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What’s So Bad About a Stable Population?

Back in 1969, President Richard Nixon warned Congress against the rapid growth of the American population: "When future generations evaluate the record of our time, one of the most important factors in their judgment will be the way in which we responded to population growth." If the American headcount continued rising at the current rate, Nixon said, the nation's "social supplies -- the capacity to educate youth, to provide privacy and living space, to maintain the processes of open, democratic government -- may be grievously strained." Since 1969, America's population has boomed by ...

Our Screen Culture Increasingly Can’t Read

We've been having a debate about "book bans" in recent years, but given the steep decline in student literacy, the deeper question is how anyone would notice whether a book is available in a school library or not. The New York Times published an eye-opening report on a study by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford documenting steep declines in student test scores, especially in reading. Over the past 10 years, reading scores have declined in 83% of school districts. What looked like a Covid-driven catastrophe is, instead, part of a long-running trend. Reading scores ...

Cartoon for 5-28

Why Democrats need an ‘Operation Kibble’

There’s an ancient, almost surely apocryphal, story about a dog food company executive convening a big sales meeting. A very short version has the exec running through all of the company’s advantages: the best sales team, the best advertising, the best packaging, etc. He then irately asks, “So why aren’t we selling more dog food?” After a long silence, a small voice from the back ventures a guess. “Maybe the dogs don’t like it.” The story is a cliché, but a useful one, in business and politics. For instance, the pre-launch internal name for “Netflix” was ...

It’s on Us To Choose How To Use Our Freedom

Coincident with the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence is the 250th anniversary of the publication of "The TheNations." The full title of Scotsman Adam Smith's book, published in 1776, is "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations." One might say that in that one year 250 years ago, the American Declaration of Independence provided the road map for political freedom and Adam Smith's book provided the road map for economic freedom. The result was a great new achievement in the history of human ...

Charles leads Trojans to prequarterfinal win

LAKEWOOD – Entering the season, and even as late as just a few weeks ago, Cooper Charles would have been considered Southwestern’s No. 3 starter. Now, if he’s not the Trojans’ ace, he’s certainly 1B or 1C in the rotation. Charles’ late-season dominance continued Sunday as he ...