I believe there are three things particularly pernicious to the health of the body politic. Outright lies by politicians. Outright cheating at the ballot box. Efforts to stifle any citizen’s free access to the ballot box, outright or subtle. Concerning the first: yeah, yeah, I know. Politicians have stretched the …
For a variety of reasons, I missed posting on the last Sunday in May, over Memorial Day weekend. I wanted to write about what the day signifies, why we have such a day in our country’s holiday calendar. We are called to “honor and mourn the military personnel who have …
As vaccines ripple across the nation, leaving happily tearful Americans bobbing in their wake, all the talk is of After Days. People ask, “What do you want to do most (when you can)?” Sometimes, they frame question as “Where do you want to go first?” For many, the answers go …
No, this is not a left-over snipe at the failed Texas power-grid (thanks to the state’s failed regulatory system). It is a sorrowful acknowledgement that I am powerless to step in and right wrongs and injustices everywhere I see them. So, unhappily, is Congress — at least for the moment. …
Yesterday — by happenstance, it was St Patrick’s Day — marked one year since my office sent everyone home. Like “Ollie Ollie in-free!”, ready or not, run for Home. St Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint, driver-out of snakes, would have been flummoxed. How shall I drive out a disease borne in …
Speak Out: Pass the For the People Act One of my great passions is stopping the systematic disenfranchisement of American voters across the country. Outright disenfranchisement — taking away a citizen’s right to vote — is pretty damned blatant. The laws doing so must be very creative. For example, a …
So many issues, all so urgent, all so important! Where shall we start? Our friends at The New York Times’ Year of Living Better have a suggestion. Begin by exploring how you can participate in politics. The most obvious way to act “politically” is to vote. America just concluded a …
Amid the sirens and shouting of Black Lives Matter protests — or the braying of insurrectionist mobs, to give a more recent example — tiny, quiet actions of bravery capture our attention. During the night of the soon-to-be-former president’s strut to St Michael’s Episcopal Church, people fled from the tear-gas …
Seeing out 2020 was one thing. Getting through 2021 will be a whole ‘nother problem. Especially when there are people out there with more fuel and a new box of matches. And they’re standing next to the dumpster fire we hoped we had put out on New Year’s Day. Not …
A colleague recently warned me to avoid our state capitol campus this weekend. (Being that we’re many months from cherry-blossom season, this was no hardship.) The reason wasn’t hard to guess. State houses attract protesters like blossoms attract bees. The decision by the Supreme Court to decline the frivolous lawsuit …
