Democracy

Now what is here symbolized has been the most fundamental idea in our American democracy. Ours is a government by discussion.

In the Free World’s multifaceted response to Putin’s war, a blueprint for a global alliance of democracies is emerging.

What are we to make of France’s presidential election? More than anything, it points to the power of anti-systemic populism in French politics, whether on the Left or Right.

That Russia’s invasion should have come as a surprise attack largely derives from the idealistic excess of the democratic peace theory.

Once again, public opinion polls have disappointed isolationists and others who want the United States to have a minimalist foreign policy. Almost overnight, a large swath of America now wants to counter Russia, and elected officials who want to keep their jobs have responded.

The Canadian trucker protests deserve attention, especially viewed in the light of recent events in Canada that have been little-known outside the country, and also for what they reveal about the country’s political order and class divisions.

The New Right cannot be bothered with foreign threats because they are rationing political capital for an ideological fight at home. That’s bad enough. Even worse, they seem less interested in transcending tyranny and more interested in learning from it.

Washington was not angry, immoderate or impatient.  In short, his example is instructive for our own angry, immoderate and impatient times.

This week the editors discuss Eric Patterson’s article about boycotting the Olympics, Lubomir Martin Ondrasek’s article about Václav Havel, and a New York Times editorial presenting an integralist foreign policy.