As the Tea Party gained momentum and, eventually, political success, a key question among observers was whether their commitment to baffling policy positions would translate into the Republican leadership’s agenda. At this point, it appears that not only has the minority Tea Party rump managed to influence the debt ceiling debate, but in fact they have managed to commit the Republican leadership to positions that are both unfeasible and will have devastating results long term.

Social movements are the hardest thing for the humanist to understand; why, how and what motivates huge numbers of people to do, think, and act collectively? These questions fascinate and frustrate us. In an attempt to help us understand the how and why of the Arab Spring, Western media has done what it often does and has simplified the complexities of the event; the challenge, then, should be to confront the simplicity of received narratives and push harder at what we are told about the Arab Spring, and how it has been presented.

Separatism is dead in Canada, and the divide between French and English Canada – that great, apprehended threat so clearly realized by reformers in the 1960s – has been bridged. The future of Canada will depend on the nation’s continued ability to peacefully co-exist culturally, politically, and socially.

During the late stages of my research for my Masters degree, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with T.H.B (Tom) Symons, the founding President of Trent University and a central member of the Ontario Advisory Committee on Confederation.

I am certain, however, of a few things in my understanding of my faith. God commands Christians to a few standards of action and belief from which there can be no deviation or question: Christians must be modest, must refrain from judgment, and must love all people as though Christ were present in that person.

For all the great advances we’ve seen in the last 100-or-so years, we now risk simply resting on our laurels. Women can vote, African Americans aren’t segregated, we have fairly effective social welfare structures, environmentalism is on the march, and we as a society are being pulled increasingly towards equality.

Canadian politics exist right now within a very narrow spectrum. Put another way, I believe that the policy choices (and by virtue, policy differences) available to the parties able to wield power do not represent differences premised on varying ideas of what the country and can be and how government should contribute to that becoming.

The scale of the Marshall Plan was unprecedented; the sum of monies sent from the United States to Europe was colossal, and the impact of the effort was transformative for both parties. It was, perhaps, the first shot across the bow of the modern international economic system, and it lead to structures and institutions that still govern how states behave with respect to the global economic system.