Conservatism as Narcissism
In Greek mythology, a hunter, famed for his beauty, was so captivated by his reflection in a pool of water that he literally drowned in his own self-image. The hunter’s name was Narcissus, and from it derives narcissism, the excessive love for one’s self. The story of Narcissus reveals the deadly temptation of excessive self-love, […]
The Audacity of Coping: Trump’s America
I came to terms with some truths before Election Day, my first presidential election. I voted for Hillary Clinton with few qualms. Clinton is not perfect, but she can be pushed. She is ambitious, but she has a demonstrated history of fighting for the underdog. She is flawed, but she can be and has been […]
The Comforting Limits of Pessimism
A turning point in my emotional development occurred during the historically destructive winter of 2015, the one that buried Boston under 108 inches of snow. Those months laid bare a pessimism I had harbored for most of my adolescent life. Until that point, the pessimism existed as a quiet dread in the pit of my […]
The Red Menace: The GOP’s Quest to Turn America into a Single-Party State
When Senator Jeff Flake revealed that he would not be seeking re-election, he delivered a moving speech that sounded like an epitaph for traditional conservatism. The senator from Arizona lamented the death of a conservatism based on values, from a bygone era when Republican candidates offered visions and values, using rhetoric and logic to defend […]
Dissenting Opinions Need Not Apply: Republican Mentality In the Age of Trump
The nature of Republican party politics in America today can only be described as contentious. Reports of Republican lawmakers privately bashing the President while trying to maintain and foster a semblance of party unity has become commonplace. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has privately conveyed his concern that Trump would not be able to salvage […]
Immigration Policy: How Protectionism Becomes Racism
The human predisposition is to fear what we do not know, which helps us to identify potential threats and protect ourselves from them. It is precisely this psychological impulse that both leads a child not to eat a strange new food and has led to President Donald Trump’s protectionist immigration policies, particularly the travel ban […]
Protest and Productivity
From the inception of our country, protest, defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as “a solemn declaration of opinion and usually of dissent,” has played a role in how citizens can voice concerns and draw a government’s attention to particular issues. In times of discontent, people have turned to protests to voice their opposition toward […]
The Case for Conditional Optimism
I missed only one day of class during my entire first semester of college: November 9th, the day after the presidential election. I could not imagine functioning on a campus that seemed to be in mourning, let alone in a small, intimate classroom. In the months following, I’ve frequently felt restricted by anger, fear, despair, […]
Political Satire in the Era of Trump
Donald Trump, reality TV star and celebrity billionaire, is shown on television descending down an escalator inside one of his infamous hotels, announcing to an adoring crowd that he will run for the office of President of the United States. When writer Dan Greaney wrote this scene into an episode of The Simpsons sixteen years […]
The Troubling Lack of Rage from the Right
As soon as Donald Trump stepped off of his escalator and announced his candidacy for President of the United States last June, we knew he was not going to be a typical candidate. If you were critical of him, you called him an inexperienced reality star who was not to be taken seriously. But from […]