The Obama administration is now living through one of the oldest and most difficult recurring problems in American foreign policy: what do you do when revolution breaks out in an allied country?The only clue history offers is not an encouraging one: there is often no satisfactory resolution of the dilemmas revolutions present.In 1789 Americans watched […]

Here at my rural retreat in the rolling Dutchess County hunt country in scenic upstate New York, I’m facing a dilemma.  I need to get back to New York City for a meeting tomorrow, but the series of monstrous winter snowstorms has made parking scarce in the purlieus of the stately Mead manor in glamorous […]

As the blue social model gradually falls apart and American society casts restlessly about for something to replace it, charter schools may be on the cutting edge of the social transformation about to take place.This isn’t because they are a magic bullet solution to our education problems.  The research surrounding the effectiveness of charter schools […]

In music, as everybody knows, the blues were born in the Mississippi Delta and traveled up the river and the railroads from New Orleans to Memphis, St. Louis and on to Chicago.In politics, the blues were born farther north: in the Puritan commonwealth of 17th century New England centered around Boston.  For the Puritans, the construction […]

When we talk about American social models and the need to go beyond what I’m calling the blue social model and on to liberalism 5.0, race needs to be discussed.  The collapse of the blue social model, a shift from federal to local power and a shift from government to the private sector are not […]

Social reform, asserted Confucius, begins with the rectification of names.I can think of one case where he’s unquestionably right: the use of the word ‘developed’ as applied to certain wealthy and industrialized countries mostly found in western Europe and North America, but sprinkled elsewhere throughout the world.  The widespread and unchallenged use of that word […]

As attentive readers have noticed, blogging has been slow here at Via Meadia since the end of the Christmas season.  Other commitments have pulled me away from posting as regularly here as I like.  This is about to change and I hope to return to my normal pace in the next week.Thanks to all of […]

The world is just dipping its toes, so to speak, in the new year, and 2011 is already shaping up as a dangerous time.  Europe hasn’t solved its financial crisis; the US is vulnerable to state and local financial crises that could erupt without warning; China’s export-oriented growth model is unlikely to yield a second […]

As a kid I always had some trouble understanding the business about the three wise men. Gold always comes in handy so I could see why you would bring gold to a baby — but what on earth were frankincense and myrrh and why would anybody give them to a child? I figured myrrh might […]

As the Christmas season draws to a close and the return of regular blogging looms, I’m looking back over my short life as a writer on religious matters and thinking about how writing on religion is and is not like writing on other controversial topics.There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s important to write […]