Leave Wins

Like most Americans, I paid little attention to the Brexit campaign. It seemed a foregone conclusion. The prediction markets were signaling that a vote to leave the E.U. was a long shot; the polls indicated that Remain was comfortably ahead; the stock markets were quiet. Besides, anti-E.U. protests . . . . Continue Reading »

Letters

MARQUETTEMickey Mattox’s piece on Marquette University (“Marquette’s Gender Regime,” April) was welcome indeed. I taught at Marquette for thirty years, and am grateful for the many blessings I experienced there. It has consequently been difficult for me to watch from a distance as the . . . . Continue Reading »

Nations: Grown or Imagined?

Romantic thinkers, perhaps most especially Johann Gottfried Herder, developed an organic conception of nationhood. A nation is an extended family, and so a perfect nation, the most natural state, is “one nation, an extended family with one national character.” The connection that people have . . . . Continue Reading »

The Rise of Nationalism

It’s a global phenomenon. Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi won in India. Shinzo Abe in Japan hits nationalist notes. Svoboda, an ultra-nationalist party in Ukraine, has become an important player. The Golden Dawn in Greece is another ultra-nationalist party. Great Britain’s anti-EU party is on the rise, as are nationalists in France and the Netherlands. Continue Reading »

The Price of Chinese Ultra-Nationalism

There’s tons of international stories that Americans don’t follow very closely, a pattern of behavior that is quite human, really. But I am convinced that what’s been going on in China is a huge story that most Americans have not yet paid adequate attention to. A fellow at Forbes, . . . . Continue Reading »