Baseball season begins in just 10 days, and what better way to begin than with a great baseball story. Football may be America’s most popular game, but baseball is forever. Actually, that’s the title of a new book by former Washington Post columnist and peace studies teacher Colman McCarthy. Baseball Forever is a collection of stories McCarthy has written over...

In his latest book, The American Spirit, historian David McCullough had the rare privilege of addressing a joint session of Congress in 1989. McCullough has observed much in his 84 years, and written much more about the past in books, and the present in speeches, and what he observes, he relates in stories that make the past come alive. On...

Two things happened last week that received little attention, but are vital to our progress toward a more perfect union. Last Thursday (Sept. 28), Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch spoke to The Fund for American Studies, a conservative, non-profit educational organization that teaches “the principles of limited government, free-market economics and honorable leadership.” “In his remarks,” The New York...

During the month of August, comfortably ensconced in my “cone of silence,” I spent most of the time reading a variety of books. While all of them speak to various ethical values, many of the authors were simply good storytellers. After listening to an interview of former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, I became interested in reading his account of how...

In one twenty-one day period, we witnessed the worst and the best this country can demonstrate. August 11, 2017 began as a quiet day in the suburban town of Charlottesville, Virginia, and ended as a violent clash between several hundred Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, Ku Klux Klan and counter-protestors. During the violence, self-proclaimed white-nationalist James Alex Fields, Jr., drove his car...

In a vigorous and powerful speech to the Senate yesterday (July 25), Arizona Senator John McCain wasn’t a Republican or Democrat; he spoke as an American and political figure fitted with the responsibility to do something for “the public good.” He spoke less about the health care debate that brought the Senate to a vote, and more about their lack...

There have been many issues on which I have disagreed with Senator John McCain. However, I respect the Arizona Republican for one simple reason: I trust him; I trust that he acts in the best interests of the country, not his own. Last week, when it was announced that McCain had brain cancer, I was stunned not because such a...

Everything action we take, large or small, has the potential to reveal character. While most of my commentaries have involved weightier issues such as vaccinations, the death penalty, dishonesty, fraud and abuse, smaller acts take place every day that demonstrate who we are and what we stand for. A personal account by Mike Kerrigan in The Wall Street Journal (July...

Political heroes are rare. The last genuine political hero, Senator Philip S. Hart, is remembered on the front of an office building in Washington, D.C. as: “A man of incorruptible integrity and personal courage strengthened by inner grace and outer gentleness…. His humility and ethics earned him his place as the conscience of the Senate.” Last Friday (June 30), another...

There is no nice way to say it: I am tired of political leadership in Washington using words like “inappropriate,” “inconsistent,” a “distraction,” and “un-presidential” to describe what my parents, grandparents, teachers, religious leaders, and most anyone with common sense would otherwise call, WRONG! To state the obvious: we have a 71-year-old president whose Twitter rants demonstrate that he is...