Dr. Robert Zaller

Politics

Is Humanity a Lost Cause?

Sometimes it takes a deeply conservative intelligence to get to the heart of the matter. Such an intelligence was that of William Butler Yeats, who wrote nearly a century ago that things, not men, were [ Read Article ]
Politics

Donald Trump and the Unmaking of the American Worker

In a world of lies, it’s sometimes best to seek truth from Devil. It’s true, he’s the Prince of Lies, but the best principle for lying is to occasionally tell the truth; it keeps the [ Read Article ]
Politics

Free Speech, Propaganda, and the Right To Be Heard

Free speech is the most important right we have. The Founding Fathers, understanding it as the prime element in a free society, wrote it into several amendments of the Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees it [ Read Article ]
Politics

Hello, Tyranny: Life in the Age of Trump

The incessant flow of noise and static from the Trump White House—occupied territory on American soil—is designed, among other things, to conceal the fundamental new reality of our political situation: that we have an unelected [ Read Article ]
Film

You Can’t Go Home Again: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia at International House

Andrei Tarkovsky, the exact contemporary of the French filmmaker Francois Truffaut (1932-1986), made only seven feature films in his thirty-year career, but their prestige has elevated him to almost mythical status. Ingmar Bergman called him [ Read Article ]
Music

In Memoriam: Michael Tilson Thomas Conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra

Memory and mourning was the theme of Michael Tilson Thomas’ concerts this weekend with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The long-time conductor of the San Francisco Orchestra has had a continuing relationship with the Orchestra, and his [ Read Article ]
Politics

The Heresy of Free Speech

The Constitution guarantees the right of free speech. That’s only the beginning of the story. People and institutions try to shut us up all the time, or make us pay a price with our pocketbooks, [ Read Article ]

Obama: The Farewell Address You Won’t Hear

Politics

January 11, 2017 0

What comes with a new administration is an inaugural speech and a State of the Union address, in which, relieved of the baggage of campaign promises, the new president announces what his (or, someday, her) [ Read Article ]

Not Another Day in Afghanistan or Iraq

Politics

October 13, 2016 0

Most Americans agree we should never have invaded Afghanistan. Just about all Americans agree that we shouldn’t have attacked Iraq either, except for Dick Cheney and (presumably) the corporations that feasted on that country’s destruction. [ Read Article ]

Politics

Is Humanity a Lost Cause?

July 9, 2017 0

Sometimes it takes a deeply conservative intelligence to get to the heart of the matter. Such an intelligence was that of William Butler Yeats, who wrote nearly a century ago that things, not men, were [ Read Article ]

Politics

Free Speech, Propaganda, and the Right To Be Heard

June 12, 2017 0

Free speech is the most important right we have. The Founding Fathers, understanding it as the prime element in a free society, wrote it into several amendments of the Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees it [ Read Article ]

Politics

The Death Penalty: Abolition’s New Cause

October 11, 2016 0

A century and a half ago, America came out of slavery. It was perhaps not literally true, as Abraham Lincoln said, that every drop drawn by the lash would be paid for by one drawn [ Read Article ]