Last week, the New York Times ran an opinion piece by David French, a political commentator who this past January became one of their regular columnists. Undoubtedly some of you saw it – the title was Politics Cannot Fix What Ails Us. And tagline was “Solutions to social problems lie close to home”.
In his article, French notes that there are multiple significant negative cultural changes underway in our country including falling fertility rates; rising teen depression and anxiety, an epidemic of isolation and erosion of people’s sense of belonging; and an overall loss of social cohesion. These negative changes are profound, and don’t seem to have clear political solutions.
And he observes an emerging pattern. We rightly feel a sense of loss, wrongly turn to politics to fill the hole in our lives, and then grow increasingly frustrated when the political process invariably fails to live up to the expectations that we place upon it. French is convinced that the true answer to our cultural challenge is much more parochial and personal... (read more)
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