Reflections on a town hall, Thomas Hobbes, and the difficulty of telling the truth
Last Thursday, my son Ben and I were in Michigan for a CBS News town hall with Vice President J.D. Vance. We had a great time. I appreciated the invitation and the people who worked to bring us there. It was an opportunity to participate in something we usually encounter watching a screen, and I was grateful to share the experience with my son. I attended as a father, professor, and minister with a question about young men. In my classroom and elsewhere, I encounter young men who feel unheard and singled out. Some struggle to imagine where they belong or what their future might look like. Their frustrations deserve a hearing. But I also hear harmful rhetoric and sweeping judgments about whole groups of people. Taking their concerns seriously means being willing to address both.