About

"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress, December 1, 1862

At the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln struggled to both understand the meaning of the war and how to lead the nation.  One of his stronger qualities was his willingness to question his own thinking.  This site is dedicated to the need for all of us to do so. 

George Washington called our new nation the "American experiment." Alexander Hamilton, arguing for ratification of the Constitution, asked us "to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force."  This is the test we faced in 1789.  It is the test we still face today.  The menu choices on thinkanew.org are aimed at helping us face that test.  A brief description of each menu option follows.

Blog Posts

Posts are brief essays focused on encouraging thinking about one or more of seven topics:

• Character: "Character is the only secure foundation of the state," Calvin Coolidge said.  These essays explore the importance and role of character in our national experiment.

• Civic Virtue: As Washington put it, "Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue?"  These essays explore the nature and demands of civic virtue.

• Establish Justice: The first objective of the Constitution stated in its Preamble is to "establish Justice." These essays explore the question of what is required for justice in various aspects of American life.

• Governing Ourselves: In America, people rule through their chosen representatives and a system of divided power. These essays explore how this system is working. 

• Statesmanship: Gerald Ford said "A politician "is interested in the next election. A statesman is concerned about the next generation."  These essays explore the nature of statesmanship.

• The Pursuit of Happiness: Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence cited the "pursuit of happiness" as one of our three unalienable rights.  These essays are reflections on that pursuit.

• The Ways We Think: Our American experiment’s driving force is the belief that reason can lead to a better world, even amidst strong passions. These essays explore how "reasonable" and "logical" we really are and how we can get better at the thinking essential to our future.

Citizen’s Guide

This is an extended set of essays under the full title: “Of the People” – A Citizen’s Guide to Reining in the Retreat from Reason in Public Affairs.  The Guide is organized around 16 questions we face as citizens if we intend to balance reason and emotion in thinking and acting politically.   Questions include, for example: How Can I Explore a Public Issue Carefully?,   Am I Willing to Change My Mind?, How Do I Deal with Conspiracy Theories?, How Can I Avoid the Dangers of Disinformation and Fake News?, How Can I Avoid the Pressure to Go Along with the Group? and How Should I Deal with Political Ads?

Profiles in Character

Heraclitus said that “character is destiny.”  Each essay here profiles an American, from the founding period to present day, whose character and virtue has had a profound and helpful influence on our democracy.

Understanding the Constitution

The Constitution represents a remarkable set of compromises on how to balance the need for freedom with the ability to govern a large republic.  Just reading the Articles and Sections of the Constitution doesn’t always make clear the thinking behind its words.  This set of essays illuminates much of that thinking in an effort to make the Constitution  more understandable amidst the contentious politics of today.