Making a difference requires accepting the world as it is, at least if the world includes what is possible as well as what is actual. Politics is commonly defined as the art of the possible, but a somewhat more precise formulation would render it as the art of making the possible actual. This means, in the first place, focusing your efforts on what is, so to speak, actually possible – and desirable.| The Mirror and the Lamp
The Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 is commonly remembered as a triumph of student activism and constitutional rights. But in retrospect it seems clear to me that the movement’s long-term effects have not been beneficial for the university or for civic discourse more broadly. I now regard it as... Continue reading →| The Mirror and the Lamp