Matthew Horowitz and Jordan Levine are senior political science majors at Grinnell College, a small, private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa. Jordan and Matthew are also quite politically active. Matthew has interned for the John Edwards Campaign in Iowa, Member of Parliament Louise Ellman in the United Kingdom, and Planting Peace. Jordan interned for The Civil Court of the City of New York, the Hillary Clinton Campaign in Iowa, The House Committee on Education and Labor and the Co-operative Party in the United Kingdom. Jordan was also the deputy field director for Jimmy Van Bramer’s successful New York City Council campaign. They have both volunteered for the Iowa Democratic Party, US House Representative Leonard Boswell, Iowa Governor Chet Culver, Iowa State House Representative Eric Palmer and are currently assisting the Roxanne Conlin for US Senate campaign. Matthew aspires to be an environmental lawyer, while Jordan is looking to go into public policy, both inside and outside of government, with specialties in environmental policy and international development policy.

Jordan can be reached directly at levine.jordan@gmail.com.

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If you’re visiting this page, it’s probably because you’re wondering where we got that funky name. Here’s a pretty in depth explanation:

The next time you get a chance, take a close look at a dollar bill and be sure to examine The Great Seal of The United States closely. I would be willing to bet that you’re pretty familiar with The All Seeing Eye but not the Latin inscription underneath it: Novus ordo seclorum. Roughly translated, it means The New Order of the Ages. Charles Thomson, a latin expert and the Secretary of the 1782 Continental Congress is responsible for the phrase’s inclusion in the seal. Its true origin, however, dates back to approximately 40 B.C. Thomson was inspired by the fourth Eclogue of Virgil, which contains a passage (lines 5-8) that reads:

Latin

Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas;

Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.

iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna,

iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.

English

Now comes the final era of the Sibyl’s song;

The great order of the ages is born afresh.

And now justice returns, honored rules return;

now a new lineage is sent down from high heaven.

While the passage was meant to describe happenings in ancient Rome, it more than adequately captures the gravity of the creation of the United States as well. We feel that the passage takes on a new significance today. For ironic purposes, we will cite a line from George Washington’s farewell letter to the Army, written roughly one year after Charles Thomson created The Great Seal, as it makes clear the reason we felt the need to start this blog: “The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epocha when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period.” The United States of America has stumbled greater than ever before in it’s illustrious history and must now return to its roots, the ideals of the enlightenment. It is paramount that we expose and fight back against ignorance and superstition.

Like Rome and all other great empires, The United States will one day cease to exist. At the very least our preponderance is already being threatened if not coming to an end entirely. We have reached another Epocha in history. The beginning of a global era in which America can either reinvent itself to create an era of renewed prosperity, or it can hasten its demise.

The Song of The Sibyl that Virgil refers to is an admittedly dangerous choice of a name for our blog, but we stand by it. The word sibyl comes from the greek sibylla, meaning prophetess. The Sibyl possessed oracular powers and were revered throughout antiquity. The song, then, is an ancient prophecy describing the apocalypse. Fear tactics are not our style, but we all must recognize the serious nature of the challenges that we, as citizens of both The United States and the world, will all be confronted with in our lifetimes.

The focus of this blog will be the creation of a blueprint for where we think the United States will fit into this new world order and what it needs to do, both at home and abroad, to flourish like never before. We hope our columns and the links we guide you to will be prescient, thought provoking and confront your existing assumptions. Sometimes we will be spot on, others dead wrong and we doubt that what we write here will ever please everyone. Please comment and contribute to the dialogue that we’re starting. It’s high time to start a substantive conversation about the topics and issues that are largely buried by our government officials and the mainstream media who instead of focus on the actors and personalities that make them happen. From time to time we’ll have to dabble into the divisive topics of the day such as reforming the health insurance industry or creating climate change legislation. In those instances we promise to bring reasonability and sensibility instead of simply getting lost in the talking points of the left and the right. Call us out if we stray from that. Our ultimate hope is that we can bring a local perspective to global problems. Be sure to share your own experiences to help us enrich that goal.

For the time being, we promise to provide five must-read links each week (The Weekly Five), and at least two columns per week. We’re admittedly just a couple of college students, amateurs trying to make it in a sea of so-called pundits. We don’t claim to be true experts in any way. All we want is to live out our prime years with every opportunity to succeed, living happily and healthfully. Please bear with us as we try and find and create our own unique voice.