“No good deed goes unpunished.” — Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright Reading about the greatest Greeks in history, I came across Aristides “The Just,” and wondered how a military general and politician came to be recognized for his moral rectitude. Aristides, who lived between 530 – 468 BC, came to prominence as a strategos (general) who led Athens against...

“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.…” – Winston Churchill We think of America as exceptional, the leader of the free world, an example of doing the right thing. However, we’ve made our share of...

With Republicans’ utter lack of integrity in cowering to President Trump’s daily recklessness, their blatant irresponsibility in not passing a much-needed stimulus bill to help the very blue-collar families that support the president, and the thousands of supporters marching in streets chanting the same “rigged election” messaging by Trump, each day the country grows more combative. As of November 17,...

It was the harshest election in memory. A country divided, split down the middle. Each side believing the other is the enemy. Emotions turn to marches and riots. Each side believing the other is to blame. The man the country had now elected must lower the temperature, turn away from ugly rhetoric and unify. “We are not enemies, but friends....

“A democracy cannot survive merely by being well informed, it must also be contemplative, and wise.” – E.B. White John and Jeremy Zogby are part of the team at Zogby Strategies whose mission is to examine Americans’ thinking to keep us better informed, and hopefully, more “contemplative and wise.” Before Tuesday’s election, both correctly recognized that the race between Trump...

During the Trump presidency, 35 to 40 percent of Americans have been consumed by a fever of fear: fear of immigrants; fear of black and brown Americans; fear of election security. (The only thing Trump has told supporters not to fear is the coronavirus.) However, Trump’s greatest abuse is sowing doubt and distrust; doubt climate science; distrust our intelligence communities...

Sitting before the Senate Watergate hearings on June 25, 1973, former counsel to Richard Nixon, John Dean, described a meeting with the president. “I began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and that if the cancer was not removed the president himself would be killed by it.” In our current context, the president...

During times of crisis, U.S. presidents have always offered words of inspiration, and fortitude ensuring that “we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty,” President John F. Kennedy declared at his inauguration. Here are some lesser known but powerful words, nonetheless. “We always...

Three exemplary Americans died in less than a year. Three Americans taught us the importance of commonality: Congressman Elijah Cummings; Congressman John Lewis; and Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian. All three were stalwart civil rights leaders. All three advocated the message of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” All three, and thousands...

Amid multiple crises, Independence Day is a good a time to refresh with words that inspire, motivate, and define who we are, not by political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or religion, but a country established by immigrants seeking liberty. “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other...