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:...

Superman—America’s original superhero—once stood tall as a symbol of everything this country aspired to be. Superman—who embodies courage, decency, and fairness. Superman—who fights for the common good, especially those who can’t fight for themselves. What’s wrong with that? A growing movement now seeks to define which heroes—real or fictional—are acceptable, and which are not. They question who deserves legal defense,...

Once celebrated as the thoughtful author of Hillbilly Elegy, Vance’s rise to the vice presidency is a lesson in political transformation—and not for the better. I liked Vance 1.0—who once spoke with empathy and moral clarity about the struggles of working-class Americans. But the Vance–who jumped 4 points to 5.0—serves as the willing enabler of a presidency marked by grievance,...

It may seem obvious, but it couldn’t be more urgent: we need about a thousand Mr. Smiths in Washington right now. We need the idealism, yes, but we also need the pragmatism. We need leaders with the courage and character to stand up for what’s right. We need leaders who can turn vision into action and build a better, more...

Harvard University now stands at an ethical crossroads—not just for itself, but for every educational entity in the country. While I never attended Harvard, you don’t need a Harvard degree to see the deadly sword hanging over all of education. The moment universities start compromising their core values to appease an administration obsessed with control, they surrender more than autonomy—they...

Reading sportswriter Joe Posnanski’s book Why We Love Baseball, I was struck by his storytelling—one tale after another about heroes, flubs, and the improbable moments that define the game. His story about the Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio—clearly one of the all-time greats—caught my attention. During the 1941 season, DiMaggio went on a remarkable hitting streak, ultimately recording a hit in...