2007 and Beyond

"We Can Find Common Ground on Gay Rights and Religious Liberty." A deal can be a win for both sides. The New York Times, June 22, 2020

"It’s George Wallace’s World Now." Fifty years later, he is leading the GOP. TheAtlantic.com, April 26, 2020

"Too Much Democracy Is Bad for Democracy." Primary voters need professional help. The Atlantic, December 2019

"Rethinking Polarization." How disagreement turned to animosity. National Affairs, Fall 2019

"Don't Call Me 'LGBTQ.'" Just "Q" will do. The Atlantic, January-February 2018

"How Star Trek Explains Donald Trump." The classic 1960s show saw him coming. Reason.com, November 26, 2018

"Legalizing Gay Marriage and Marriage Seemed Impossible..." So how did they both happen? Reason, December 2018

"The Constitution of Knowledge." Trump and his troll armies attack reality. National Affairs, Fall 2018

"The Midlife Doldrums Are a Social Crisis. Now There’s Momentum for Some Radical Fixes." Washington Post Magazine, April 15, 2018

"Have Our Tribes Become More Important than Our Country?" Review of Amy Chua's Tribalism. Washington Post, February 18, 2018

"Speaking As A..." Review of Mark Lilla's The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. New York Review of Books, November 9, 2017

"Nondiscrimination for All." Gay rights, religious liberty, and nondiscrimination can rub along. National Affairs, Summer 2017

"The Conservative Case for Unions." Modernize unions to save globalization. The Atlantic, July-August 2017

"Trump's Cover-Up in Full Public View." The president weaponizes flagrance. New York Daily News, May 14, 2017

"Containing Trump." How to handle an authoritarian. The Atlantic, March 2017

"Why Hillary Clinton Needs to Be Two-Faced." The case for political white lies. The New York Times, October 22, 2016

"How American Politics Went Insane." The causes of chaos. The Atlantic, July/August 2016

"Amateur Hour." The growing presidential inexperience premium. The Atlantic, November 2015

"No, Polygamy Isn't the Next Gay Marriage." They couldn't be more different. Politico Magazine, July 30, 2015

"Be Not Afraid." Careful! It’s safer than ever out there. The Atlantic, March 2015

"The Real Roots of Midlife Crisis." It gets better! The Atlantic, December 2014

"So Far, So Fast." Why gay marriage happened. The Economist, October 11, 2014

"The Great Secession." The new First Church of Discrimination. The Atlantic, July-August 2014

"The Case for Corruption." Washington needs more honest graft. The Atlantic, March 2014

"Hate Speech, Minorities, and Moral Learning." What we learn from Nazis. Reason, December 2013

"The Home Remedy for Old Age." Rescuing the frail elderly out of the hospital. The Atlantic, December 2013

"The Case for Hate Speech." Often, it helps targeted minorities. The Atlantic, November 2013

"A Gay Awakening." Why gay marriage happened in America. American Review (Australia), August 2013

"Rescuing Compromise." The Tea Party is wrong about the Constitution. National Affairs, Fall 2013

"How Not to Die." Dr. Angelo Volandes reforms late-life care. The Atlantic, May 2013

"How Can the Supreme Court Help Gay Rights? By Keeping Out." The New Republic, December 12, 2012

"Broken Transmission: Why the Economy Doesn't Work for the Working Class." National Journal, December 5, 2012

"Inequality and Its Perils." A threat to growth and stability. National Journal, Sept. 27, 2012

"St. Paul's Case for Gay Marriage." The Daily, June 3, 2012

"We Are a Sideshow No Longer." Marriage has changed gays. Salon, May 15, 2012

"Two Americas, Growing Apart." Review of Charles Murray's "Coming Apart." Reason Magazine, June 2012

"Five Myths about Gay Marriage." Right premises; wrong conclusions. The Washington Post, May 13, 2012

"Why Gay Rights May Be Obama's Biggest Legacy." He's gays' LBJ. The New Republic, May 11, 2012

"The No Big Bang Theory." We shouldn't be so scared of Iranian nukes. The Daily, January 6, 2012

"The 2012 Freshness Test for Presidential Candidates." Up or out in 14 years. The Daily, July 24, 2011

