The city’s motto is “A Life Above,” and the municipal website declares that it “exemplifies the ideals of fine southern hospitality.” The community was born as a post-World War II subdivision and incorporated in 1950 with 3,000 residents (it now has 38,000). It is an effortfully attractive place with well-kept painted brick homes and clipped lawns. It is named for Vestavia, the exotic estate of former Birmingham Mayor George C. Ward whose Roman-inspired home was here.








At that late May school board meeting, Freeman could not say how many pupils attend the school. But Dressback was struck by what DeMarco, her classmate, told her. As a student, he spent time at the alternative school; he could have used someone like her.
We still talk about politics from time to time, and I try to start every conversation with empathy. Instead of railing against the things that I think they’re doing or saying or believing, I take a deep breath and think about why. In the end, she found herself asking many of the same questions I had, especially as she watched those closest to her, including her siblings and daughter, begin to espouse radically different ideas.
In states that appoint top judges, he maneuvered to play a role in their selection. One reason why the politics of young men have changed so little is that they have not had the same type of formative experiences as young women. Last year, I wrote about the remarkable political transformation occurring among young women. The Dobbs decision was a political accelerant for young women—it was the most important issue for them heading into the 2022 midterms. It was hardly the only formative political experience either. The #MeToo movement, and Donald Trump’s election, were seminal political events in the lives of many young women.
Alcohol suppliers, liquor stores, bars, taverns, and restaurants tend to see an increase in alcohol sales. Alcohol advertising during the holidays is undoubtedly geared to play off of our emotions. American economic conservatives, libertarian-right politicians and thinkers, like Ralph Raico, speak up for LGBTQ rights, and this is the reason why some LGBTQ became libertarian-right. Of course, not all LGBTQ Republicans are pro-Trump, and even not all LGBTQ conservatives are Republicans. The list of modern-day LGBTQ Republicans is quite big, and there are even groups like Log Cabin Republicans, or The Rainbow Pro-life Alliance.
But what really gets me on campus twice a week this fall is something Hersh told me after teaching his inaugural conservatism course last spring. His students confided in him that while inside his classroom, they felt freer to talk about contentious issues than anywhere else. In one class, he will deploy the projection screen and show a 15-minute Tucker Carlson monologue that aired on Fox News in 2019. For my part, I decided to take this ride with him to see how generally left-leaning students at a progressive college digest conservative thought, which is how I ended up the oldest person in a roomful of Gen Zers on a warm September day. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance.
The term was effective politically, although some Republicans viewed it as not harsh enough on the budget. If https://adamnadel.net/ would compare my budget record to predecessors and successor, they would see that you can be fiscally responsible and compassionate at the same time. The lesson in all this for me is that liberals must reinvigorate our own intellectual and political project.
One pro-choice Tufts student says that the protesting wasn’t the issue—they had a right to state their views. The pro-choice faction shouldn’t have been “so disruptive and inappropriate at an event like that,” she says. After setting the stage, Hersh lays out the fundamental dichotomy between conservative and liberal thought. Conservatives tend to believe that people spend their lives resisting the pull of temptation—the snake in the garden—and need clear rules to keep them in line (and clear repercussions when they stray). Liberals, on the other hand, believe that people, when given the luxury of choice, are inclined to do the right thing, which is why they tend to support policies designed to reduce inequality and unfairness and give people the ability to act morally. On the first day of class in September, Tufts University undergrads scurry into Room 104, Barnum Hall, to grab a spot in one of the dozen rows of bright-red and yellow upholstered seats.
Allegations of sexual harassment by law professor and former Thomas adviser Anita Hill had surprised Thomas and his supporters, and the George H.W. Bush White House scrambled to discredit her. He spent long hours in a windowless room gathering evidence to bolster Thomas. The Senate confirmed him 52 to 48, the narrowest tally in a century. Caterers served guests Pol Roger reserve, Winston Churchill’s favorite Champagne, a fitting choice for a group of conservative legal luminaries who had much to celebrate.
As an attorney, Johnson dedicated himself to fighting legal battles on behalf of those on the religious right. Before joining Congress in 2017, he defended Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage twice in court, sued a Baton Rouge abortion clinic and challenged state laws that would have expanded liquor sales in north Louisiana, among other conservative causes. Danielle Tinker came to Vestavia Hills after more than a dozen years in Birmingham and Jefferson County schools, first as assistant principal at Liberty Park Elementary. In spring 2021, she was selected as principal of Cahaba Heights. From the start, Tinker, who is Black, felt unwelcome at the school where the teaching staff was nearly all white, she told me when we met for lunch. The day she was introduced as the new principal, a staff member emailed her, saying that “Cahaba Heights is a family” and that “today was hard on this family,” according to a copy of the email that she shared with me.