Recent Character Commentaries

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What’s Happened to America’s Morality?
What a way to end the year. The erosion of America’s moral integrity is overwhelming. Entitlement has overtaken personal responsibility. Meanness has overwhelmed kindness. And hatred has crushed tolerance. Many of today’s “leaders” place self-interest above public interest. They role model viciousness and lies instead of kindness and facts. They believe that the best way to influence the public forum...
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December 29, 2023
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“Their joy — that’s the gift to you.”
Watching the memorial service for Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court, her son, delivering the eulogy, pointed to one of the former justice’s legacies. “Our purpose in life,” O’Connor reminded her children, “is to help others along the way.” Last Sunday, CBS reporter Steve Hartman offered a story demonstrating the power of purpose. Every...
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December 19, 2023
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Add Senator Robert Menendez to The List
Are you getting as tired as I am about scandal after scandal coming out of Washington. In he past, despite divisions, Senators and Representatives managed to right the ship and move forward representing the country’s citizens in legislation that would live up to the promise of the Founders. Now, outside influence has taken the place of honest legislative debate, and...
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September 26, 2023
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Moral Will
“A large portion of my party really doesn’t believe in the Constitution.” That dead-on description offered up by Senate Republican Mitt Romney not only explains much of today’s Republican Party but sadly, explains that given a choice, most Republicans choose recklessness over responsibility, dishonesty over integrity and loyalty over democracy. The erosion of integrity, particularly in political leadership today, is...
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September 19, 2023
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America’s Character Revisited
With a country facing confusion, division, dissension with no apparent way out, I’m revisiting my commentary from November 2021 in the hopes that we can all learn how to move beyond the hateful rhetoric and divisiveness. Revisiting Jon Meacham’s book, The Soul of America, I was struck by a quote by historian and civil rights activist, W.E.B. Dubois. Writing in...
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September 12, 2023
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Trust Confidence: CliffsNotes
During the 1998 investigation of President Bill Clinton, independent counsel Ken Starr compelled Secret Service agents to testify about what they may have seen or heard regarding Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. With the support of the Department of Justice, Director Lewis Merletti argued that if agents were allowed to testify about anything other than criminal acts,...
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September 8, 2023
Are We Living Up to the Dream?
Embed from Getty Images It’s been 60 years since Dr. King spoke to 250,000 supporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on a warm August afternoon in 1963. King’s stirring words about character, however, were improvised not written. Standing close to the civil rights leader, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson whispered, “Tell ‘em about ‘the dream,’ Martin.” I have a...
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September 1, 2023
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The Content of Our Character
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the march on Washington led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King in the battle for civil rights. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has become part of the lexicon of American history notably for one passage. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where...
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August 28, 2023
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Fantasy Island
Wasn’t that the fantasy/drama show from the 70s? Welcome to Fantasy Island, the reality show in Washington, DC. On the South side of the island, we have the octos (octogenarians). Democrat Dianne Feinstein, at 90 years old is clearly frail and recently fell in her San Francisco home. Retiring? Not a chance. Republican Mitch McConnell, 81, stopped in mid-sentence during...
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August 11, 2023
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What Republicans Can Do To Salvage Their Immortal Souls
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it, is really cooperating with it. —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. What should Republicans do to save themselves and the country? They should begin by listening to former vice-president Mike Pence. “President Trump asked...
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August 3, 2023