Projects

The Paul Simon Essay

We are pleased to publish Illinois Issues' first Paul Simon Essay. The commissioned Paul Simon Essay honors the memory of an Illinois Issues founder. These essays look in new ways at the ethical and moral dimensions of policy questions that were important to Simon. And we are grateful for the generous support of the Joyce Foundation, which made possible this first contribution by political philosopher Jean Bethke Elshtain of the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Our goal in commissioning these annual essays will be to find new ways to frame policy questions.  

One of the magazine's founders, Simon had a deep interest in the moral and ethical dimensions of a wide range of issues. Though the magazine's mission has always been to publish in-depth analyses of policy questions, we have never consistently approached policy from an ethical or moral perspective. But these essays will be distinct in that they will take clear positions about the state's collective responsibilities. And this theme will be the thread that ties the project together over the years.

We begin by exploring the moral imperatives of American civic life. This is a subject that interested Simon, who, before his death a little more than a year ago, devoted his life to public service.

Civic Virtues
Moral imperatives grounded in religion call us to come to know a good in common we cannot know alone
by Jean Bethke Elshtain, May 2005

Burning Question
How to help the poor? The answer might be found in the stories and the voices of Illinoisans who themselves live in the poorest communities in the state
essay and photographs by John Wesley Fountain, May 2007