The Post-Partisan Emporium

"Blue-and-yellow obsessions." The United States of O.C.D. Patrick Lawrence To know it not is to love it.  Washington, Feb. 25.  (John Brighenti, Flickr, cc by 2.0) This is the second of four essays, to appear occasionally, on the “bubble of pretend” within which most Americans shelter their psyches. The thought binding these pieces is that we must come to terms with our crippled psychological and emotional states if we are to find our ways beyond them. The first of these essays can be found  here . —P. L. 11 MAY—Just before Easter I ventured forth from my remote village to a lively market town called Great Barrington to shop for the holiday lunch—spring lamb, a decent bottle of Bourgogne. Easter is much marked in my household, one of the few feasts we allow ourselves, and it is a reminder this year of a truth that could scarcely be more pertinent to our shared circumstances: After all our small and large crucifixions, there is new life to come. Great Barrington lies in the Be

The Takeover of America's Legal System The kids didn't grow out of it. Aaron Sibarium (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) If you are a Common Sense reader, you are by now highly aware of the phenomenon of institutional capture. From the start, we have covered the ongoing saga of how America’s most important institutions have been transformed by an illiberal ideology—and have come to betray their own missions. Medicine .  Hollywood .  Education . The reason we exist is because of the  takeover of newspapers  like The New York Times. Ok, so we’ve lost a lot. A whole lot. But at least we haven’t lost the law. That’s how we comforted ourselves. The law would be the bulwark against this nonsense. The rest we could work on building anew. But what if the country’s legal system was changing just like everything else? Today, Aaron Sibarium, a reporter who has consistently been  ahead of the pack  on this beat, offers a groundbreaking piece on how the legal system in America, as one prominent li