225 Quotations Found

From its post-World War II genesis, modern white evangelicalism was more than just a movement for supposed Biblical and theological fidelity and purity. It also involved broader political commitments, including Christian nationalism, white racial purity, patriarchal families, laissez-faire capitalism, and virulent anti-statism—opposing intervention by the state into personal, social and economic affairs—only when it appears federal government support will upset the aforementioned social order.

As a … [ Read more ]

Author: Lerone A. Martin | Source: Futurity | Subjects: Politics & Public Policy, Religion

Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth.

Author: Theodore Roosevelt | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Personal Improvement, Politics & Public Policy

To judge a man merely by success is an abhorrent wrong; and if the people at large habitually so judge men, if they grow to condone wickedness because the wicked man triumphs, they show their inability to understand that in the last analysis free institutions rest upon the character of citizenship, and that by such admiration of evil they prove themselves unfit for liberty.

Author: Theodore Roosevelt | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Ethics | Integrity | Morality, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

For every two people who offered a rational and informed reason for why they were supporting Biden or Trump, there was another–almost always a Trump supporter–who offered an explanation divorced from reality. You could call this persistent style of untethered reasoning “unlogic.” Unlogic is not ignorance or stupidity; it is reason distorted by suspicion and misinformation, an Orwellian state of mind that arranges itself around … [ Read more ]

Author: Charlotte Alter | Source: Time | Subjects: Concepts, Intelligence | Knowledge, Politics & Public Policy, Thought | Inquiry

Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

Author: Robert Green Ingersoll | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Tolerance

Reformers are apt to forget, in their reasoning, that the world is not made up entirely of the wicked and the hungry, there are persons hungry for the food of the mind, the wants of which are as imperious as those of the body […] Reformers are apt to forget too, that the social chain is indomitable; that link by link it acts together, you … [ Read more ]

Author: Maria Mitchell | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

When a society has changed so that individuals acquire their rights by virtue of their powers, rather than having their powers defined by their rights, the concept of person has been transformed to a concept of self.

Author: Amelie Rorty | Subjects: Concepts, Freedom | Liberty, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Power

Populists don’t just feed on socioeconomic discontent. They feed on ineffective government — and their great appeal is that they claim to replace it with a government that is effective through their own autocratic power.

Authors: Terry Moe, William Howell | Source: Vox | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

The party in power will get electoral credit for bills passed with big, bipartisan majorities. But by the same token, the party in power will get the blame if Congress is paralyzed, if bills die amid partisan bickering, if the problems of the nation go unsolved. Compromise isn’t a gift the majority offers to the minority. It’s a boon the minority offers to the majority. … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ezra Klein, Frances Lee | Source: Vox | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

The United States is alone among advanced democracies in how difficult it is to get anything done. Legislation can be blocked by the House, the Senate, or the president, all of whom face different electorates, on different cycles. It can be overturned by the Supreme Court, where nine robed judges are protected by lifetime appointment. Constitutional amendments are uniquely difficult, and can be blocked by … [ Read more ]

Author: Ezra Klein | Source: Vox | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

Author: Dwight D. Eisenhower | Subjects: Change, Concepts, History, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Author: Dwight D. Eisenhower | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

Our concept of politics, descended from antiquity, is that society can peaceably settle its differences of opinion and interests. For politics to properly play its becalming role, citizens must agree on rules. Discussion, persuasion, and a willingness to accept temporary defeat are the political means by which a society adjudicates its inevitable conflicts. When a society discards politics, violence assumes its place.

Author: Franklin Foer | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

At one point in time, conservatism was this idea of liberty, of rugged individualism. But at the same time, there was this deep sense about responsibility. It was both liberty and responsibility. You could swing your arm, but you certainly weren’t going to swing your arm to where it was going to connect with somebody else’s nose. What we’ve gotten to today is: I’m going … [ Read more ]

Author: Chad Mayes | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both.

Author: James Madison | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

Americans now bear such animosity toward one another that it’s almost as if many are holding up signs saying, “Please tell me something horrible about the other side, I’ll believe anything!” Americans are now easily exploitable, and a large network of profit-driven media sites, political entrepreneurs, and foreign intelligence agencies are taking advantage of this vulnerability.

Authors: Greg Lukianoff, Jon Haidt | Source: Instrument of Mercy | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

If the bond we share with others is simply that we hate the same people, the intimacy that we experience is often intense, immediately gratifying, and an easy way to discharge outrage and pain. It is not, however, fuel for real connection.

Author: Brene Brown | Source: Instrument of Mercy | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships

The presidency is like a soft leather glove, and it takes the shape of the hand that’s put into it. And when a very big hand is put into it and stretches the glove — stretches the office — the glove never quite shrinks back to what it was.

Author: George Will | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

The point of protest is rarely to swing a single race, however momentous that race may be. It is to change the terms of political debate, and ultimately to change society itself. And indeed, protest has always foreshadowed the most radical shifts in American history. Protest calls attention to problems with the status quo—and often spells political doom for those who have upheld it.

Author: Daniel Q. Gillion | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

Americans readily tolerate inequality of outcomes, accepting that it’s a necessary by-product of how we reward the hard work, initiative, and creativity that underpin our much envied economy. But we should not accept inequality of opportunity.

Author: Ray Boshara | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: America, Economics | Economy, International, Politics & Public Policy