| Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal begins with a piece by Pete Peterson and Jack Miller at RealClearEducation: “How Civics Can Counter Antisemitism on Campus.” Peterson, Dean of the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, and Jack Miller, founder and chairman of the Jack Miller Center, argue that the “anti-Israel, antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses and in the streets of our cities should be a wake-up call for all Americans.” They contend that what lies behind today’s surging antisemitism is the rise of identity ideology. This phenomenon, which they argue is saturating American culture, features a wrong-headed “oppressor vs. oppressed” dichotomy that “brokers no disagreement.” “Because Israel is seen as strong it is viewed as the oppressor, and Hamas, because it is weaker, is seen as the oppressed,” they posit. Instead, Peterson and Miller argue that only a civics education that’s grounded in the principles and practices of the American founding can serve as an antidote to this harmful ideology. “Only through a civics education that encourages debate, even as it celebrates the country grounded in the freedom to do so, can we win this battle.” At Deseret News, John Wood, Jr. of Braver Angels remembers when he first started thinking seriously of how to bridge the growing partisan political divide in America. These reflections pointed him back to his parents, who are politically far apart. His mother is a "liberal Black Democrat from inner-city Los Angeles” while his father is “a conservative white Republican from Tennessee.” Wood says that despite these very real differences, they could still all live together under the same roof. America, like his family, is also politically divided. In Wood’s mind, this problem must be solved akin to how he approached navigating his own family. Wood concludes that the “answer to this deep societal cancer of polarization must begin with a certain remembrance — that we as Americans are like a family. We didn’t choose each other. But we can choose to love each other.” Essential Reading Pete Peterson & Jack Miller, RealClearEducation The shocking scenes of college students, faculty, and staff defending Hamas's October 7th massacre of Israeli civilians... In the News Sean O'Driscoll, Newsweek Brianna Herlihy, Fox News John Maxwell Hamilton, RealClearPolitics Daniel Cox, AEI Clare Malone, The New Yorker John Wood, Jr., Deseret News James Bickerton, Newsweek Nathan Goetting, Discourse Brian A. Smith, Acton Institute Ramesh Ponnuru, Public Discourse Philip Wegmann, RealClearPolitics Bruce Fleming, RealClearDefense Mason Brighton, Spectrum News Frederick Hess, Forbes Daniel McCarthy, RealClearPolitics We the People Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine Secretary of State determined that President Trump engaged... Civics 101 Primaries, caucuses, conventions, court cases -- oh, it's a lot. Hannah and Nick have the most important dates... Great Antidote Welcome back. Today on January 9th, 2024. Again, we're going to be kicking off the new year... Carl Cannon's Great American Stories It's Friday, an unseasonably warm day for late January here on the East Coast. It's also the day of week ... Following tradition, local residents voted this morning in the tiny New Hampshire village of Dixville Notch just after the clock ... Good morning. It's snowing in Washington, D.C., as I write these words -- just as it was 63 years ago ... | 