‘How education and religion have redrawn America’s political map’
Shadi Hamid at The Washington Post
The “declining salience of class represents perhaps the most consequential political shift of the past century,” says Shadi Hamid. Liberalism “among Democrats has made them more skeptical of the role of religion.” Secularization has not been “equally distributed, mapping instead onto preexisting divisions around education and geography, as well as party affiliation,” and these “religious transformations mean that the two large cultural groupings of Americans — conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats — increasingly orient their lives in different ways.”
‘I am asking you, from the core of my being, to take our lives seriously’
Michelle Obama at The New York Times
There are “good reasons why so many women and physicians are horrified by what’s happened since Donald Trump’s justices overturned Roe v. Wade,” says Michelle Obama. Trump “could take actions that effectively ban abortion nationwide, which would put all of us in danger, no matter what state we live in.” America is “teetering on the edge,” and the “consequences of teen pregnancies won’t just be borne by young girls, but also by the young men who are the fathers.”
‘Why is the US so behind on animal welfare?’
Peter Singer at Time
Why does America “lag so far behind the U.K. and EU on animal welfare? One view is that Americans are still influenced by a Wild West mentality that tolerates the rough handling of animals,” says Peter Singer. But it is “not because Americans care less about animals than Europeans, but because the U.S. political system is less democratic” than Europe’s. Most Americans “care about animals, and would like their country to be among the leading nations in protecting animals.”
‘Blackouts expose the Cuban regime’s excuses for failure’
Arturo McFields at The Hill
Cuba’s blackouts have “shed light on the lies of communism,” says Arturo McFields. Cuba is “not a paradise of free health care and social welfare,” but an “impoverished and miserable island whose military leadership has been living in luxury for 65 years at the expense of its people.” Communism “never creates wealth — it only creates unemployment, hunger and misery.” But the “bravery of the Cuban people is impressive,” as “protesting on the island requires an extra dose of courage.”