What is Enlightenment When the State Is Schizophrenic?

Public employees: compelled to serve the state, yet unentitled to its protections.

Intellectual History at the New York Times

It’s not just that Thomas Piketty may be right. He’s also handsome.

Capitalism and Nazism

The next time someone tells you the Nazis were anti-capitalist, show them this.

Eleven Things You Didn’t Know About Clarence Thomas

The first time Clarence Thomas went to DC, it was to protest the Vietnam War.

Reading Frederick Douglass at Seder

Food is the easy part of the seder. For me, the hard part is making it all mean something.

The Left and Free Speech

Is the Left more opposed to free speech today than it used to be?

Vanessa Redgrave at the Oscars

When an Israel boycott showed up on the red carpet.

Where Would the Tea Party Be Without Feminism?

Nancy Mace, Tea Party candidate and feminist movement beneficiary.

Death and Taxes

Socialism is not a flight from the human condition; it’s a direct and unsentimental confrontation with that condition.

Jewfros in Palestine

Many of Israel’s defenders hold entirely reasonable positions — so long as they forget that there are actual Palestinians living there.

New York’s War on Academic Freedom

The New York State Legislature is readying to pass a bill that would make it illegal for any college or university in the state to use public monies to fund faculty membership in — or travel to — academic organizations that boycott the institutions of another country.

The Beauty of the Blacklist

Pete Seeger sacrificed to fight the blacklist. How many of us would have done the same?

Socialism: Converting Hysterical Misery into Ordinary Unhappiness

The Left wants to give people the chance to do something with their lives, by giving them time and space away from the market.

Jumaane Williams and Dov Hikind

Jumaane Williams is fast on his way to becoming the Gerald Ford of New York City’s progressive Democrats.

When Professors Oppose Grad Student Unions

“You are very lucky to be here.”

When Richard Nixon Met Karl Polanyi

On the Guaranteed Annual Income, Nixon turned to Polanyi.

Robert Taft: “Moderate” and McCarthyite

Robert Taft would have felt at home among today’s Senate reactionaries.

Don’t Disrupt the Disruptors

Union workers – especially union workers on strike – really piss the Bay Area technorati off.

What Does Obama Think They Were Doing at Stonewall?

Obama has a peculiar view of class struggle and progress.

University of Oregon to Faculty: You Belong to Me!