Recent Character Commentaries

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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
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Character? What’s That?
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”—Edmund Burke, Anglo-Irish statesman, and philosopher. Two simple questions with no easy answers. Why do so many tolerate dishonesty, incivility, irresponsibility, and a profound lack of character in far too many individuals, particularly leaders? Why do so many choose...
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July 14, 2023
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It’s Time.
In 1940, journalist Edward R. Murrow stood in a church in England while the country endured German bombers night after night. Inside the church was a crudely written sign which read, “If your knees knock, kneel on them.” It’s time for Americans to get up off their knees and fight. Like a hamster on a wheel, we’ve become stuck going...
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May 16, 2023
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What is Character?
April 10: At least five people were killed in a shooting at a bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. March 27: A heavily armed assailant shot and killed three children and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. March 29: Eleven people were shot, one fatally, at two separate crime scenes in Memphis, Tennessee. February 17: In...
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April 14, 2023

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