If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
The emerging democratic model that Egyptians will produce will most likely become a model for an Arab world longing for an end to autocratic rule that has left Arabs lagging behind the rest of the world.
The second round of the French campaign, a.k.a. "le second tour," fought between now and the runoff May 6 is indeed a compelling race. The main quest...
What matters is having a leader, not a politician, assume political office. And so I suggest that people look to break out of the two-party trance and take on a pro-active role in taking your government back to serve You, your family, your friends, your community.
We repeatedly express surprise when this unilateral power is used and are quick to decry the lack of principle behind some uses of the pardon power. Yet we never ask how a candidate would use the pardon power during the election cycle?
Problems like climate change, biodiversity loss, and crashing fisheries populations are examples where human behavior enabled by the power of science and engineering has outstripped policymaking.
If I were Rick Santorum, I would be challenging Romney to as many one-on-one debates as possible -- and if I were Mitt Romney, I'd do the same with Santorum. It's smart politics for whoever makes the first move.
On Obama's birth certificate, on climate, and in lots of other areas, I think we tend to see people speaking out of need or desire, not clear thought. Tribal, partisan interests dominate discourse much more than an honest pursuit of truth.
Have we seen the last debate of the primary season? Probably. Have we been impressed? You're kidding, right?
This was a time when politicians were smart, oozed tons of charm and weren't shy about drinking bourbon & branch water. The words politics and entertainment are seldom found in the same sentence, but The Best Man is loaded with both.
The contrast between the wizened libertarian and the unwrinkled Inquisitioner enabled the agile Romney to split the difference, handing him points that he hadn't completely earned.
Hyperbole is no stranger to political campaigns, and Wednesday night's Republican debate saw some historical (if not historic) whoppers. Here are a few that I noticed.
We can either live by the noisy standards of society or we can choose to do better. If we focus on the goodness of America -- on our shared values, aspirations and ideals -- maybe we will be able to share a vision and realize some of our goals.
The Republican candidates just finished their 20th and (allegedly) final debate. For those keeping score, that's more debates than Santorum kids plus Romney sons plus Gingrich wives plus Paul eyebrows.
Of the four contenders, Rick Santorum had the best night. It has taken him twenty debates, but Santorum finally ended up with the primo onstage real estate, right next to Mitt Romney at the heart of the action.
While conflict is built into our system of government (the Constitution enshrines political conflict and protects differences of expression), so is the need for consensus. We seem, of late, to be having far more of the former than the latter.
Santorum is not a person who believes government should stay out of people's private moral choices. Quite the contrary, he wants the government to impose idiosyncratic and disputable moral and religious values on those who don't share those particular beliefs.
