Thought

Václav Havel

Nothing is more powerful than individuals acting out of their own conscience.

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Discrimination, California-Style
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Rocky Mountain Low
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Subsidizers May Be Checked
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In-Nate Problem
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What’s Next, Democracy?
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Abolish. Or Set in Stone
November 13, 2024
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Destroying Dane Farming
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Disaster Relief Pass-Over
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Exemplary Rejections
November 8, 2024
Paul Jacob celebrates voters in three states who protected their …Read More »
Not Now
November 7, 2024
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Seventh Time’s the Charm?
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Incumbent Upon Heaven
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The Politics of Inertia
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Politicians Bearing GIFs
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No a la Reelección
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Who Benefits From Our Fears?
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The Debate Begins?
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Slaves All?
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The Cattle Are Restless
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Let There Be Light
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Once the most potent moral figure in Western culture was Jesus Christ. Believer or unbeliever, you took your ethical bearings from him, or professed to. To question his morals was to expose yourself as a monster. Now, the most potent moral figure in Western culture is Adolf Hitler. It is as monstrous to praise him as it would once have been to disparage Jesus. He has become the fixed reference point by which we define evil.
Alec Ryrie, Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt (November 2019). See also “The End of the Age of Hitler,” First Things, November 2024.

— Alec Ryrie