the recklessness of texting while driving had to be suspended for a few seconds while I listened to the conversation between Sam Harris and Congressman Ritchie Torres about the future of the Democratic Party.

I opened the notes app and quickly typed:

S Harris moral relativism

The note was a reminder to listen to the closing segment, which I now transcribe:

Congressman Ritchie Torres:

"... those of us in the rational left need to be more comfortable pushing back against moral relativism, and speaking with moral clarity, and defending America, and defending Western Civilization, which is worth defending... because I do feel like we live in an age of moral confusion.

If you're, speaking of Israel, if you're an Arab woman in the Middle East and, if you're born in Israel, you know, you could rise to the highest echelons of Israeli society. You could become a member of the Knesset, you could become a member of the Israeli Supreme Court, you could be the judge that puts the prime minister in prison.

Whereas if you're born in Afghanistan, you will have acid thrown in your face for daring to be literate.

And anyone who fails to see the fundamental moral difference between those two realities is profoundly morally confused, and I feel that those of us on the rational left should be at the forefront of combating that kind of moral nihilism and confusion."

Sam H:

"...I would say that anyone who can't sign on the dotted line there and see the implications of what you just said, uhm, it's just obvious that there are right and wrong answers, or better and worse answers to fundamental questions of human flourishing... there is no future in our politics for an orientation that can't thread that needle that you just effortlessly threaded there."