Almost exactly a decade ago, I remember producing articles and speeches in which I questioned whether there were actually weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, predicting a prolonged conflict, and suggesting that the Bush administration actually had in mind to use Iraq as a military and political base to promote...

The current Republican nomination contest has revealed serious confusion over the nature of our economic system. Very conservative candidates are attacking Governor Romney because his experience at Bain Capital involved buying companies with borrowed money, firing their employees, then selling them for a profit. Many, though not all, of these...

There is a story, now somewhat legendary, that John Kennedy once gave as a birthday present to his friend and court jester Dave Powers a silver mug with this engraving:

Only three things are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since we can do nothing with the first two, we...

Perhaps for obvious reasons of predictability, dependability and reliability, we used to expect our leaders to conform to convention. And the boundaries of convention were formed by political society, history, and tradition. Thus, presidents should be sufficiently ambitious to seek office, but not so ambitious as to trample on others....

There are those of us of a certain age and generation, probably not too many now, who still wonder whether the assassination of John Kennedy marked a turning point not only in American politics but in America itself. We will never know. But it does seem, looking back over the...

For obvious reasons, there is considerable discussion going on about how much a candidate should know in order to be a credible candidate for the presidency. The Constitution imposes no I.Q. test. But it was written at a time when many Founders read and sometimes even spoke classical Greek and...

Decades more must pass before the human heart and mind can grasp the full meaning of September 11, 2001. Those of us close enough to have issued warnings that were ignored have our own memories and burdens.

I am clear on one thing, however. Save for our Civil War, there...

Several years passed before our government realized that the end of the Cold War had unleashed a set of new realities, realities containing both new dangers and opportunities. The U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century was empanelled in October, 1998, to assess these and to recommend reforms...

Manifesto: We believe that: we are all in this together; a just society protects its children, elderly, and disabled; all are entitled to a healthy environment; the able-bodied should have the opportunity to work; corporations and banks should deal honestly with consumers; workers' safety deserves protection; quality public education is...

Within hours of the debt ceiling debacle, serious people agreed that economic stimulation was far more important, at least in the short term, than phony efforts to balance the budget. The hue and cry among central bankers and thoughtful economists is: Governments must act! By that they mean, stimulate stagnant...

In describing a politician lacking in courage, someone once described him as "entering the battlefield after the conflict is over and shooting the wounded." That description came to mind in recent days when credentialed economists, a number from previous Republican administrations, suddenly appeared, after the hangman of debt default was...

It is impossible to form national priorities in a climate where one out of five Americans hates the government that manages our public interests. If your attitude is that we're all on our own and that collective action concerning our shared interests is to be resisted, then governing becomes...

President Obama's speech to the nation Monday night, August 1st:

"My fellow Americans. Tonight I have signed an order raising the debt ceiling for the next two years. I have taken this extraordinary step because I had no other choice. My duties under our Constitution include being commander-in-chief of our...

When the United States, uniquely among historical national powers, established itself on the foundation of principles, our founders purposely intended to establish us as a beacon among nations. But they also created a high standard for national behavior that has proved a burden ever since.

The original Constitution explicitly set...

One of the best, indeed quite possibly the best, books on the derailment of U.S. foreign policy in the early 21st century is Superpower Illusions: How Myths and False Ideologies Led America Astray -- and How to Return to Reality. It was published last year by Ambassador Jack Matlock, one...

In his magisterial work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, more quoted than read, made this one-of-many interesting observation: "In the commonwealths of Athens and Rome, the modest simplicity of private houses announced the equal condition of freedom; whilst the sovereignty of the people was represented...

As on previous occasions at this site, this is not a rhetorical question. I don't know the answer. And, of course, I don't mean should the president be a moral person. The question is whether the ultimate political leader in our democratic system should also be one who focuses our...

For about three-and-a-half centuries wars have been fought principally between and among nation-states or countries. Military people are paid to prepare for these wars and employ the tools and practices of traditional warfare in doing so. Now comes the 21st century and the new threats we face are not from...

Sometime back, doesn't matter exactly when, politics said goodbye to me. I didn't say goodbye to it. As an avenue for active citizenship, it fundamentally changed.

There was a time, years ago, for no apparent reason of birth or training I had a keen insight into American politics. I understood...

This is not a rhetorical question to which I have an answer. I don't know. Most political people would laugh and say no. But, it is worth at least a momentary thought.

It is difficult to imagine that a mass democracy of 300 million could have a...