State of The Nation

  John Locke's Philosophy and Its Enduring Influence on American Democracy Introduction John Locke (1632-1704) stands as one of the most influential political philosophers in Western thought, whose ideas fundamentally shaped the intellectual foundations of modern democratic society. His revolutionary concepts regarding religious tolerance, the social contract, natural rights, and education provided the theoretical framework that would later inspire the American founders in crafting the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. This essay examines Locke's core philosophical contributions across three domains—religion, politics, and education—traces their profound influence on American founding documents, and explores their continued relevance in contemporary political discourse while contrasting them with alternative philosophical traditions, particularly those of Thomas Hobbes. Locke's Philosophical Framework Religious Toleration and the Separation of Church...

  The Lost Metropolis of Cahokia: How Archaeology Revealed—and Development Destroyed—America's Greatest Indigenous City Archaeological detective work has uncovered the remarkable story of North America's largest pre-Columbian settlement, even as urban sprawl threatens to erase what remains In the fertile floodplains where the Missouri, Mississippi, and Illinois rivers converge, near present-day St. Louis, once stood the largest city north of Mexico in pre-Columbian America. At its peak around 1100 CE, Cahokia housed between 10,000 and 20,000 residents—rivaling the size of London at the time. Yet for centuries, this remarkable urban center remained hidden beneath prairie grass and farmland, its existence known only through Native American oral traditions that European colonists largely dismissed. Today, what archaeologists have painstakingly reconstructed about Cahokia reads like a revelation: a sophisticated metropolis featuring monumental earthen pyramids, planned neighborh...

US Supreme Court Supreme Court Delivers Major Rulings on Guns, Religion, and Civil Rights in Historic 2025 Term Key Takeaways: The Supreme Court's 2024-2025 term has produced groundbreaking unanimous decisions on religious liberty and employment discrimination, a significant 7-2 ruling upholding federal gun regulations, and a deadlocked decision that preserved the ban on the nation's first religious charter school. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2024-2025 term has delivered a series of landmark decisions that will reshape American law on gun regulation, religious freedom, and civil rights. From unanimous rulings that crossed ideological lines to closely divided decisions on contentious social issues, the court has addressed some of the most pressing legal questions facing the nation. Ghost Gun Regulation Upheld in Rare Gun Control Victory In one of the term's most significant rulings, the Supreme Court upheld federal regulations on "ghost guns" in Bondi v. ...