Top 5: Prosperity over vengeance
Plus: how politics causes even the smartest, most prepared people to stumble
The Top 5 articles for your week:
“‘I Got Obama’d’” (Politico Magazine)
Because this article (dumb title, good article) about how a conflict resolution expert got sucked into the worst of politics in his small town is a microcosm of the bigger picture. “Thus began one of the greatest trials of his life. It took “about an eighth of a second” for him to get sucked into the conflict, as he puts it. Despite everything he knew, he ultimately lost two years of his life and peace of mind to petty political feuds—a period he now calls his "personal derangement." In the process, one of the nation’s leading gurus of conflict management fell into the same traps he’d taught thousands of people to avoid, the kind that make conflict destructive, instead of useful.”
Because this essay from Russell Moore looks at the new declining Gallup poll numbers on church attendance in the US and one of the culprits: evangelicalism.
“Should Young Americans Be Required to Give a Year of Service?” (NYT)
Because this idea from NYT’s Editorial Board isn’t entirely new, but it’s worth raising again in 2021 after the last 10 years of politics.
“Biden Chooses Prosperity Over Vengeance” (The Atlantic)
Because we missed this essay when it came out in March and wish we hadn’t, but we’re making up for it now. “The future of the Democratic Party depends on Biden’s ability to show that this [Trump] catastrophism was false; that even when the Republican Party loses, Americans who vote Republican do not; that defeat is not destruction; that their compatriots do not and would not seek such an outcome.”
“‘Wokeness is a problem and we all know it’” (Vox)
Because James Carville is raising warning flags for Democrats again, but this interview more meaningfully exemplifies the strategic cul-de-sacs the Democratic Party is in and the inability to incisively identify the party’s excesses. Once again, like under Obama, the party’s leader seems to be managing and/or masking significant rifts in the party that might become more significant on the road to next year’s midterm elections.