It's comfortable living in a cocoon -- associating only with those who share your views, reading journalism and watching news that only reinforce them, avoiding those on the other side of the cultural divide.

Liberals have been doing this for a long time. In 1972 the movie critic Pauline Kael said...

On Tuesday, May 15, join the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for a New American Security and the New America Foundation to discuss an issue sure to face the next president: U.S. defense spending in light of American grand strategy.

Join the Federalist Society and AEI for a panel discussion of John Yoo and Julian Ku's new book, where Martin Flaherty of the Fordham University School of Law and Jeremy Rabkin of the George Mason University School of Law will join the authors in a discussion of their proposals and whether they are faithful to our Constitution, our history and our international law obligations.

Many people, observing the severe problems caused by Greece and other financially weak members of the European Union, wonder why the United States is not similarly afflicted. After all, the structures seem quite similar; the EU is united through a treaty into a single political grouping, while the U.S. is a union of states in a constitutional system. 

Chinese vice president Xi Jinping is back in China, his U.S. visit having gone off without a hitch. Both sides are claiming that the trip was a smashing success and are asserting that the Sino-American relationship is strong and mature.

This week, America lost the most influential social scientist of the past 100 years. James Q. Wilson died at the age of 80.

For months now, Kremlin-watchers have been observing--mostly with malicious amusement--the agony of top government functionaries as they try to guess the victor of the presidential contest and position themselves accordingly.

A new systemic idea about the social order would have to emerge to really disprove Fukuyama.