A rather worrying sentiment has pervaded America in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election. It has arisen as disheartened Americans, confounded by the abrupt rightward turn the nation took and by nine onerous months of living under the second Trump Administration, grapple with the nation’s political predicament by asking the curious question, “How did […]
Tag: liberalism
The Enlightenment Gone Dark
Liberalism is the tie that binds the nation. It is imperfect – it has frayed and nearly come undone numerous times throughout history. Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, centuries of spilled blood and enormous intellectual heft have to fulfill its essential pronouncement: that all men are created equal. It has taken generations […]
A World Without Heirs
In the central panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymous Bosch paints a society lost to debauchery and hedonism. The carnal scene warns of a society that diverges from the divine plan. Deadly sins seep into daily life. Lust and gluttony are abundant. However, one absence is striking in the scenes of sin: children. […]
Might Makes Right: the DRC, Rwanda, and a Shifting World Order
The winding path of international politics has reached a fork of values: enduring liberalism versus an emergent imperialism. Our new path will be chosen in Central Africa, a war-ridden and oft-ignored part of the world, where the Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a resurgence of violence inflicted by its neighbor Rwanda. In 2012, […]
French Labor Laws: Between Liberalism and the Revolution of the Socioeconomic Order
RESOLVED: The Republic of France should liberalize its labor laws. Affirmative Constructive Speech (Laura Millo) France’s September 2017 labor reforms are vital to renew the dynamism of the French economy. The new labor laws of the French Ministry of labor adopted on September 22nd, 2017 provide more flexibility to the labor system in France. In fact, the […]
Thinking in Color: Disputing Identity Politics
On the 9th of November, 2016, in the wee hours of the morning, the news networks proclaimed Donald J. Trump the president-elect of the United States. From my vantage point, I watched hundreds of Berkeley students on Sproul Plaza collectively react in unmitigated horror as the man whom they reviled so personally claimed the highest […]
Democrats Join the Mad Tea Party: The Contest Begins between Feinstein and De León
The December midnight was drenched in silence. A large crowd stared on from the harbor as the Sons of Liberty crept along the docks in Mohawk Native American costumes. They swept through the streets of Boston with one pursuit in mind: dump the coercive British tea. With the quiet punctuated only by the sound of […]
When Universalism Met Culture
As I read the story of Aasia Bibi, the 17-year-old Pakistani girl who unintentionally poisoned and killed 17 members of her family in her attempt to escape the prospect of an arranged marriage, I wonder how many South Asian women have contemplated the same. As a South Indian woman myself, talk of my marriage is […]
2016: ‘The Spectacular Year’
Liberal triumph or anomaly? In the summer of 2016, the United States Congress adjourned for an unusual 7-week recess, leading to ferocious criticism from critics—often left-leaning—that Congress perpetuated its own reputation for gridlock and ineffectiveness. But while the Senate and House chambers in Washington were closed, 2,700 miles away in Sacramento, the California state capitol […]