That speech itself took a beating in the 2016 election is troubling. But Clinton and Trump were not singularly to blame: Both candidates embodied longer-term trends.
After the spectacle of 2016, it is well to remember that popular agitation, exaggerated expectations, and deep divisions have long been part of the nation’s history.
Vibrant suspicion of government is the bedrock of democracy and our robust civil society. But it also means we’re unsure of what to do with our our own government.
Willing the good to everyone doesn't mean we ought to contrive a cheap reconciliation that ignores the danger presented by Donald Trump to our society and the world.
One of the biggest problems confronting Catholics engaged in the public square is our failure to develop a body of political thought relevant to this modern moment.
It is not unreasonable to fear that Trump will govern as he campaigned—as an authoritarian, a threat
to the rule of law, an agent of disorder on the world stage.
Democrats may see themselves as heirs to the progressive tradition dating to FDR. But that does not describe the party that made Hillary Clinton its nominee.
It's not true that the political coalition that elected Barack Obama died on November 8. That alliance maintained its national advantage, as the popular vote shows.
The USCCB meeting offers another opportunity to ditch a style of culture-war Catholicism that has failed to persuade even many of the faithful in the pews.
The prospect of a Trump presidency has sent shivers up the spines of most officials in the Vatican, though Americans who work in the Curia feel differently.
Denying the good faith of those we disagree with is tempting. But demonization is often used to deflect hard issues by denying the other side has the right to speak.
Notre Dame's president talks about the election and the call to serve the common good by engaging with political institutions, even in our pluralistic society.
High-end residential towers in New York, Singapore, London, and elsewhere are just a particularly egregious example of the warping of the modern investment economy.
Never has a candidate for president challenged the legitimacy of the electoral enterprise in which he was engaged. Trump proved he does not respect democracy.
What the Catholic Church teaches about civic and political duties is an invaluable resource in the battle against those who seek to delegitimize liberal democracy.
The success of Trump’s dog-whistle appeal to race comes as no surprise to someone who observed the satisfactions that white Southerners took in segregation.
To hear cries from conservatives, you’d think emails released by WikiLeaks show Hillary Clinton’s campaign to be anti-Catholic. In truth, they show something else.
If the hollowness of the 1990s opened up a space for one kind of communitarian moment, perhaps the bewilderment of today is the occasion for another, different kind.
Yuval Levin attributes our political frustration to “nostalgias” of Left and Right baby boomers. His book is worth examination; his framework suffers exaggerations.
When the summons for jury duty came, I was more than a little excited to see how the system actually worked in real life. The experience did not disappoint.
For many who work, their employment is precarious to the point of affecting their housing opportunities, marriage and family decisions, and general peace of mind.
The U.S. bishops' 'Faithful Citizenship' has turned out to be irrelevant to the most pressing moral and practical questions raised by the 2016 presidential contest.
A disturbing level of Catholic insularity is perhaps inevitable when church leaders frame complex religious-liberty disputes as targeted assaults on Christians.
New U.S. Census Report data on income, poverty, and health-care coverage comes as good news. But amid the recovery, millions of Americans still feel economic pain.
