How art creates us
Recently, while browsing in the Museum of Modern Art store in New York, I came across a tote bag with the inscription “You are no longer the same after experiencing art.” It’s a nice sentiment,...
People are more generous than you may think
Are human beings fundamentally good or fundamentally bad? Are people mostly generous, or are they mostly selfish?Over the centuries, many of our leading lights have taken the view that people are...
Nikki Haley best Trump alternative
I have a bunch of friends and acquaintances who are Never Trump, maybe-Trump or kind-of-Trump Republicans. They’ve been looking around for the candidate they can support and give their dollars to,...
To be happy, marriage matters more than career
When I’m around young adults I like to ask them how they are thinking about the big commitments in their lives: what career to go into, where to live, whom to marry. Most of them have thought a lot...
The fever is breaking
WASHINGTON: A convulsion has shaken America and many other Western democracies over the past few years. People became disgusted with established power, trust in many institutions neared rock bottom,...
The rising tide of global sadness
Taylor Swift was quite the romantic when she burst on the scene in 2006. She sang about the ecstasies of young love and the heartbreak of it. But her mood has hardened as her star has risen. Her...
How do you handle a wounded Putin?
The world shifted last week. Vladimir Putin showed that he knows how deeply wounded he is. He knows that his rule is under existential threat if Russia is completely humiliated in Ukraine. He also...
If an alternative candidate is needed in 2024, these folks will be ready
What happens if the 2024 election is between Donald Trump and somebody like Bernie Sanders?What happens if the Republicans nominate someone who is morally unacceptable to millions of Americans while...