Quote of the Day (E.J. Dionne Jr., on the ‘Circular Illogic’ of Gun Extremists)

“[A]s soon as the weapons extremists have said that sane action is useless in the face of so many guns, they turn around and assert that those who support universal background checks and other small steps are secretly in favor of gun confiscation. Wait a minute: In one breath, they are implying, against all their other assertions, that the problem really is too many guns; in the next, they are condemning those who propose any regulations as would-be despots who want to disarm the country — the only thing their own rhetoric suggests would make a real difference. Welcome to a new philosophical concept: circular illogic.”— E.J. Dionne Jr., “The Gun Lobby’s Con Game Will Come to an End,” The Washington Post, Jan. 6, 2016

Quote of the Day (E.J. Dionne, on the Old and New Culture War)

“The new culture war… is about national identity rather than religion and ‘transcendent authority.’ It focuses on which groups the United States will formally admit to residence and citizenship. It asks the same question as the old culture war: ‘Who are we?’ But the earlier query was primarily about how we define ourselves morally. The new question is about how we define ourselves ethnically, racially and linguistically. It is, in truth, one of the oldest questions in our history, going back to our earliest immigration battles of the 1840s and 1850s.”— E.J. Dionne, “Culture Wars, Old and New,” The Washington Post, January 26, 2015

Quote of the Day (E.J. Dionne, on Liberty and the Common Good)

“We have not focused enough on how the liberty we prize depends upon our willingness to come to the defense of each other’s liberty.  How liberty depends on strong communities, energetic government and a concern for the common good.”—Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, quoted in Fredo Villaseñor, “Dionne:‘Liberty Depends on Strong Communities, Energetic Government and a Concern for the Common Good,’ The Chautauquan Daily, July 17, 2013