Category: Political Writing

The Vote: So, what’s it worth today?  Just how important is democracy to our republic? Remember the old saying about Love & marriage: you can’t have one without the other. Well, by definition, that should apply here: without political democracy, don’t expect a republic. But what’s the reality of our democracy, today? Does it really work? If so, for whom? The vote may express the will of the people, but…

  What’s an assault weapon?  For purposes of US gun laws and gun politics, an assault weapon is a semi-automatic firearm possessing certain features similar to those of military firearms. Semi-automatics fire one bullet each time the trigger is pulled. They have a detachable magazine, some capable of holding fifty (50) rounds. Most assault weapons are rifles, but some are pistols or shotguns. There are both state and federal regulations…

Fiscal Cliff or Cliff-Hanger?  A careful look at what’s playing out in D.C. presently challenges the semantics being used to describe the potential consequences to the American public. I’m referring, of course, to the looming end of the Bush “temporary” tax cuts and other provisional tax reduction measures related to the recent economic downturn combined with the likelihood of mandated spending reductions, the result of an inability of Congress and…

I would like to believe that overall the televised presidential debates are helpful for America’s voters. For some, no doubt they are. But for many, that’s questionable. As one acquaintance put it following the first debate,”both acted like big immature babies.”  At best, that’s hardly “presidential.”                 The obvious purpose of the debates is, or should be, to inform and emphasize the differences in the candidates’ approaches to governing; specifics…

The word good is usually an adjective modifier. Something is “good,” defines a quality of this something. Good can mean useful, advantageous, or beneficial in effect; to be desired or approved of, pleasing and/or welcome, among other possible understandings. The Good referred to here is a little different. Actually, it’s a lot different. It’s not an adjective, but an outcome denoting something specific: the objective of government. We will eventually…

An Open Letter Mr. Charles R. Kesler Editor Claremont Review of Books Claremont, CA Dear Mr. Kesler, I’m a reasonably long-term subscriber to your conservative quarterly Claremont Review of Books. For the most part I find the reviews and articles both interesting and informative, if unabashedly slanted—at times excessively so, it seems—toward conservative views. The Review bills itself “A Journal of Political thought and Statesmanship.” Of political thought, obviously; of…

Say what? You want to know if we really do have a problem with government, or is all this chatter about it simply hyperbole? You really have to ask that question? Let me ask you, “What makes you think maybe we don’t?” What’s that?  “What makes me really think we do?” Well, okay,  how about this for starters: “On January 26, 2010, the Senate voted on a resolution to create…

Ronald Reagan’s inaugural address in 1980 is perhaps best remembered for his pronouncement that “government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem However, he was quick to add that—as now president, its chief administrative officer—it was not his intention to do away with “the problem”, simply to make it more user friendly: “. . . make it work with us, not over us. . . Government…

October 13, 2010 Mr. Paul C. Gullixson Editorial Director The Press Democrat 427 Mendocino Avenue Santa Rosa, CA   Dear Mr. Gullixson: From time to time I’m inclined to draft letters to the editor and short articles on and around the subject I write about: political Independents. Infrequently, I actually submit such materials for publication.  Invariably, it’s in vain.  I never ask “why”.   I know why.  The answer is twofold:…