"When Moralism Isn’t Moral." Foreign policy realism turns left. The New York Times Book Review, October 7, 2011

"Borders? What Borders?" The strange death of sovereignty. The Daily, May 23, 2011

"The Emerging Gay Majority." The gay rights movement needs recalibrating. The Advocate, December 2010

"Divided We Thrive." Republicans' House takeover can help Obama govern. The New York Times, November 7, 2010

"Group Think: Inside the Tea Party's Collective Brain." National Journal, September 11, 2010

"Red Families, Blue Families, Gay Families, and the Search for a New Normal." Journal of Law and Inequality, Summer, 2010

"A 'Kagan Doctrine' on Gay Marriage." The New York Times, July 3, 2010

"Letting Go of My Father." The hidden elder care crisis. The Atlantic, April 2010

"It's George Wallace's GOP Now." Right-wing populism, er, trumped conservatism. National Journal, February 27, 2010

"Conservatives Have Reagan All Wrong." He was no Reaganite. National Journal, December 5, 2009

"A Moral Crossroads for Conservatives." If not gay marriage...what? National Journal, August 8, 2009

"The Zombie Party." How the Republicans lost their brain. Democracy Journal, Summer 2009

"A Failure of Capitalism?" Richard Posner blames the system (book review). The New York Times Book Review, May 17, 2009

"Earmarks Are a Model, Not a Menace." A program that works! National Journal, March 14, 2009

"Gay Marriage: A Reconciliation." Federal civil unions plus religious-liberty guarantees. By David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch. The New York Times, Feb. 22, 2009

"Not Whether but How: Gay Marriage and the Revival of Burkean Conservatism." What would Burke do? South Texas Law Review, Winter 2009.

"When Culture Wars End." For gays, the 2008 election turns a corner. The Advocate, November 16, 2008

"Small Ball, After All?" George W. Bush, minor president? National Journal, September 20, 2008

"Electro-Shock Therapy." GM's electric-car quest. The Atlantic, July-August, 2008

"Gay Marriage Is Good for America." Californians should keep it. The Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2008

"Mr. Conservative." John McCain, Edmund Burke's heir. The Atlantic, May 2008.

"Partisan Retreat." Can we manage the postwar war over Iraq? The Atlantic, January-February 2008.

"Redefining the Meaning of Family." Only America squares homosexuality with tradition. Newsweek International, December 2007

"Crisis on the Right." Book review: Can conservatism cope? New York Times Book Review, Oct. 7, 2007

"‘This Is Not Philanthropy.’" Bill Clinton's business of saving the world. The Atlantic, October 2007

"Family Reunion." The case against David Blankenhorn's case against same-sex marriage. Democracy Journal, Summer 2007

"Campaign Seasoning." The case for early primaries. The Atlantic, July/August 2007

"Learning from Ike." A realist for our times. National Journal, April 14, 2007

"A Separate Peace." How states dissolve culture wars. The Atlantic, April 2007

"Global Warming: The Convenient Truth." It's a problem, not an emergency. National Journal, March 13, 2007

2000-2006

 

"Coalition of the Waiting." U.S.-Europe relations after Bush. The Atlantic, December 2006

"sex, lies, and video games." The dawn of interactive drama. The Atlantic, November 2006

"Unwinding Bush." How long will it take to undo his mistakes? The Atlantic, October, 2006

"No Middle Ground." Review of The Party of Death, by Ramesh Ponnuru. New York Times Book Review, September 3, 2006

"Struggling to Survive." A year after Hurricane Katrina, a Louisiana parish drowns in indecision and red tape. National Journal, August 12, 2006.

"Containing Iran." Cold war lessons about atomic ayatollahs. The Atlantic, July/August, 2006.

