Topic: Alexis de Tocqueville

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The Paul Ryan 2012 budget: What he learned in 2011

The Paul Ryan 2011 budget sounded like a graduate thesis on statistical steroids. Paul Ryan's 2012 budget is an 80-page campaign commercial.
God save the queen – and society – at lunch

In America and Britain, ideas to integrate a diverse society are being touted and tested. One idea is a 'big lunch' of neighbors for Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee. But can government enhance social cohesion?
America's rash retreat from marriage

In a nation soon to be dominated by single adults, more Americans find marriage obsolete or worth putting off. But can a society afford to have so many people unwilling to make a self-sacrifice to another in a bond that drives civilization?
The New Economy
Debt, deficits, and American morals

Behind the impasse in Washington over debt and deficits lies a moral, even religious, problem. How should a Christian respond to the economic debate?
Why Lagarde should be IMF chief: Women make better leaders, sans Weiner-like libido

Christine Lagarde is the right choice to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF, and not just because of her experience. Women are more effective communicators and aren't libido-led leaders, like Anthony Weiner.
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris

How 19th-century America’s romance with Paris helped to change the course of US history.
Surging BRIC middle classes are eclipsing global poverty

By 2022, those living in poverty will be a minority for the first time, as the global middle class – particularly from BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations – surges. Does new affluence signal shifting global power?
Classic review: Being America

How does the rest of the world see America?
Arab women: this time, the revolution won't leave us behind

Arab women were integral players in the post-colonial revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, but soon lost ground. They are vowing not to be marginalized in the wake of this year's Arab spring.
Editor's Blog
We should applaud when America is no longer exceptional in the world

Free enterprise flowered in the early United States as in no other nation. That made the US exceptional. In the 21st century, free enterprise has gone global. That's a good thing -- especially if other freedoms follow.
Can Warren Buffett and Bill Gates save the world?

How the Giving Pledge, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's quest to get billionaires to donate half their wealth to charity, will impact philanthropy and the world's needy.
Obama's bigger problem with the Gulf oil spill: you

The Gulf oil spill reminds us that Americans are the most voracious consumers on earth. Until we break the bonds of slavery to personal comfort, no president can make us energy independent.
Parrot and Olivier in America

A French aristocrat and his British servant travel to America to study its penal system in this unlikely but delightful early 19th-century buddy comedy.
Difference Maker
Extreme do-gooders – what makes them tick?

Five extraordinary social entrepreneurs talk about their defining moments - when the urge to change the world gathered such force they couldn't ignore it.
Taking the artistic pulse of Generation Y

Cheekily titled 'Younger Than Jesus,' New Museum's exhibition looks at the freshness and verve of artists under age 33.
The tyranny of taxing 'sin'

Scrambling for revenue, politicians are pursuing higher taxes on junk food, alcohol, and tobacco – a clear threat to individual liberty.
Waking Giant: America in the Years of Jackson

A lively look at 1815-1848, America's coming-of-age era.
For Europe, Obama revives positive image of America's unique identity

US exceptionalism had largely been seen here as a messianic rationale for use of power by a nation assuming special prerogatives.
Québecois: maligned accent may have its roots in royal courts

Québec scholar Jean-Denis Gendron traces a 'relaxed, natural' accent to the time of Louis XIV.
Obama and American anti-elitism

Anti-elitism is ingrained in us, but we shouldn't misuse that.
Want democracy in Iraq? Culture matters.

Consider what happened with US occupation in Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.
Does money make you happy?

Research offers some surprising answers. A closer look at the measurement error of materialism.