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  • American Democracy and Its Broken Bargaining Tables
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Society & Culture

Sacred Consecrated Spaces Waiting Rooms Places Erraticus
(Martin Lostak)
Essays Society & Culture 

Consecrated Waiting Rooms

April 19, 2021April 19, 2021 Derek Parsons 2 Comments Architecture, Emotional Well-being

Whether we are religious or claim no sense of the spiritual, sacred spaces help us to better confront the transitory nature of existence.

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American Politics Deliberative Democracy Bargaining Table Daniel Layman
("Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner" by Thomas Nast, 1869)
Essays Society & Culture 

American Democracy and Its Broken Bargaining Tables

March 23, 2021March 27, 2021 Daniel Layman 0 Comments Democracy, Essential Reading, Politics

American politics is in peril. Now is the time to replace our broken bargaining tables with more deliberative democracy.

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COVID Pandemic Cash Benefits Erraticus Garrett Watson
Ideas Society & Culture 

Could the COVID Pandemic Spark a Cash Benefit Revolution?

March 15, 2021March 27, 2021 Garrett Watson 0 Comments Pandemic, Politics

For low-income families, the move toward direct, broad cash benefits might prove to have a long-lasting impact once the COVID pandemic ends.

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Political Trust Polarized Age Revolutionaries Reactionaries Liberalism
(Jeffrey Howard)
Society & Culture 

Trust in an Age of Reactionaries and Revolutionaries

January 28, 2021April 22, 2021 Matthew Downhour 0 Comments Liberalism, Politics

Rather than view recent political failings as flaws inherent to liberalism, we might be better served by focusing on the decline in trust.

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Authentic Democracy Distilled Populism Walter Horn Erraticus
("The County Election" by George Caleb Bingham, 1854)
Essays Society & Culture 

Who Cares About Democracy?

January 15, 2021March 27, 2021 Walter Horn 2 Comments Democracy, Politics, Voting

Some people consider democracy a good thing only if it gets them the outcome they want. Perhaps the US just needs more democratic reforms.

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Letters to You Melanie Han Erraticus Korean American Identity
(Jeffrey Howard)
Essays Society & Culture 

Letters to You

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 Melanie Han 0 Comments Family, Identity, Racism

In this epistolary, Melanie Han reflects on her experiences with racism, intergenerational family dynamics, and tensions surrounding identity.

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Hope in the time of corona COVID-19 Melanie Han Erraticus
(Lei Jiang)
Essays Society & Culture 

‘Corona, Corona’: In the Cycle of Grief

April 23, 2020April 24, 2020 Melanie Han 0 Comments Emotions, Family, Racism, Travel

Finding herself abroad during the early days of corona, a traveler recounts the uncertainties and grief that followed her home.

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Mythos Pandemic Sloane Shearman Erraticus Coronavirus Covid-19
(Wikimedia Commons)
Ideas Society & Culture 

The Mythos of Pandemic

March 30, 2020March 30, 2020 Sloane Shearman 1 Comment Death, Myth

Without a shared mythos or communal rituals, we face not only the physical threat of coronavirus but also an epidemic of hopelessness.

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All the lonely people atomized generation atomization crisis loneliness erraticus
(Michal Pechardo)
Essays Society & Culture 

All the Lonely People: The Atomized Generation

March 11, 2020August 29, 2020 Willow Liana 1 Comment Atomization, Community, Essential Reading, Place

We’re not only facing a crisis of loneliness but we’re atomized. Our systems seem designed to further undermine social fabric and place.

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The Locking Spine People Crab Erik Mclean Erraticus
(Erik Mclean)
Essays Society & Culture 

The Locking Spine

March 10, 2020June 1, 2020 Donovan Irven 0 Comments Appalachia, Community, Essential Reading, Family

Eating crab is a fitting tradition for an Appalachian community dealing with the intergenerational trauma connected to the opioid crisis.

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Suspending Politics to Save Democracy Erraticus Overdoing political
(Jorge Alcala)
Essays Society & Culture 

Suspending Politics to Save Democracy

February 19, 2020June 1, 2020 Lawrence Torcello 0 Comments Democracy, Polarization, Politics

Just political systems secure the means of living satisfying private lives while political saturation crowds out key aspects of a good life.

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America Needs to Build Strong Towns Not More Infrastructure Erraticus
(Thought Catalog)
Essays Society & Culture 

America Needs to Build Strong Towns, Not More Infrastructure

February 17, 2020August 29, 2020 Jacqueline M. Kory-Westlund 0 Comments Community, Essential Reading, Place, Urbanism

The key to fixing our cities, to creating Strong Towns, is to treat them like complex, emergent systems capable of iterative change.

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A Pragmatic Approach to Ideas

An online publication focused on human flourishing, taking a pragmatic approach to ideas. We care about ideas that help us to live well together, focusing on their practical consequences.

 

“Pragmatism, on the other hand, asks its usual question. ‘Grant an idea or belief to be true,’ it says, ‘what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone’s actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth’s cash-value in experiential terms?'” — William James

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