One week. That’s the number. Seven days of white-knuckle discipline, staying clear of the Trump vortex that’s worse than any Twilight Zone episode you’ve ever seen. And don’t kid yourself—this isn’t easy. The guy is everywhere. Newspapers, magazines, the internet, social media, cable—he’s the monster in the funhouse mirror. Look left, there he is. Look right, still there. So I’ve...

“If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”— Abraham Lincoln The absence of truth at the microphone tells us just how far we’ve fallen. And every day, we feel that distance grow—each news cycle thick with chaos, each headline steeped in grievance or fear. We are exhausted—not just politically, but spiritually. For years, we’ve been...

That title is not hyperbole —it’s a reflection of a reality too many dismiss as over the top. Democracy depends on reason—on the willingness of citizens and leaders alike to engage honestly, argue respectfully, and govern responsibly. It’s the democracy I studied in high school and college, reading The Federalist Papers, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Thomas Paine. It’s a system...

“Honesty and Integrity. Our employees adhere to the highest standards of ethical behavior, mindful that, as public servants, we must work to earn the trust of, and inspire confidence in, the public we serve”—From the Statement of Values, The Department of Justice. There’s an unspoken rule in American courtrooms, one that keeps justice moving: judges take the government at its...

An explosion aboard Apollo 13 instantly transformed a routine mission into a fight for survival. With oxygen leaking into space and power systems failing, three astronauts were stranded more than 200,000 miles from Earth. At the center of that crisis stood mission commander Jim Lovell. There was no time for blame and no room for ego. Lovell focused on one...

I’ve been looking back at history for moments when leadership wasn’t just a word, it was a responsibility carried with humility and moral strength. It’s easy to talk about leadership when the outcome is victory. The harder truth—the one that defines real character—is how a leader responds when the stakes are high, and the outcome is uncertain. Dwight D. Eisenhower...

The Great Depression didn’t begin with the crash of ’29. It started earlier—quietly, steadily—beneath the surface of a country convinced the good times would never end. By the start of that year, the warning signs were there. Farmers had been struggling for years, drowning in debt and falling prices. Coal miners were out of work or watching their wages shrink....

If I had my way, every candidate who wins a primary election for public office—from Congress to the presidency—would be required to pass through a civic and ethical checkpoint before taking the oath. First, they would be required to read the Constitution—actually read it—and then pass a test on its key components. Not just the Bill of Rights, but the...

A recent graduation speech by a young philosophy major, Clair Doyle, at Northwestern University in Illinois, began with a deceptively simple question that stopped me in my tracks, and caused me to think: Am I asking the right questions? It’s not the typical question you hear in a commencement address. But it’s the kind we need to be asking, now...

When the pulpit merges with power, does the sword overshadow the Sermon on the Mount? Though I’m no longer practicing, I was raised Catholic. I went through the rituals—Baptism and Confirmation and confession and “eat no meat” Fridays, and I left because it was just too rigid. However, at its heart, Catholic doctrine was about love, mercy, humility, and salvation:...