Isiah Smith, Jr. | Author

It's (NOT) A Man's Man's Man's World

Oct. 19, 2024

Some candidates for political office (we won’t say who) have taken to playing James Brown’s iconic but fallaciously titled song, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” at their campaign events. The message cannot be more explicit: Power belongs to … Read More >>

Joy and the Selfish Gene

Aug. 31, 2024

This differs from the essay I had set out to write. Initially, I was writing a piece titled, “What If He Wasn’t So Wretched.” After finishing the essay and washing my hands, I felt another idea creeping into my peripheral vision, this one about joy. I thought, “He wa… Read More >>

Knowing When to Fight, Knowing When to Run

July 13, 2024

The aging fighter, legs apart, knees bent, massive brown shoulders squared, eyes focused on the brooding brown visage before him. He unleashes a right cross with bad intentions, his favorite punch, in the general direction of his younger opponent. He has executed this many times before, and… Read More >>

Saving Your Life While Losing Your Mind

May 4, 2024

Everywhere we look worldwide, problems seem to be intensifying and multiplying. The war in Ukraine grinds on without an end in sight, and the situation in Gaza worsens daily. On American college campuses, it’s 1968 again, peppered as they are by student protesters and outside agitator… Read More >>

How Old Is Too Old?

Feb. 17, 2024

The United States and its professional politicians are aging. Joe Biden, 81, and Donald Trump, 77, are the oldest candidates to ever run for re-election as president. The median ages of U.S. senators and representatives are among the oldest on record, and some leaders are facing health ques… Read More >>

Real Change Requires Loss

Jan. 27, 2024

Two separate events occurred in the last few weeks. The first was when Harvard President Claudine Gay announced she was stepping down just six months into her presidency amid a firestorm of controversy at the university. The second was the annual MLK birthday celebration.

At a glanc… Read More >>

Where the Lemon Tree Grows: An understanding of the Middle East

Jan. 6, 2024

The war is raging in Gaza, and the Middle East is becoming a disaster zone. Daily, the situation grows more dire. The war is well into its third month, and the almost demonic disregard for human life is inexplicable. The casualties on both sides are massive, and as of this writing, the figh… Read More >>

The Art and Science of Stupidity

Nov. 11, 2023

I have long been fascinated with the subject of cognitive incompetence, better known as stupidity. (You may make of that what you will.) Perhaps it is because we’re increasingly living in a virtually simmering vortex of stupidity. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that scien… Read More >>

What 'Oppenheimer' Didn’t Tell Us

Sept. 9, 2023

The Manhattan Project was essentially a collective of brilliant American physicists united for the sole purpose of using science to create a bomb capable of destroying the entire planet. Never has so much raw brain power been dedicated to such a monstrous purpose. Oppenheimer, the … Read More >>

Affirmative Action and Its Discontents

July 29, 2023

The Supreme Court did not go far enough in ending affirmative action (AA) in college admissions. Instead of being bold and decisive, the Court took the road most traveled.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of N… Read More >>

The Strongmen Cometh

July 8, 2023

The nightmare that haunts my dreams and disturbs my sleep is the prospect that America’s flirtation with authoritarian rule may yet blossom into a full-fledged romance from which we will never divorce ourselves.

Some people think we are obsessed with the man elected President … Read More >>

The Guns of Mediocrity

May 6, 2023

Can the United States lay claim to being a civilized society if it cannot perform the basic job of keeping its children safe and alive?

America’s moronic love affair with guns—and the concomitant debasement of our democracy by deliberately misreading and distorting the S… Read More >>

The Cottonpicker Meets Queen Beatrix

March 11, 2023

A poignant account of how one’s small personal history can reflect the larger history of a republic.

On April 19, 1782, the State General of the Dutch Republic admitted John Adams as Minister of the United States of America, gaining the second diplomatic recognition of the Uni… Read More >>

Starting the Year with Hope

Jan. 14, 2023

My wife and I return from several weeks in Sweden and Italy with renewed feelings of hope. Taking a page from the Greek Stoics, we resolve to worry only about those things which we can control. It is humbling to realize how short that list is, and how painfully long the list is of the thing… Read More >>

A Season for Second Chances

Dec. 17, 2022

 

“Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.” —Thomas Jefferson

As 2022 draws mercifully to a close, putting to rest yet another annus mirabilis, it is customary to pause, peer back at the year in repose, make new plans, then prom… Read More >>

1943: The Gathering Storm

Nov. 5, 2022

“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.” —Leonardo de Vinci

1943 proved to be a critical year in the annals of American history. That year foreshadowed the disruptions that impact our lives to this day. On Jan. 1, Project Y—The Manhatta… Read More >>

The Man Who Hated Women

Sept. 24, 2022

The Dobbs v. Jackson decision presented the Supreme Court with an opportunity to reaffirm women’s right to choose and to reassure them that the law respected their lives and their dignity. Justice Alito declined that opportunity, however, and instead gave them Hale.

M… Read More >>

The Sun Sets on the Right to Privacy

Aug. 6, 2022

It turns out that all we have to fear is the Supreme Court itself.

Alexander Hamilton thought the judiciary was the least dangerous branch of government since it controlled no armies and lacked spending power. It had neither force nor will. All the judiciary had was its judgments.Read More >>

Slouching Toward Reform

June 25, 2022

A recent Pew Research Center study found that only 2 in 10 Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right. Trust in the government has declined somewhat since last year, when 24 percent said they could trust the government at least most of the time. The Brookings … Read More >>

Reading as a Subversive Act

May 7, 2022

In Reading Dangerously, Azar Nafisi writes that books “represent the unruly world, filled with contradictions and complications, a world that threatens the totalitarian mindset by being beyond its control.” Perhaps that is why numerous governors and school boards in Ame… Read More >>