“I never believed there was one code of morality for a public and another for a private man.” – Thomas Jefferson Last week I officially announced my endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. Conventional wisdom is that it is not politically expedient for a congressional candidate to make a primary…
Crazy on you!
I was reading an MSN article on why people voted the way they did last year. Most of the people who voted Republican were pretty consistent as to what two issues defined the races for them. The issues that concerned them the most were expanding government, and economic progress (or the perceived lack of). Other…
Press Two for a Zombie
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe everyone else uses technology flawlessly and all of the sources of new technologies work for everyone…except me. If it is just me then I’d like to vent my frustration and, perhaps, someone will come forward to help. I think it’s a sham. I think we have programmed ourselves into believing all…
The Shooting Paradigm
“Guns don’t kill, people do.” That is often repeated by the NRA, the pro-gun lobby and 2nd Amendment “purists” to defend the possession of firearms and to get guns off the hook after violent crimes. It’s such a seemingly logical turn of a phrase that it’s embraced in that community as Soundbite Gospel. But, it belies the real situation and betrays…
To Be or Not to Be
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…
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…
Iowa, A Place To Grow
CNBC, along with several business analysts, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness, have ranked the state of Iowa #11 in terms of Top States for Doing Business. That is down two places over the past two years. Although, ranking #11 is not bad, we aren’t going in the right direction. It…