Top 5 articles: Working class life
Plus, a look at public transit.
Your top 5 articles for the week:
“How Working-Class Life Is Killing Americans, in Charts” (NYT)
Because this article uses interactive charts to show how drugs, alcohol, and suicide are killing more people without college degrees than those with degrees. It’s sobering and staggering.
“Most parents do not successfully transmit their political values to their children, study finds” (PsyPost)
Because, hard as we might try, new research out of a British journal shows that children don’t automatically adopt the political views of their parent(s).
“The Kennedy Speech that Stoked the Rise of the Christian Right” (Politico Magazine)
Because we love articles that detail the history of political and social moments and movements that help explain why things are the way they are today, and this look at the origins of the Christian Right is pretty interesting. Though while this article focuses on how Kennedy’s candidacy threatened conservative Protestants, Michael has argued that the philosophy of Kennedy’s speech—that one could separate their faith from their politics—is part of what has paved the way for Trump. More generally, the idea so prominently introduced by Kennedy for short-term political purposes led a generation to embrace the practically absurd notion that one could have a certain personal ethic that has no bearing on one’s political ethic.
“Why the US Sucks at Building Public Transit” (Vice)
Because: “Ultimately, this is not about trains and buses. This is about a political system uninterested in reform, a system unconcerned with fixing what’s broken.”
“A Coronavirus Prayer” (America Magazine)
Because many of us are anxious about the future after coronavirus, and this little prayer is lovely. H/T Chris Crawford, who shared it with me on Twitter after I put out a message (read: plea) for spiritual resources for coping with the uncertainty we all feel. Respond to the Twitter thread or comment on here with your resources!
Image if of a waterfall in Iceland, image credit: Hannah Mckay/Reuters.