A Fragile Union
The United States of America: we take the name of our nation for granted. From the perspective of nearly two and a half centuries of history, it appears obvious that we should be one country, bound...
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The Spirit of Independence: How Culture Drives Politics
To a first approximation, American political history before the 18th century is British political history. As most American schoolchildren know, in the 17th century, John Locke crystallized the idea...
View ArticleClimate Spoof Is All Too Real
We are standing on the cusp of making unprecedented progress to reduce carbon pollution, especially from old dirty power plants. In addition to these important new public safeguards proposals,...
View ArticleThe Case for Restoring the 97% LTV Mortgage at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
A big part of the AHA's stated mission of "...protecting and promoting sustainable homeownership for all segments of America" involves highlighting those policy changes that could be put in place...
View ArticleCelebrating 10 Years of Paid Family Leave in California -- Now Let's Get the...
Parenthood is an utterly unique experience, full of firsts: your baby's first coo, first smile, first grasp of your hand. I've been lucky enough to experience those firsts four times over and know that...
View ArticleWhy School Shootings Won't Be Stopped
We are going about this all wrong. The folks on the left say with fewer or no guns we will have fewer or no more gun crimes. The folks on the right say with more guns we will have more safety from...
View ArticleShortchanging Our Own Future
I am very disappointed and concerned about our inability to provide affordable education to the next generation of leaders. The last few years have been extraordinarily disheartening for graduating...
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Poor Hillary?
"Poor Hillary Clinton." Believe it or not, this is the current obsession of the inside-the-Beltway chattering classes. Of course, the statement can be read in more than one way, can't it? The literal...
View ArticleJust Desserts: The Kissing Congressman and Other Spicy Stories
Before Facebook, Twitter, and texting, before Spotify, Pinterest and Snapchat, before sexting, before cable news channels, there was "The Ear." It was a column in the Washington Star where you turned...
View ArticleFive Reasons Not to Raise the Gas Tax
The federal Highway Trust Fund is running out of money, and some senators have proposed to fix the problem by raising gas taxes. This, however, is the wrong solution because it treats the symptom, and...
View ArticleHow to Keep the American Dream Alive
The genesis of modern American history -- the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 -- signaled to the world the birth of a new country that would abide by the principles of...
View ArticleWhy the NRA Is Staying Silent on Target's Gun Bun
Last week the mega-chain Target joined Chipotle and Starbucks in making their stores places where customers have a good chance of getting gunned down. At least this is what the NRA believes will happen...
View ArticleDeclaration of Interdependence
It's been 238 years since our Founding Fathers put their lives on the line as they placed their signatures on the Declaration of Independence. They bequeathed to future generations of Americans a...
View ArticleAddressing Climate Change Should Inspire Patriotism, Not Gridlock
Heading into the July 4th celebration of America's independence got me thinking about when it comes to huge challenges we've faced as a nation, we have a rich and storied history of aspirational spirit...
View ArticleAyatollah Alito
Ayotallah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, say hello to your new comrade, Ayotallah Samuel Alito. Supreme Leader meet Supreme Court Justice. And, no, regrettably, this is not hyperbole. With his pronouncement in...
View ArticleHappy Fourth of July, Kurdistan
Pop quiz: What side does the United States support? On one side are the Iraqi Kurds. Backed publicly by Turkey and Israel, and privately, by a growing chorus of academic, political and economic leaders...
View ArticleThe Hobby Lobby Decision and the Samson Option
In the name of expanding right to life politics in the Hobby Lobby case, the Supreme Court may have leveled the notion that we are all subject to the law. That's because the real issue now isn't...
View ArticleWhy Government Needs to Go "Back to the Future"
We must get back to a politics that serves the people in order to save the future of our country. That's why I decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives as an independent, citizen-funded...
View ArticleU.S. Forces: Stay Out of Iraq
The headlines and pundits alike are spouting the traditional clichés about Iraq: Baghdad is falling. Iraq is splitting into three parts. Shias and Sunnis have been fighting for a thousand years. We...
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Supreme Anointment Court
True Blood, the magic, devilish, vampire TV world of shape-shifters where blood is a bottled commodity to drink in a bar and extreme graphic violence and sex is recklessly paired will finally have the...
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