"One Word Describes Trump." It's patrimonialism, stupid! The Atlantic, Feb. 24, 2025
"The Longevity Revolution." Growing old needs a rethink. The Atlantic, January 2025
"Why You Should Feel Good About Liberalism." Defend it, already! Persuasion, August 6, 2024
"Confronting the Axis of Resistance." The world is realigning. The Atlantic, July 1, 2024
"America Should Apologize to Gay People." But instead, we're forgetting. The Atlantic, January 26, 2024
"Sandra Day O’Connor, the Mom Next Door—and So Much More." She’s still underrated. The Atlantic, December 1, 2023
"From Spontaneous Order to Ordered Spontaneity." Individualism requires institutions. National Affairs, Winter 2023
"The Respect for Marriage Act Is Historic." Persuasion, December 3, 2022
"Trump's Second Term Would Look Like This." Orban, not Mussolini. The Atlantic, August 29, 2022
"Walking the Transgender Movement Away from the Extremists." How queer hijacked trans. The American Purpose, April 1, 2022
"The Real Hoax." Trump colluded with Russia, then changed the subject. Persuasion, December 13, 2021
"Meeting in the Middle." Utah-style compromise makes everyone better off. Deseret News Magazine, May 2021
"The Five Trump Amendments to the Constitution." Making Congress an advisory body. The Atlantic, February 22, 2021
"The War on Professionalism." How lawyers, doctors, scientists, and civil servants saved U.S. democracy. National Affairs, Winter 2021
"The Cancel Culture Checklist." The difference between canceling and free speech. Persuasion.community, August 6, 2020
"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