Recent Politics Commentaries

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This is Not Us as a Democracy – Part 1
The Incitement — There’s an old Russian fable that goes like this… A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river on the frog’s back. Afraid of being stung, the frog hesitates. The scorpion argues that if it did that, they’d both drown. The frog considers this sensible and agrees to carry the scorpion. Midway across the river,...
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January 13, 2021
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Who Was Senator Philip Hart and Why is His Example Vitally Important Today?
“This building is dedicated by his colleagues to the memory of Philip A. Hart with affection, respect, and esteem. A man of incorruptible integrity and personal courage strengthened by inner grace and outer gentleness, he elevated politics to a level of purity that will forever be an example to every elected official. He advanced the cause of human justice, promoted...
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January 11, 2021
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Democracy Will Prevail
Salud Carbajal is the U.S. Representative from California’s 24th congressional district. In a phone call late last night from his office in Washington, he gave me this firsthand account. “Due to the Covid virus, most members were in their offices when protestors were marching toward the Capitol. Only those Senators or House members that had a direct role in the...
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January 7, 2021
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Reality Check
With a number of GOP House members planning to challenge the election of Joe Biden on Wednesday, Texas Representative and Republican, Chip Roy has a solution. In a respectful but frank statement, Roy states that newly elected GOP House members elected on the same ballot as President Trump should be subjected to the same scrutiny. “Today, I objected to the...
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January 5, 2021
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Who was Aristides “The Just,” and Why Was He Kicked Out of Athens?
“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...
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December 21, 2020
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Democracy Calls on Us
We are living in dangerous times. In his biography of George Washington, Douglas Southall Freeman wrote that President Washington led the country “by directness, by deference and by manifest dedication to duty.” Donald Trump is the polar opposite of Washington in character and duty. Indeed, Washington would be sickened to see that the nation’s capital that bears his name has...
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December 11, 2020
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What Biden, Congress and Journalists Should Do
“It’s good to be the King!”  – Mel Brooks, “History of the World Part I” It’s fifty days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. While the Covid-19 virus remains the top priority for both the incoming president and Congress, there are steps that both can take to begin to restore trust in government, protect the interests of Americans, and...
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November 30, 2020
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How Can We Stop the Bleeding?
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,...
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November 18, 2020
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“God Help Us”
“Who’s going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real ‘yes man.’ And then God help us.” Those alarming words come from former secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, who was fired by Trump in a tweet. In an exclusive interview with the Military Times, the former West Point graduate and Lieutenant Colonel from the Gulf War described...
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November 13, 2020
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The Will of Good Men
In October 1962, an American U-2 reconnaissance flight discovered Russian offensive missiles in Cuba, posing a direct threat to the United States. In the film adaptation of Robert Kennedy’s Thirteen Days, about the Cuban missile crisis, the United States and Russia stood at the abyss of nuclear war. After Russian sponsored Cuban missiles shot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane, President...
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November 11, 2020

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
It Was Important Then. It is Important Today
Freedom of speech in America is under attack, not only when people are denied the right to speak, but when lies, intimidation and the deliberate...
When Political Identity Replaces Ethical Judgment
The political and cultural landscape has become a minefield of conflicting beliefs, many now rooted less in public policy than in personal identity. One of...
Principles Matter.
A few nights ago, I was watching The Way We Were, a film I’ve seen more times than I can count. This time, a single...
All the President’s Men 2.0
“Politics had infiltrated every corner of government—a strong-arm takeover of the agencies by the Nixon White House.” —Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s...
The Threat to November Is Already Here
“Cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.”—George Washington’s...
Jon Ossoff and the Conscience of Atticus Finch
I’ve written about Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff before, but after watching his questioning of Jay Clayton, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence (DNI),...