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The Stump

More Articles in The Stump

My Mask, My Choice

Unfortunately, much of what is currently driving the discussion is not reason nor compassion but anger.
March 17, 2021

Take to the Land: A Strategy for Third Parties

Even if ‘land’ is less important than actual vote share, this map does point to a very real issue at the heart of American politics: namely that majorities, specifically local majorities, matter…
March 10, 2021

Bridging the Gap Between Narrative and Reality: Guido Preparata

Modest and hopeful, but backed up by a lot of thought and research, Guido Preparata's work is at least a beginning. Surrounded by lies, it’s high-time we started telling another story.

The Roots of America’s Falling Fertility

Human fertility is not the root of our problems. It is but one symptom of a deeper, more elemental problem.

The Front Porch and the American Dream

Perhaps, just perhaps, COVID has restored some of the beauty and desirability of the front porch.

Limits, Risk Aversion, and Technocracy

What about Lasch’s analysis of limits? I have in mind two contemporary cultural developments, the rise of technocracy and our extreme aversion to risk, that seem to challenge certain aspects of Lasch’s…
January 25, 2021

Playing the Long Game: A Review of Abraham Lincoln’s Statesmanship

The Lincoln that Schaff puts forth cultivated liberal democracy by placing limits and crafting public consensus. In order to see Lincoln in a new light, Schaff applies Aristotle’s ideas of moderation and…
January 20, 2021

A Conservative for Our Time

In a letter he wrote to his grandchildren, Udall challenged them to "Support all endeavors that promise a better life for the inhabitants of our planet. Cherish sunsets, wild creations and wild…
January 18, 2021

A Time for Local Democracy

In these days of Twitter democracy, when platforms for political expression are so accessible, it sometimes seems, paradoxically, that citizens have little actual say in decision making about our country’s future.
January 4, 2021

Another Night Like All The Rest

Men are fallen creatures who think they’re perfectible when in fact they’re hardly improvable.
December 31, 2020

The Worst?

2020 has certainly had real trials and tribulations, but our approach to it is also reflective of a culture in which everything disliked has long been “the worst.”
December 30, 2020

Some Possibly Helpful Thoughts on Localism, Populism, and Proximity During a Pandemic

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] The departure of Donald Trump from the White House [crosses fingers] will assuredly not mean the departure of Trumpism from American life. The collection of grifters, paranoiacs,…
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