| That’s what Katy Faust at The Federalist asks in this piece. She blames the larger social trend—that women are seen as essential in business but optional in the family—on “the left.” This is unfortunate, because this trend driven less by politics and more by economics, especially the logic of advanced capitalism—championed by both left and right. Our culture increasingly values people in terms of whether and how they contribute to the economy. Perhaps the most interesting part of the article begins after this sentence: As the founder of a nonprofit created to defend a child’s right to be known and loved by both his mother and father, I can tell you the research on sex-specific parental involvement is conclusive: Neither mother nor father are optional. That’s because men and women are different and thus interact with children in wonderfully sex-specific ways. And this suggests, yes, that men are essential to the home as well. With Grace and Love, from MLK As this often happens, I don’t read the best pieces on special occasions until the day of or days after I have to submit the GR. Such was the case with MLK Day this last Monday. Two pieces caught my belated attention. The first comes from CT’s new editor in chief, Daniel Harrell. His meditation on MLK prompts him to think about listening and forgiveness in the current cultural climate. He ends on this powerful note: To forgive is an outrage. Reconciliation feels like a death sentence and a sure admission of weakness. Mercy hurts like a mother. And yet, “blessed … are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28). The second comes from the Mockingbird website, which excerpts from a 1967 sermon by Martin Luther King Jr. Again, the last lines are the most powerful for me: What I’m trying to get you to see this morning is that a man may be self-centered in his self-denial and self-righteous in his self-sacrifice. His generosity may feed his ego, and his piety may feed his pride. So without love, benevolence becomes egotism, and martyrdom becomes spiritual pride. Too Fast for Democracy? This week’s long read is well worth your time for two reasons. First, it’s just plain interesting. Second, it will give you a good summary about an important book without having to read it! The author of the book puts it this way at the beginning of this interview: Acceleration is certainly a central aspect of our political and economic life, and one of the reasons I’ve written Nervous States is that I wanted to understand what this does to our liberal institutions. First of all, it means that spaces of deliberation and critique, which have always been integral to liberalism, come to appear slow and “out of touch.” Modern science, which has been the hallmark of modern progress for four centuries, moves at a pace that is increasingly left behind by the rolling news cycle of digital media and the hunger for instant reaction and decision. Populists seize the opportunity to promise immediate action while liberalism only ever offers mediated action via law, political representatives, editorial peer review and so on. All of this comes to be experienced as intolerably slow and self-interested in the age of the platform. I think, secondly, that our sense of what counts as authentic or honest action has shifted from the domain of reason, with all of the problems and exclusions that went with that, towards that of neurology and automatic response. In the age of Twitter, we no longer judge politicians in terms of their arguments, speeches or policies, but in terms of their facial expressions or instant reactions to some unexpected live event. ‘He Maketh Lightnings…’ Two verses best expressed my thoughts as I watched this video of “the best shots of two years of storm chasing.” The King James Version is the only one that does justice to what you’ll see: “The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook” Ps. 77:18. And “He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries” Ps. 135:7). Also: New on markgalli.com : “What If ….” Grace and peace, Mark Galli markgalli.com | 