The Central Political Issue of Our Time
I start from the precept that the universe is an organic whole in which all individuals have a part to play. Justice, duty, and virtue are determined by the part we play in the cosmic totality. The...
View ArticleThoughts on American Democracy
The framers of the constitution struggled with establishing the balance between the rights of individuals and the power of government to act for the common good when they first met in 1787. They set up...
View ArticleConservatives vs Liberals --
The debate over “liberal” versus “conservative” long ago became quite tiresome. I think it all can be boiled down quite simply to a fundamental conflict: A conservative, by his very nature, is bound to...
View ArticleLet us do away with the Paranoid Style
In a 1964 article in Harpers' Magazine, Hofstadter wrote of "The Paranoid Style of American Politics." He said "American politics has often been an arena for angry minds." His article shows how from...
View ArticleWe Cannot Blame Ann Coulter
My dachshund killed a bird today in front of me before I could stop him. The dog was puzzled when I reacted badly. I know he's doing what he was born to do and simply does not know any better than to...
View ArticleIncome Inequality and Immigration
Have we gotten so used to the idea that the USA is politically polarized--the red and the blue--that we, and certainly Democrats, have lost sight of the issue of increasing income inequality and its...
View ArticleThe Corrupt Congressional-Military-Industrial Death Machine
So I read that Republicans defeated a Democratic measure calling for an investigation into waste and fraud in military contracts today as the Senate engaged in an emotional debate over the Iraq war....
View ArticleCongress, Both Parties, Failed the Middle Class in 2005
The issue of fundamental fairness in this country may receive some attention after all in the upcoming elections. The nonpartisan Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) has issued its annual...
View ArticleTheodore Roosevelt and Taxing the Rich
Neither Teddy Roosevelt nor I would solve the problem of plutocracy and increasing corporatism by merely "taxing the rich." That's not a solution by itself. Look at TR's call for government regulation...
View ArticleWake Up, America!!
I have heard it said we've already done all that which TR's Bullmoose agenda called for -- and to an extent, that's right. Only, since the early 1980s, since Reagan, in fact, we've been steadily...
View ArticleCompassion
A friend sent me this story and it taught me something. CHAIRMAN MAO'S LIGHTER Ever had a brilliant gift idea that turned out to be the most embarrassing and humiliating thing you could have brought...
View ArticleIraq: Pasting feathers together, hoping for a duck?
A vision, somewhat like the airborne toxic event in Delillo's "White Noise," begins to take form behind the incessant news coverage of the fighting in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. This cloudy menace...
View ArticleDo You Believe in God? Whatever do you mean by that?
Religion isn't very funny, actually. I agree with author Sam Harris that those who hold literal beliefs in the tenets of many organized religions -- moderate or extreme -- are very dangerous to the...
View ArticleThe Endangered United States of America
Today we ignore the need for fundamental reform of government at the risk of losing the very democratic nature of our country. There are two aspects of this. First, the very basis of our democracy is...
View ArticleIs Paul Krugman Reading My Posts?
I don't subscribe to the New York Times, nor have online access to its columnists -- but I noted that Paul Krugman wrote a column Oct 9: The Paranoid Style By PAUL KRUGMAN Dennis Hastert, the speaker...
View ArticleKrugman Is Beside the Point
Ok, I found Krugman's piece and I think he booted the ball. Krugman's points are superficially ok, but his reasoning strikes me as beside the point -- the point is not that paranoids are running our...
View ArticleWhy Did White House Snub Foley Two Years Ago?
What did President Bush personally know about Mark Foley and when did he know it? When a President visits the home distict of a member of Congress, even if that member is from the other party, it is...
View ArticleBedrock Centrism: What We Want
How best to express most succinctly what the problem is for both left and right? From that, what should a united centrism be all about -- what do we want? Here's an idea: Let the spirit of Reform be...
View ArticleAn essay on Arrogance and Corruption in Government
Are you sitting comfortably? At first glance Arrogance and Corruption in Government may seem unenchanting, however its study is a necessity for any one wishing to intellectually advance beyond their...
View ArticleDisappointed in Pelosi
I'm disappointed in Nancy Pelosi's putting politics over principle and endorsing Rep. Murtha for majority leader. She should have stayed out of it and allowed the contest between Murtha and Steny Hoyer...
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