Recent Walter Lippmann Commentaries

We’ve Seen This Movie Before. We Didn’t Like It Then.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana, American writer, and philosopher Embed from Getty Images After watching much of today’s House committee hearing where the extreme right focused with reality show appeal, on attacking America’s well-respected Attorney General, I recalled a series I wrote in January 2022. Sadly, things have only gotten worse....
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September 21, 2023
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Remembering 2022
“Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!” —insurrectionist shouts during the attack of the U.S Capitol on January 6th. “We don’t want you to think of Lexi as just a number. She was intelligent, compassionate, and athletic. She was quiet, shy unless she had a point to make.” —Kimberly Rubio, mother of Lexi Rubio—one of 21 killed in a school shooting...
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December 30, 2022
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At the Throat of American Democracy, Part 1
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana, American writer, and philosopher On the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, President Joe Biden made clear that “The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. . . . [and] held a dagger at...
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January 18, 2022
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How Can We Restore Our Faith in Democracy?
“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.…” – Winston Churchill We think of America as exceptional, the leader of the free world, an example of doing the right thing. However, we’ve made our share of...
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November 23, 2020
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Worst Case Scenario
In his 1922 book, Public Opinion, journalist and political commentator Walter Lippmann “…argued that modern mass communication created ‘pseudo-environments’ that thwarted the ability of the average citizen to make political judgments based on facts.” To say Lippmann was ahead of his time is a master understatement, but even the keenly perceptive Lippmann could never have foreseen a tweetaholic in the...
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February 26, 2020

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A Call for Unity
I first heard about John Gilbert Winant several years ago in Concord, New Hampshire, while I was teaching a class on ethics. My co-captain, Professor...
We Remember
On this anniversary of 9/11, let’s take a moment to remember those we lost and honor the heroes who ran toward danger. It was a...
The Enemy Within
In 63 BCE, Rome was facing an internal crisis that threatened to destroy the Republic. Roman senator Lucius Sergius Catilina, known as Catiline, was conspiring...
This is Why I Have Lost All Faith in the Ability of Republicans to Govern
This is Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia addressing his Senate colleagues regarding the proposed Senate Border Security Bill.  » Read more about: This is Why...
A New Pearl of Great Price: Blind Faith in Trump
Legend has it that a man once approached the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder with a challenge: if he could sum up the principles of...
Our Better Angels Better Show Up
A good friend and I have what we call our “Best Friends Thursday” lunches, where we catch up on the events of the day, primarily...