I have never owned a kaleidoscope. But whenever I see one in a small trinket shop or on a shelf in the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, I have also never been able to resist. Whenever I would pick one up and hold it toward the ceiling light, my eye would fill with bright reflections of hot pink and sky-blue triangles fading into squares, fading into stars.
I am in college now and have much less time to explore gift shops. But I did learn a few things from my kaleidoscope studies over the years. First, each kaleidoscope — or at least each well-designed kaleidoscope — has a center around which everything spins. And second, without a light source to illuminate the dance, they are not much more than clutter.
I had the privilege of working in Washington, D.C., this summer as an intern for The Federalist. Over these past months of perpetual Biden corruption, Trump targeting, and Barbenheimer blockbusters, my colleagues have covered some pretty jarring news stories — arguably among some of the biggest in the history of our country. And even though D.C. may be short on Cracker Barrels, I have learned that these talented reporters are united by a common kaleidoscopic question:
What is at the center?
When it comes to corrupt business dealings, two-tiered justice systems, and estranged granddaughters, there is always more to the story. There is a center — an accumulated coverup, a depraved society, an immoral heart — around which the facts
