The American Family Gazette Volume I, 0911 Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others that have been tried,” or something to that effect. However, today, I’m not sure I agree with that opinion. Furthermore, considering how we voters feel about our politics and the quality and results of governments that result from the democratic process—if you can believe the…
Category: Political Writing
Political Folklore
The American Family Gazette Volume I, 0911 True or false: Political centrists are a real species. Political bipartisanship is a real possibility. Political Independents are a myth. If you answered true, true, and true it suggests (a) you’re a pretty average voter, (b) the present political structure’s propaganda is pretty effective, and (c) you haven’t been paying close attention lately. Let’s take a brief but questioning look at these…
The Wrong Path
The American Family Gazette Volume. I, 0911 Two articles in the Wall Street Journal this morning (10/30) caught my attention: The Column Capital Journal by Gerald Seib and an Opinion piece by Peggy Noonan. Seib’s Column was titled “Enduring Partisan Divide Stokes Skepticism of Washington”, and Noonan’s was “We’re Governed by Callous Children.” I usually at least scan Seib, but seldom direct my attention to what Noonan has to…
On the Issue of Gay Marriage
The American Family Gazette Volume I, 10/09 Californians are voting on an amendment to the state constitution to ban homosexual (gay) “marriage” come November 4. This is the second time a measure has been on the state ballot to ban conferring the title, or of recognition of Marriage, on formalized homosexual domestic relationships. Last time, in 2000, it was in the form of a law, not a constitutional amendment,…
Rethinking Centrism
The American Family Gazette Volume I, 0907 Centrists and centrism. It’s interesting how frequently we throw around these terms. Generally in politics these are thought of as adhering to a middle-of-the-road position, neither left nor right; as the political philosophy of avoiding the extremes of ideology. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s that simple. While pondering this subject last year, I had difficulty agreeing with myself about the nature of…
Ask Yourself Why?
The American Family Gazette Vol. I, Issue 0905 In America today the term “politics” is almost considered a pejorative term. Why? For decades now polls tell us Americans continue to express significant dissatisfaction with and lack of confidence in their elected representatives in Washington, and with the results of government generally. Yet, the re-election rate for incumbent is greater than 90%, just about all the time. We just keep…
The Informed Citizen (An Endangered Species)
The American Family Gazette Volume I, 0904 Sir . . a question, if I may: Are you kinda mad? KInda disappointed? Kinda fed up with all the bull-shit we seem to get from the “trust me” promises from our politicians, to no avail once the elections are over? Lost—or are you losing— faith in government? Everybody has an opinion (just read the papers, listen to the radio or…
Ideology, Parties and the Results of Government
The American Family Gazette Volume I, issue 0903 We delve briefly into what ideologies are in Chapter Four of the Book: value or belief systems. They run from individually held positions describable as extremely liberal to extremely conservative, not only about political matters, but about social, economic and religious issues as well. In most cases our belief systems –liberal to conservative – hold to all these areas pretty uniformly….
The Singer or the Song?
The American Family Gazette Volume I. Issue 0902 One of the enduring features of the senior pasture of our church is his sense of humor. He blends this characteristic in nicely with both the seriousness and, at times, the solemn nature of his calling such that it causes the messages he imparts to his congregation each Sunday to seem, if not actually, to be less detached or unrelated to…
(No Subject)
We’re off! Vol. I. Issue 0901 A blog? Well, having written the book, I’m not sure what else to add. However, on the assumption that many of you—probably most of you—won’t read the book, just prefer to wait until the movie comes out (right!), this may prove an effective way to communicate, reiterate, speculate and at time gesticulate (metaphorically speaking) concerning the phenomenon of political Independents and our federal government,…
