So much of our public debate has been about the role of government; how big is too big, how small is too ineffective. Constitutionalists define the responsibility of central government to maintaining our basic infrastructure and to “provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.” Pretty loose guidelines, actually, and allows…
Month: September 2015
A Cannonball Running
Let’s see…Republican front runner, Donald Trump, gives another weak debate performance, but continues to inspire the conservative base of his party, while Marco Rubio gives a strong performance and poll numbers drop in his own state. Meanwhile in the undercard debate Rick Santorum rambles, but shows up onstage for the 11 candidate group shot (until they shooed him away) where a…
Anger Management
Very disturbing videos have been in the news: They show high school football players assaulting referees because they were unhappy with a call made. It must be pointed out the young men were ejected, suspended from the team, denounced by their coach and could be facing criminal charges. The consequences for this inexcusable behavior could…
For the times they are a-changin’
It is interesting to look back to our fairly recent history to analyze how our political parties have changed. My father called himself an “Eisenhower Republican” which confused me as a boy because he never liked the Republicans. My earliest memory of his politics was seeing him mourn the assassination of President Kennedy, although, he explained to…
House of Cards
The Republican economic plan has been the same since 1980. It is derived from neoliberal (not to be confused with social liberalism) economics, once called laissez-faire economic liberalism, and has evolved from supply-side to “trickle-down” (inspired by the Laffer Curve) or Reaganomics. Convoluted by titles, perhaps, but the common threads have always followed these principles: 1) Lower income taxes for the highest…