Recent Character Commentaries

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Liz Cheney, Conscience of the House
Ever since Wyoming Republican Representative Liz Cheney voted for Trump’s impeachment as a result of the January 6 attack on the Capitol a very vocal base of Trump supporters back home have turned on her. Cody resident Bob Ferguson sums up what most feel. “She hasn’t just turned on Donald Trump — she has turned on Donald Trump’s supporters. …...
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July 20, 2022
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Hearts of Darkness
“It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.”–Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness “You back-stabbing son of a bitch. You go against Trump y’all known, y’all mother are sitting up there lying like a damn dog.” “You’re going to swing for f***ing treason, you communist f***.” And I’m guessing that these are only a small example...
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July 8, 2022
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Has America Lost Its Moral Compass?
In September 2009, I posted a commentary with that title with the following opening . . . “During an awards ceremony, a Rap star takes the stage away from one winner and shouts that another should have won. “A political pundit calls the President a racist. “In the middle of the President’s address to a joint session of Congress, a...
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July 1, 2022
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“A Clear and Present Danger,” Judge J. Michael Luttig
The House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6 is expected to hear testimony from three top Department of Justice officials on Trump’s push to overturn 2020 election results within the department. I will be live-tweeting at 3:00pm EST and 12:00pm PST: @jimlichtman This is subject to any time change. After the third installment of the...
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June 21, 2022
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We Are Americans
Character is a word that’s rarely used today; rarer still is finding leaders who demonstrate character. But there are a few. Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, against their party’s wishes, chose to participate in an investigation into the causes of the January 6, 2020 insurrection. It takes character and courage to choose principle over politics. Where would we be...
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May 13, 2022
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And The Four Others Who Stand Up For Democracy
The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award is distinguished by a ship’s lantern. “The lantern elicits immediate recognition and evokes the shared cultural symbols of light and truth,” designer Edwin Schlossberg says. “Light is the beacon of warning, of safety, of hope in the wilderness. A lantern symbolizes the search for an honest man. It lights a dark path,...
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April 29, 2022
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Profiles in Courage
In 1877, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, a former distinguished Confederate officer, was the hugely popular Democratic Senator from Mississippi. So revered for his commitment to duty and integrity that a Washington reporter said of Lamar, “he would be a conspicuous personality anywhere, with a character and quality of his own.” Lamar was now faced with an impossible choice in the...
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April 26, 2022
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What Makes a Leader?
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” — John Maxwell, American clergyman Liz Cheney is smart, disciplined, honest and fearless. A rock-sold Republican from Wyoming, Cheney is one of only two House Republicans who sit on the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection. Adam Kinzinger is the other. However, it is...
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April 12, 2022
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What Will Smith Should Do First
“We judge ourselves by our best intentions, our most noble acts, our most virtuous habits. But we are judged by out last worst act.” — Michael Josephson Actor Will Smith’s actions at last Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony was precedent setting inexcusable. Reacting to a joke by comedian Chris Rock about Smith’s wife, Smith stepped on stage and slapped the comedian....
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April 1, 2022
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Their Darkest Hour
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill While many have compared Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to England’s Winston Churchill– England’s wartime prime minister who inspired the British people in their darkest hour–another man became a different kind of hero in the face of overwhelming odds. Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest...
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March 8, 2022

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
What Kennedy Asked of Us
“We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom.” On January 20, 1961, I was in seventh grade, watching John F....
October 1962
“I would like to say again that the United States is very much interested in reducing tensions and halting the arms race.” —President John F....
The Speech That Never Happened
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was scheduled to address Texas Democratic leaders and supporters at a fundraising dinner in Austin honoring him...
It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Genius to Recognize the Danger
Remember how everyone was talking about the dangers of AI just a month ago? “Is There Really a 10% Chance AI Could Kill Us All.”—The...
November 4, 2026
On March 4, 1865, a tall, tired man stood before a crowd gathered at the United States Capitol to deliver what would become one of...
Has America Lost Its Way?
I’ve spent much of my life thinking and writing about ethics. About honesty. About responsibility. About integrity—not simply when doing the right thing is easy,...