Another way to say that something is morally obvious—maybe a more American way—is to call it a “self-evident truth.” In his new book, Radical Universalism, the New School professor Omri Boehm sees this load-bearing expression from the Declaration of Independence not as a relic from 250 years ago but as a living phrase that points to a persistent, imperative American mode. To imagine that anything could be considered self-evident in our post-truth age, in the age of Trump—when even a celebratory Super Bowl halftime show becomes fodder for fights over American identity (and Megyn Kelly screaming “Football is ours!”)—is almost impossible. Sadly, even the Declaration’s proposition that “all men are created equal” seems to be up for debate.