From First Principles, a symposium on the cultural impact of Obama and the New Progressivism, on economics, on education and on technocracy. Don't write off America: It's fashionable to say the US is in terminal decline; don't bet on it — still less wish for it. Is the battle for same-sex marriage worth it? Here's William Rusher's final column. Neither moderate nor centrist: Peter Robinson on how Buckley, Gergen and Brooks finally realized Barack Obama's left leanings (and a response by Buckley). Alan Wolfe on conservatism in the Age of Wurzelbacher. Intellectuals at the gates: A review of Democracy Denied, 1905–1915: Intellectuals and the Fate of Democracy by Charles Kurzman. A review of The 10000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending (and more and more). The end of alone: At our desk, on the road, or on a remote beach, the world is a tap away — it's so cool, and yet it's not. A review of Who Does This Language Belong To? by Avital Feuer. The future of reading: In Web age, library job gets update. Last year a single letter written by Albert Einstein changed hands for over $400,000, but could a printout of an email or an electronic file ever reach similar heights? The art of the con, learning from Bernard Madoff: A skeptic's advice on how to avoid falling prey to con artists (and more from John Allen Paulos).
