Gentle readers: Here is the full text of the talk I gave at the 2026 Touchstone conference, “City on a Hill? Christians in America at 250,” which is in the November-December issue of Touchstone magazine: “To Keep a Republic: Enlightened Self-Interest Is Not Enough.”
As a style of writing, epigrams go in and out of fashion. Here I try my hand at just a few.
I find that I don’t really care anymore. I’ve fallen into the now dominant ethos of modernity, which is apathy, which expresses as nihilism in younger generations.
Isn't it interesting that the progressive movement, once gung-ho for Prohibition, now wants to legalize marijuana? Progressives want “progress,” but the direction of "progress" keeps changing.
How woke are you? Find out with this fun and easy quiz! All of these options are drawn from an actual guaranteed income application from the organizations shown above in partnership with the City and County of San Francisco. I’ve left off a few of the obvious ones, such as “Woman.” The answers, with more details about the source, are at the end.
We have all heard it said that searching is better than finding. One hears this adage not only from everyday folk who haven’t given the matter much thought, but also from those whose business is giving matters thought. A philosopher I know who is usually more sensible opined in one of his books that the good lies in nothing but searching for the good.