Tag: common good

The Wicked Common Good: An All Hallows’ Eve Meditation

The spirit of community that arises from festivals such as Halloween is a common good. I suggest that it is also a great time to practice the virtues of shared deliberation at all levels—from organizing in the residence hall floor and the classroom, to planning activities at the town’s community center. Doing so we will grow in the virtues on a personal level.

Common Good and Bad Ideas

By reducing the value of words and, hence, constitutions, common good constitutionalism seems even more likely to veer into the dangerous realm of personal preference-based decision-making. Many figures could be clothed by the “loose fitting garment” that Vermeule has tailored. Before he removes the constraints of constitutionalism, perhaps he should rehear his own 2016 words of warning that as “culture sours and curdles, so will the law.”

Allowing a Little More Room for Subsidiarity: A Review of Adrian...

Harvard Law School produces many of our future rulers, and it may be better for us if aspiring federal administrators learn from Vermeule at least the presumptive desirability of honoring local institutions. Yet Vermeule would only be teaching them a carefully-regulated localism whose contours would be subject to the decisions of the federal administrative state.

Finding Common Ground on Climate: A Review of Saving Us

In the balance, Hayhoe’s book makes a positive contribution to the climate conversation. The book encourages dialogue rather than hectoring. In that sense, though the targeted topic is climate change, Hayhoe’s advice is good for any sort of persuasive argument.

Common Good or Common Fear

In times of crisis a common fear can elicit behavior that appears similar to actions born of a commitment to the common good.

COVID-19: Crisis and Opportunity

Perhaps this crisis, while revealing the fragility of many aspects of American society, can at the same time provide opportunities for a recovery.

Cities, Common Spaces, and the Coronavirus

To be isolated from one another, and in particular from those third places where the rich possibilities of community are most regularly realized strains urban interdependence as nothing else.

Rise Up, O Saints, and Plant Gardens

Jake Meador’s In Search of the Common Good: Christian Fidelity in a Fractured World is a remarkably successful attempt to bring together the core teachings of Christianity and the community-centered practices of an economic life less dependent on global capitalism.

One Good Politician

It can be discouraging watching people vie for political power. That they are motivated by a concern for our good is often hard to...

Please Block the Way: Campaigning Against Courtesy

Japanese rail commuters ride train station escalators the way you might expect: those who are in no hurry stand to the right, leaving a...