Utopia is described as a society void of pain and poverty. It was sought well before Sir Thomas More coined the word in 1516 from the Greek words ou and topos. Since their combination translates as "to place," More understood it to be unattainable. It...
Many American policy analysts point to Denmark as a model welfare state with low levels of income inequality and high levels of income mobility across generations. It has in place many social policies now advocated for adoption in the U.S. Despite generous Danish social policies,...
Not all Bangladeshi men think that way. In fact, the earning power of women is eroding the custom of bridal dowries. It has also brought about greater responsiveness by the court system toward women. Since women have started working, the “law is on their side,”...
Coffee shops in Knoxville, Tennessee, are a microcosm of the world’s reaction to Covid-19. A Starbucks here features a drive-through stacked several cars deep, hour after hour. Most of the people waiting patiently in their cars wear masks. Inside, the shop...
The rise of political extremes in America, both left and right, poses a particular challenge for those of us who prefer liberty over government control. It’s not only in the US; the same grows in the UK, Europe, Latin America, and...
EPISODE 39: DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF A GOOD CONVERSATION (THURSDAY, MARCH 18 AT 1:00 PM ET) “If the American experiment is to succeed, we must improve the quality of our political, academic and civic conversations.” — Dr. Emily Chamlee-Wright. On Episode 39 of “The Future of Democracy,”...
America has entered into a new era of thought control. Back in the 1960s, there was a determined campaign by many conservatives to resist the free speech movement symbolically headquartered on the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Then, the idea was to respect...
One year ago, between March 13 and 16, 2020, began what most of us would agree were the most difficult days of our lives. We thought our rights and liberties were more or less secure or could only be hobbled on the margin. We took...
Award shows, like the Oscars, are beating themselves up for their history of white supremacy. Future awards will go only to films that meet diversity quotas. "These awards just shouldn't even be seen as legitimate," musician Eric July tells me. "It's supposed to be based...
This Sunday, March 14, we will all take part in a pointless, disruptive, and expensive annual ritual. We (unless you live in Arizona, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico, or most other countries in the world) will set our clocks forward one hour and move from...