Gerald R. Ford Leadership Forum
by Richard Gunderman, IUPUI Perhaps the most remarkable Boy Scout Annual Awards Dinner in scouting history took place at the Sheraton-Park Hotel in Washington, DC, on the evening of December 2, 1974. The Boy Scouts of America organization was riding high at the time, having just reached the highest number of youth participants in its …
by John von Heyking, University of Lethbridge During the bleakest days of the Covid pandemic and the shutdowns, numerous voices exhorted us to practice kindness. These exhortations were in response not just to the challenges of the pandemic and the lockdowns, but also in response to the social dysfunction that resulted. How quickly social bonds …
by Jason Peters [Ed. Note: The full poem appears at the end of the essay. You are encouraged to read it first, remembering that poetry is meant to be read out loud.] We do violence to a work of art by using it for our own ends, especially for our own ideological or political ends, …
Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” and One Means of Ordered Civic Life Read More »
by Jeff Polet My freshman year in college a professor placed in my hands G.K. Chesterton’s book Orthodoxy, and my life was never the same after. I didn’t at the time recognize that the book was an exercise in apologetics, but I was thoroughly enchanted by both the mode and substance of argumentation. Later, I …
by Luke C. Sheahan President Jimmy Carter was castigated for infamously describing a malaise infecting the American people. Critics pounced. Surely if a nation is afflicted with malaise, its national leader bears some of the blame. Few could find in such an expression inspiration to action. Whatever the merit of that indictment in the 1970s, …
Social Inventions and the Cultivation of Character Read More »
by Michael P. Federici Populism is a recurring phenomenon in American politics. It tends to rise and fall inversely with the fortunes of the leadership class. Its underlying presumption is that the people are far more trustworthy and sensible than elites who are out of touch with the struggles and values of common people. Populists …
The Risks of a Populist Politics or The Risk of a Permanent Populism Read More »
by Glenn Moots James McHenry of Maryland, one of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, recorded in his diary a now-famous story about Benjamin Franklin. After the convention, Franklin purportedly crossed paths with Elizabeth Powel. Mrs. Powel and her husband were well-connected Philadelphians. McHenry writes that Mrs. Powel, curious about the outcome of the convention, …
by Jeff Polet There’s an old saying that if you’re 20 years old and you’re a conservative you have no heart, and that if you’re 40 years old and not a conservative, you have no brain. I suppose the saying might mean this: in our youth we have an itch for progress, because we are …
by Kevin Gary Should we be concerned about boredom? Several recent psychological studies suggest that we should. Boredom, or more precisely the avoidance of boredom, is causally correlated with a number of troubling behaviors (drinking too much, overeating, gambling, and excessive consuming). In schools, boredom is linked to waning student attention, declining grades, and dropping …
by John von Heyking Harry S Truman famously claimed that if you want a friend in Washington, then get a dog. His point seems to have been that politics is a lonely business. Politics consists of clashing interests, with temporary friendships of convenience giving way to individual self-interest. Emotional detachment with a pinch of ruthlessness …
