One of my most enduring interests is presidential politics. Ever since I majored in Political Science as an undergraduate, I’ve avidly followed each presidential race. I’m not into sports, so the quadrennial presidential contests are like my Super Bowl, World Series and World Cup rolled into one. I’m not typical…
Category: Politics
Is Donald Trump the Biggest Threat to the Future of the Republican Party?
I was a campaign volunteer during the 2018 congressional election, phoning and canvassing on behalf of a New Jersey Democratic candidate in hopes of flipping a House seat and ultimately the entire House. My guy won, and of course the larger goal was also accomplished. I had the honor of attending the new representative’s swearing-in…
The Emergency Powers of the President
I was both alarmed and puzzled by a piece I saw on the New York Times website yesterday about “secret emergency powers of the president.” The essay, by former Colorado governor Gary Hart, is titled “How Powerful Is the President?” Hart writes that there are “at least a hundred documents authorizing extraordinary presidential powers in the case of a national emergency, virtually dictatorial powers without congressional or judicial checks and balances.”…
Reimagining Policing
I’m one of those who is concerned that calls by some progressives to “defund police” is handing a gift to reactionary politicians who want to scare voters with the specter of their being left at the mercy of dangerous criminals as police departments are abolished. While there are some activists who actually are calling for the abolition of police departments as we know them, what most progressives mean when they talk about defunding police is drawing down the budgets of police departments and redirecting the money to programs that would promote public safety while also advancing racial equity . . .
If You Read Only One Op-Ed Piece This Month, Make It This One
If you follow the news, you’ve likely read about the controversy surrounding the New York Times’ publication of an op-ed piece by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton calling for a wide-scale military crackdown on riots and looting that broke out on the periphery of protests spurred by the death of George Floyd. David Roberts of Vox.com posted an essay this week discussing why the Cotton piece was problematic . . .
How Much Do We Need To Be Protected From Each Other?
I listened to this week’s episode of On the Media this morning, the public radio program produced by WNYC in New York which is also available as a podcast. It included an interview with an economic historian, Rutger Bregman, who has just published a book called Humankind: A Hopeful History. In the book he argues that whereas people may not be precisely good, they are generally decent. This is, of course, the opposite of what rulers throughout history would have their subjects and citizens believe . . .
For Everything There Is a Season
Chances are you’ve seen excerpts from the Rev. Al Sharpton’s eulogy for George Floyd on Thursday. It was a tough and compelling exhortation to white America to “get your knee off our necks.” But it was also singularly optimistic. Sharpton repeatedly invoked Ecclesiastes 3:1, which says “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven,” and suggested that this may finally be the time when it’s possible to put an end to racial injustice at the hands of police officers . . .
So the Shit Has Hit the Fan
When I started blogging a week and a half ago, I wasn’t thinking in terms of doing political commentary. I imagined writing mostly bits of whimsy, like how flummoxed I sometimes get about when to use a comma, or how my wife can somehow makes friends with a toll collector in the time it takes to make change. And then George Floyd was killed and all hell broke loose, and now it seems as if it would be tone-deaf to post light-hearted musings on a blog . . .
Beyond a Failure of Leadership
I was as dismayed as anyone when Donald Trump was elected president, but while I was unhappy at the prospect of the policies I expected him to implement, and the judges he was likely to appoint, the thing that most concerned me was the prospect that the country was likely to face a true crisis at some point during his presidency, and he would completely fail to lead us through it. That fear was realized with the Covid-19 pandemic, and now it’s being realized again in the wake of the killing of George Floyd . . .
Protests and Riots
A non-violent nationwide protest against the killing of George Floyd would be extraordinarily powerful, and unlike the recent riots would be beyond reproach. Where is Martin Luther King, Jr. when we need him? Oh, right…never mind.