Civitas Outlook
Topic
Pursuit of Happiness
Published on
November 14, 2025
Contributors
William Inboden
Peter Robinson
Episode 2
Peter Robinson Unbridled

The Happy Warrior Remaking Higher Education - Will Inboden

About this episode

Over recent decades, the American university has been on a conveyor belt toward higher costs, less intellectual diversity, and less relevance to contemporary American life. Will Inboden, a decorated historian of foreign policy and newly appointed provost of the University of Texas at Austin, is here to change that. Will and Peter discuss how higher education got into a rut, how universities can lead us out of it, the point of Shakespeare, and how to build lifelong friendships.

All other episodes on

Peter Robinson Unbridled

Finding Truth and Friendship in Divided Times - Cornel West & Robert George

In the first episode of Peter Robinson Unbridled, Cornel West and Robert George discuss friendship, truth, and the age of division.

EP1
Oct 15, 2025

American Neo-Feudalism and How to Escape It - Joel Kotkin

EP3
Dec 15, 2025

Leonard Leo: The Conservative Fundraiser Remaking American Culture

EP4
Jan 15, 2026

George Will: On Politics, Baseball and the American Spirit

EP5
Feb 15, 2026

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More on

Pursuit of Happiness

The Rise of Latino America

In The Rise of Latino America, Hernandez & Kotkin argue that Latinos, who are projected to become America’s largest ethnic group, are a dynamic force shaping the nation’s demographic, economic, and cultural future. Far from being a marginalized group defined by oppression, Latinos are integral to America’s story. They drive economic growth, cultural evolution, and workforce vitality. Challenges, however, including poverty, educational disparities, and restrictive policies, threaten their upward mobility. Policymakers who wish to harness Latino potential to ensure national prosperity and resilience should adopt policies that prioritize affordability, safety, and economic opportunity over ideological constraints.

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Revival: Americans Heading Back to the Hinterlands

Smaller communities throughout the country are poised to play an outsize role in forging our future.

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How to Save Our Urban Centers

What will the future of American cities look like?

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National Poll from Civitas Institute: Americans Concerned About AI, Economic Issues

The Civitas Institute Poll, conducted from March 11-20, 2025, asked 1,200 Americans an array of questions about how things are going in the country.

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Richard Epstein on Roman Law and Sociobiology

How and why Roman law worked, how it eventually fell apart, and sociobiology as a way to explain the foundations and limits of legal norms.

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Silicon Valley is pivoting away from Trump

As the dominant economic and social force of our time, a handful of Silicon Valley-based companies shape our politics more than we’d like to admit.

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The Campus Civility Collapse

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Exodus: Affordability Crisis Sends Americans Packing From Big Cities

The first in a two-part series about the Great Dispersion of Americans across the country.

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Robert George and Cornel West - Truth Matters, A Book Talk

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Arthur Brooks on the Secret to a Fulfilling Life

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Populism Unpacked: Voices from the Heartland

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Jeff Rosen on What “The Pursuit of Happiness” Meant to America's Founders

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Arthur C. Brooks on the Pursuit of Happiness in an Unhappy World

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Welcome to the Manosphere

What counter-programming might resonate, reaching young men with the message that unhealthy conspiracism and cartoonish machismo need not be a part of a healthy striver mentality?

Tal Fortgang
Pursuit of Happiness
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Celebrating Passover in Communist Exile

When we children found out the name of our feast, we had already crossed the big sea, eaten lots of bread dipped in sour milk, and the bitter herbs were beginning to taste quite sweet.

Juliana Geran Pilon
Pursuit of Happiness
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The Dignity of Relational Beings

Advancements in technology may lead us to discount the personal effort required to show up for others.

Ainsley Weber
Pursuit of Happiness
Mar 31, 2026
Adams’ Duplicitous Cabinet

A reader who doesn’t share Chervinsky’s complacent certitudes might find everything to reject in her assertions.

Myron Magnet
Pursuit of Happiness
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