The events of Charlottesville have me thinking about my role as an historian and teacher. This was reinforced by these comments by James Alex Fields Jr.’s high school history teacher. I don’t think any one teacher can be responsible for the ideas of a single student.…
An old division is rearing it’s head again in the Democratic Party. It’s gone public in the disruption of Bernie Sanders’s speeches by #blacklivesmatter protesters, first at Netroots Nation in July and then again in Seattle on Saturday (see here).…
In honor the 4th of July weekend, I’m sharing this post I wrote last year at this time:
I recently had the opportunity to sing “American the Beautiful.” The lines that most hit me are in the third verse:
…Oh, beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
I want to first start out by wishing readers a Happy New Year. I hope your 2015 will be a happy and healthy one. I also would like to thank Jason for his initial post on the 2016 Presidential potentials; this will segue nicely into my topic: The length of campaign seasons.…
I was very disappointed when Mitt Romney officially announced last week that he would not, on third thought, run for president in 2016. My own disappointment, however, was different from that of most others in my same demographic (white Mormon males): I never wanted Romney to actually be president.…
On January 24, Nicholas Kristof printed a column reminding us (among other things) that our economy is getting harder. Five days later, in response to a separate incident, Megan McArdle had a piece reminding us that individual consumers are much better off than they used to be.…
The greedy rich continue to force middle America to its knees; Fatcats get rich while middle America goes bankrupt; insert misleading hyperbolic statement here.
This is a topic I’ve wanted to write about for some time, but it’s seemingly never a top story.…
Several weeks ago James Fallows headlined The Atlantic with a piece entitled The Tragedy of the American Military. In the wide-ranging article he touched on how the military has become above reproach, how so few shoulder the burden of service, and how hollow and meaningless the ‘thank you’ gestures are that many show to servicemembers. …
As part of our re-launch, Town Square Politics is welcoming two new bloggers: Jared Brekken and Tom Plewe. You can read their author biographies on our About page. They will be posting each Wednesday, with Jared this week and Tom appearing next week.…
Non-hypothetical: You clear ice from your driveway, then decide to see if you can earn some cash offering the services in your neighborhood. Someone calls you in as a suspicious person and a few minutes after the cops show up, you’re dead.…
With the 2016 presidential election in full-swing, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on where we stand and where we might be a year from now.
Right now, candidates are engaged in the “invisible primary,” a period in which they court donors, fundraisers, activist, party leaders, and anyone else with more influence than your average primary-voter or caucus-goer.…
Header image by Tom Plewe © 2015
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