Talking with the AP about individual liberty, the common good, and the coronavirus

Had an enjoyable conversation with national Associated Press writer Ted Anthony recently about a topic close to my heart: the conflict between individual liberty and the common good and how it applies to the politics of the pandemic here in the increasingly disunited United States. It's something I wrote a book about -- minus the Covid-19 part -- called American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good.

Anthony's story came out yesterday and, I'm happy to say, has been picked up by dozens of newspapers and the webpages of television stations across the country including The Miami Herald, Denver Post , Minneapolis Star-Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune, Fox-5 (NYC), Seattle Times, Yahoo News and Real Clear Politics. The Chicago Tribune kindly translated it into Spanish.

I've only written one piece on coronavirus political geography -- how the response falls along American Nations lines -- which appeared over at Washington Monthly last month.

[Update, 5/26/20: The Bangor Daily News published this staff editorial on this issue, centered on the AP article and, to some extent, my contribution to it.]