read it here. Second is a condensed section of George Washington's "Farewell Address," given in 1796 when he had served two terms as President of the United States and was refusing the offer of a third. Here, with sad and accurate prescience, Washington warns his countrymen against political faction and all its lies and all its empty promises . Click here.
“If you’re the sort of person that says ‘I’m going to have an alternative plan when Armageddon strikes,’ then youwould pick the farthest location and the safest environment — and that equals NewZealand.” The Super Rich of Silicon Valley Have a Doomsday Escape Plan Bloomberg America's partisan politics have become the kind of brutal, ugly, and disgusting persecution that filled the Roman Coliseum during the time of the Emperor Nero – or worse. In Washington, we have the vicious, blood-thirsty wild animals roaming the arena. But where are the Christians? We are watching a murderous political spectacle in which almost no one involved is being brave or good. Let us turn our eyes away and look instead to words of wisdom from two of our Founding Fathers. WHATWE’RE READING from the Editor in Chief
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