Good Night, and Good Luck, starring George Clooney on Broadway is a wake-up call about the ethical courage we desperately need today—a timely parable based on a pivotal moment in American history when journalism was not only a public service, but a moral stand. The play recalls the courage of broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow as he confronted Senator Joseph...

A timely Opinion piece in The New York Times by David French sheds greater light on why so many Evangelical Christians fervently believe in Donald Trump. In 1998, during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, Evangelical leaders issued a public statement declaring that “character counts” and that “the President’s personal morality is not private.” The message was clear: integrity matters—especially for those who...

In high school, the distinction between right and wrong—more or less—appeared clear. Catholic high school made it unambiguously clear. Thanks to the good brothers of Salesian, you either learned the right path quickly or you were firmly corrected (accent on firmly.) Which brings me to a long-remembered poem whose last lines are frequently quoted. Two roads diverged in a yellow...

(Note: this is a rough draft and still undergoing revisions.) Welcome, esteemed colleagues, to a comprehensive exploration of one of the most perplexing and confounding systems known to mankind: the United States political system. Drawing from years a few a couple of weeks of research, and kind of rigorous analysis (a caffeine binge helped), this thesis aims to explain the...

“[President Trump] then engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the legitimate results of the election in order to stay in power.”—Final Report on the Special Counsel Investigation into Efforts to Interfere with The Lawful Transfer of Power Held on January 6, 2020 Despite the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report, one thing is clear: amid the relentless...

I time-tunneled back to 410 BC to have a conversation with Socrates, the renowned Greek sage, about the greatest challenges we face today. With the help of his A.I. assistant, here is that conversation, (edited for length). Socrates: Greetings, fellow traveler. What’s on your mind? Jim: How can we climb out of the pit of despair and relentless conflict where...

Published in 1937, Walter Lippmann’s An Inquiry into the Principles of the Good Society feels especially relevant today, given the current state of politics. Lippmann was a standard-bearer of the hope for a better American society, and his insights on leadership and the moral compass that should guide public life are spot on. An astute observer of the political landscape,...

We know the darkness—we’re living it—but what about the light? America’s moral conscience reflects our evolving values, shaped by both successes and failures. We’ve seen progress in Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, LGPTQ+ rights, but we’ve also faced dark chapters—slavery, the mistreatment of Native Americans, Japanese internment, McCarthyism, and Watergate. Each of these pivotal moments, both the triumphs and the trials,...

Fed by misinformation and half-truths, fear pushes us to distrust others, retreat into ourselves, see threats where there are none. Fear convinces us the world is more hostile than it truly is, seeing things through the lens of “Us vs. Them,” cutting us off from the compassion, understanding, and cooperation that can bring us together. Fear has always been present,...

In a public letter, 111 former top Republican officials have put aside party loyalty for the sake of national security and the future of our democracy. Republican Former National Security Leaders Statement of Support for Vice President Harris We are former national security and foreign policy officials who served in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George...