The American Mind’s Weekly Digest

As you'll observe in our newsletter below, the Ahmari-French debate has been a subject of much discussion on The American Mind. It is an ongoing, hotly-debated discussion of conservatism's proper role in defining our culture and nation. We encourage you to watch via livestream today at 11:30 am ET as our own Charles Kesler joins Ahamri and French at University of Notre Dame for a discussion of conservatism in the age of Trump. You won't want to miss this important event. Watch: https://constudies.nd.edu/livestream/

DISCOURSES

Discourses include shorter posts and column-style writings that engage the national conversation as it unfolds.

The Nation Is Not a Sin Sohrab Ahmari

Sohrab Ahmari responds to the statement “Against the New Nationalism,” published recently by Commonweal Magazine. He asks, does Commonweal stand for the Christian faith, or imperial liberalism? Read

Debates Are No Substitute for Politics Titus Techera

The place of Christians in American life is a question of justice. Read

The Limits of Liberty Christina Pesavento

French is right to defend Liberalism—but Ahmari is right about how to preserve it. Read

A Deplorable Looks for a Date Thomas D. Klingenstein

Political intolerance reaches deep into personal life, writes Claremont Institute Chairman Thomas Klingenstein. Read

Christians Must Face the Primal Digital Politics of Identity James Poulos

The tech-fueled crisis of liberalism brings nature, not theology, to the fore. Read

Moral Relativism is our True Constitutional Enemy Hadley Arkes

The Ahmari-French debate missed the point, writes Hadley Arkes. Read

ESSAYS

Essays of the Week are original, longer essays on an important topic.

Does the Right Dare Fight? Hadley Arkes

Putting the question to David French about moral reasoning in action. Read

As the Electoral College Goes, So Goes the Constitution Michael M. Uhlmann

Plebiscitary democracy will almost certainly bring much sharper ideological, geographical, racial, and religious divisions. Read

VIDEO

Watch as Sohrab Ahmari of the New York Post spars with David French of National Review on how conservatives should respond to the culture wars. The debate, moderated by IHE Fellow and New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, was the latest in a spirited and ongoing discussion about how the Right should respond to the present cultural crisis. In a recent feature on the theme, The American Mind published essays by Claremont Institute President Ryan P. Williams and TAM editors Matt Peterson and James Poulos, plus contributions by Daniel J. Mahoney, Mark Hemingway, and Gunnar Gundersen. This month, TAM offers two direct responses to the current debate by esteemed legal scholar Hadley Arkes, cultural critic and 2017 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow Titus Techera, and the R Street Institute’s Christina Pesavento.

Watch as Matthew Spalding, Associate Vice President of Hillsdale College and Fellow at the Claremont Institute, appeares on a panel at the American Political Science Association's annual meeting to discuss the 116th Congress and its efficacy as a lawmaking body. The panel also featured talks from Kathryn Pearson, an Associate Professor specializing in American politics at the University of Minnesota; Molly Reynolds, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and James Wallner, a Senior Governance Fellow at the R Street Institute. It was chaired by Joseph Postell, an Assistant Professor of political science at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

PODCAST

Tune in! In this new edition of The American Mind podcast, host Ryan Williams sits down with Ronald “R.J.” Pestritto, Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, to discuss Progressivism: how it came to be, its theoretical and political impact, and what it means for us today.

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