It was easy enough to find out what the pundits thought about the Sept. 12 Democratic debate, but what about the candidates themselves? How did they position their candidacies in the days that followed? A scroll through Instagram was instructive and also provided a glimpse of how that platform is being deployed as source for […]

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One day in August 2004, as I drove down the street in my hometown of Stillwater, Okla., I tuned the radio dial to a new station. I settled on a random call-in show and sat back to listen. The host was denouncing the candidacy of John Kerry in terms that went something like this. “He […]

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For New Yorkers, summer travel to Montana has intrinsic worth: scenery, family, climate, and a break from the routine we create for ourselves. It is also an opportunity to see the world through a different set of eyes. Those eyes in Montana are cast firmly on the 2020 presidential election to precisely the same extent […]

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During the most recent Democratic presidential debate, Elizabeth Warren vigorously defended her proposal for a new type of tax in the United States—an annual tax on wealth. “It’s time to tax the top one-tenth of 1 percent fortunes in this country,” she said. Indeed, the very rich do need to pay higher taxes. Their tax […]

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There are a lot of sayings that amount to a kind of folk pragmatism: “Might makes right.” “God helps those who help themselves.” “The ends justify the means.” “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” These are all ways of saying if you’re getting the outcome you want, then don’t worry about how that […]

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