"Families Forged by Illness." Gay marriage is a legacy of AIDS. The New York Times, June 4, 2006

"Stoking the Beast." Why tax cuts make government bigger, not smaller. The Atlantic, June 2006

"One Man, Many Wives, Big Problem." The problem with polygamy. National Journal, April 1, 2006

"Demolition Men." Ariel Sharon and Junichiro Koizumi point the way to U.S. centrist resurgence. The Atlantic, March 2006

"You Say You Want a Revolution." The Supreme Court after Rehnquist. National Journal, July 30, 2005

"Bipolar Disorder." How polarized is America? The Atlantic, January/February 2005

"Saying No to 'I Do.' " Gay marriage after the election debacle. Wall Street Journal, December 27, 2004

"Now, for Tonight's Assignment." Homework, the education reform no one talks about. The Atlantic, November 2004

"Divided We Stand." The case for divided government. The Atlantic, October 2004

"Being Well." Review of Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (report of presidential commission on biotech). The Public Interest, Fall 2004

"Power of Two." President Bush's case for same-sex marriage. The New York Times Magazine, March 7, 2004

"The Forgotten Millions." Communism's victims need a memorial. The Atlantic, December 2003

"Will Frankenfood Save the Planet?" The greening of biotechnology. The Atlantic, October 2003

"Coming to America." Washington as post-racial city. The Atlantic, July/August 2003

"The Accidental Radical." George W. Bush's plan to be FDR. National Journal, July 26, 2003

"Let It Be." The triumph of apatheism. The Atlantic, May 2003.

"Caring for Your Introvert." What every extrovert should know. The Atlantic, March 2003

"The Fat Tax." A modest proposal for a healthier nation. The Atlantic, December 2002

"Reversing White Flight." School vouchers for desegregation. The Atlantic, October 2002

"Firebombs Over Tokyo." A deed it is wrong to forget. The Atlantic, July/August 2002

"Countering the Smallpox Threat." Make vaccine freely available. The Atlantic, December 2001

"Leave Gay Marriage to the States." Amending the U.S. Constitution is unwise and unnecessary. Wall Street Journal, July 27, 2001

"Law and Disorder." Hidden Law versus bureaucratic legalism. The New Republic, April 30, 2001

"The New Old Economy." Oil, computers, and the reinvention of the earth. The Atlantic, January 2001

"Buff Enough?" Men and muscles: review of The Adonis Complex. Reason, November 2000

"Father Superior." George H.W. Bush, an outstanding President. The New Republic, May 22, 2000

"Pink Pistols." The ultimate gay empowerment. Salon.com, March 14, 2000.

"Conventional Wisdom." The lost continent of social norms. Reason, February 2000

 

1990-1999

"A Summer Serenade." America's amazing ability to reinvent us all. National Journal, September 4, 1999

"Boys to Men: The Paradox of Identity and the Culture of Possibility." Gay culture grows up. Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 31, 1999

"Truth Believer." Review of Susan Haack's Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate.  Reason, January 1999

"Sui Genocide." Why humans should extinguish themselves. The Economist, December 19, 1998

"Tunnel Vision." The dawn of microgovernment. National Journal, September 19, 1998

"Temperance Kills." Moderate drinking saves lives; why won't public-health folks say so? Slate.com, August 14, 1998

"Death by Mistake."  How often do we execute innocents?  A story of death and doubt in Florida. National Journal, May 30, 1998

"Guilty of Politics." With the Babbitt case, the ethics police can no longer tell politics from crime. National Journal, March 14, 1998

"Offices and Gentlemen." Speech police invade the workplace. The New Republic, June 23, 1997

"Robert Reich, Quote Doctor." A Washington memoirist puts words in people's mouths. Slate.com, May 30, 1997

"Blow It Up."  A radical solution for America's campaign-finance problems.  National Journal, March 29, 1997

"For Better or Worse?" The case for gay (and straight) marriage.  The New Republic, May 6, 1996

"Short Guys Finish Last." The world's most enduring form of discrimination.  The Economist, December 23, 1995

"In Defense of Prejudice."  Why prejudice should not be stamped out. Harper's, May 1995

"Poisson: More Is More." Spurious science column: number inflation is destroying the integrity of our digits. The Economist, April 1, 1995

"What Nixon Wrought." In memoriam, the century's worst president. The New Republic, May 16, 1994

"Demosclerosis." Government is calcifying, and the process is not reversible. National Journal, September 5, 1992

"The Golden Fleece." Wool and mohair subsidies: why programs never die. National Journal, May 18, 1991

"Is the Deficit Really So Bad?" Yes, because it breaches a social covenant. The Atlantic, February 1989