The way most Americans talk about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., more than 50 years after his assassination, you might think that he gave exactly one speech — on Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington — and spoke exclusively about racial harmony and his oft-mentioned dream of integration. But King,…

There are more than a few commentators and observers who are afraid of what might happen to the United States if the F.B.I. continues its investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents. They are afraid of violence and civil unrest as the most dedicated Trump supporters take up…

I spent a little time in my Friday column going over the details of the 1918 Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which was the first major piece of anti-lynching legislation introduced to the United States Congress. It’s named after Representative Leonidas C. Dyer, a white Republican from Missouri who…

There is a dangerous censoriousness pulsing through American society. In small towns and big cities alike, would-be commissars are fighting, in the name of a distinct minority of Americans, to stifle open discussion and impose their views on the community at large. Dissenters, when they speak out,…

It is among the ironies of American history that both the opponents and the defenders of hierarchy cast their views, and their struggles, in terms of freedom and liberty. Would-be settlers coveting Native lands spoke of their “inalienable rights” to claim Indigenous territories; Southern…

Recently, on Twitter, the political scientist Lee Drutman issued a challenge to his followers and readers. “I’m all for envisioning doomsday scenarios so we can better prepare to avoid them,” he wrote. “But I’d also like to read more scenarios about how American democracy improves, and really…

President Biden’s job approval rating is on the downslope. As of Friday morning he was at 45.8 percent approval and 48.5 percent disapproval — from a high of 54 percent approval, 41 percent disapproval at the end of his first 100 days. There is a laundry list of reasons for this. Not only is the…

Last year, as he steamrolled his way to victory in the Democratic presidential primaries, Joe Biden told CNN that the pandemic was “probably the biggest challenge in modern history, quite frankly.” “I think it may not dwarf but eclipse what F.D.R. faced,” he added. Biden referred to Franklin…