Commentary: Donald Kirk - Conservatism standing at the crossroads
Donald Kirk
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American conservatives face irrelevancy and division in their ranks. Traditional conservatism, the credo of “rock-ribbed” Republicans, has faded. Americans forget the post-war conservative presidents such as Dwight Eisenhower, the World War II general, and Ronald Reagan, who demanded Mikhail Gorbachev “tear down this wall” between East and West Berlin.
Instead, far-rightists, evangelical Christians and extremist rabble-rousers are driving the Republican agenda, forcing unanimity against the Democrats, whose candidate, the aging Joe Biden, defeated their idol, Donald Trump, in November by more than 7 million votes. The core values of real conservatism, standing ardently for free enterprise and individual rights and beliefs along with responsible global leadership, are lost in a battle for party unanimity. Old-time conservatives, pillars of mainline churches and communities, m
Commentary: Nika Kabiri - Conspiracy theories require sociological solutions
Nika Kabiri
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It’s not every day that Americans are charged with sedition, but it may just happen as more evidence emerges regarding the Capitol riots. It’s as though we’ve exited the age of the conspiracy “buff” and entered a new era. Whereas conspiracy believers of the past seemed relatively harmless, these days, their beliefs come with dangerous calls to action which makes many of us wonder: what can we possibly do about it?
Many people attempt to sway the minds of conspiracy believers with evidence. The idea is that if you show them the facts, they have to see the truth. But this is likely to be ineffective for at least three reasons.
Commentary: Craig Holman and Lisa Gilbert - Filibuster an accidental norm that should not be
Craig Holman and Lisa Gilbert
April 1, 2021
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It began as an accident, morphed into a parliamentary tool extensively used to block civil rights legislation, and today has grown into a partisan gambit threatening to obstruct democracy reforms and, for that matter, the entire policy agenda of the new Biden administration.
It is called the filibuster.
There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that provides for the filibuster. In fact, it is anathema to what the founders envisioned for the legislative process. Noting the standstill of the legislative process under the super-majority vote requirements of the Articles of Confederation, the founders wrote a new Constitution fundamentally based on majority rule. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 22: “If a pertinacious minority can control the opinion of a majority … (the government’s) situation must always savor of
Commentary: Llewellyn King - Contemplating a post-COVID wardrobe
Llewellyn King
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But there is an additional, different question: What will we wear?
Go to the mirror and look at yourself. Except for the odd Zoom meeting you might have tried to dress for, you are a different person.
The fact is that even a traditionalist like me, who has worn a jacket and tie since his first days of school, is, well, letting down.
Worse, after a year of sweats and other baggy, comfortable clothing, I feel constricted and ill at ease when I put on a suit – which is mainly when I record television programs on Zoom or some other video hook-up.
Two views: Harriet Tubman $20 bills | Christian F. Nunes - Go ahead, show us the Tubmans
Christian F. Nunes
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Harriet Tubman was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, with a record of never losing a single passenger on the road to freedom from slavery. She aided the Civil War effort as a Union spy, scout, cook and battlefield nurse, and in 1863 she led an armed raid that freed 700 slaves in South Carolina making her the first woman ever to lead a U.S. military expedition.
In contrast, Andrew Jackson owned 95 enslaved people before he became president, and brought 14 of them to the White House. He signed into law the Indian Removal Act, forcing tribes off their own lands and onto the “Trail of Tears” an action that is now frequently referenced as a forced death march.