Sen. Fritz Hollings

Serving in the United States Senate from 1966 to 2005, I watched partisanship develop -- then gridlock. Early on, six Republican and six Democrat Senators got together every Wednesday night; coats and ties off; heckling each other; becoming close friends. One morning a staffer told me about a fundraiser for...

It's off to the race for President Obama and Governor Romney. Immediately, they bog down in pollster politics -- size of government, values, vision, etc. Neither candidate campaigns on the needs of the country. Ten year plans to eliminate $4 trillion in spending don't cut it. The Ryan Plan

Grover Norquist has the President and Congress tied in a knot. Norquist's pledge against taxes forbids bipartisanship. Defeating a bipartisan budget last week in the House of Representatives patterned after Bowles-Simpson, Norquist said: "... the need for compromise is 'nonsense.'"

Budget rhetoric in Washington is askew. Instead of...

Just at the time we need government, all the candidates run "against big government." "I served in government, but didn't inhale." "Get government out of the way so market forces can work." Who do they think developed the economy? Not market forces. Not Corporate America, whose executives caterwaul "free trade;"...

Finally, at last, an important business magazine, The Economist, (1/21-27/12) recognizes the trade war that has ensued for sixty years. The cover article: "The Rise of State Capitalism," acts as if this is a recent phenomenon, concluding "The invisible hand of the market is giving way to the...

President Obama, the constant campaigner, continues to campaign instead of reporting the State of the Union. As headlined in The Wall Street Journal: "Obama Makes His Case" -- instead of the Union's. The nation needs the president to campaign on three problems: deficit and debt, trade war, and foreign policy.

As a student at Harvard, John Fitzgerald Kennedy traveled Europe. Kennedy could see the rise of Hitler and realized England had adopted a policy of appeasement to the rise. In his senior year, he wrote his award-winning book, Why England Slept. Today, the United States adopts a policy of appeasement...

Fifty years ago demonstrations and sit-ins worked because everyone knew they were for civil rights. Even if Occupy could agree on one purpose, Occupy wouldn't work because Congress no longer responds to the needs of the people. It only responds to the needs of the lobbyists. The people have...

Robert E. Lee stated: "Duty is the sublimest word in the English language." The duty of Corporate America is to make a profit. To make a profit, Corporate America plays the economy any way it's fashioned by a free or a communist government. But the government; i.e. the president and...

As you enter the sally-port of Padgett-Thomas Barracks at The Citadel, one sees a plaque: "DUTY IS THE SUBLIMEST WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" - Robert E. Lee. The duty of Corporate America is to make a profit. The duty of the president and Congress is to develop a strong...

Chris Matthews on Hardball keeps complaining about Democratic members of Congress and the Cabinet not campaigning for the president; not enthused about Obama. Elected to the United States Senate seven times, I know about the running for re-election on presidents' policies. In fact, my re-election in 1998 can be attributed...

Thomas Friedman is fearful that the Senate bill countering China's Rimini devaluation could pass the House and "trigger a trade war." The United States was founded in a trade war -- the Boston Tea Party. We continued the trade war when President George Washington repudiated free trade...

Ezra Kline published in The Washington Post an analysis of what Washington should have done to create jobs. And Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post states: "... I love that the Occupy protests ... are aimed at just the right target."

We need to...

I don't know what the demonstrators want Wall Street to do, open earlier; cut the price of stocks? Demonstrators mistake result for cause. Business doesn't create the business climate or economy. Government does. Business takes advantage of the business climate that the U.S. government has developed. Capitalism has a tendency...

China builds a large army -- but only to maintain law and order. China has reasoned that any military engagement between China and the United States will surely go nuclear, destroying both nations. As we puff and blow about China's military, China doesn't worry about the U. S. military....

I thought the president in his job speech would tell how the country could make a comeback. Instead, he told how he could make a comeback. President Obama kicked off his re-election campaign a la Harry Truman blaming a "do nothing Congress" for not passing his jobs bill.

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Announcing his candidacy for president, Governor Rick Perry promised: "I'll work every day to make Washington as inconsequential in your life as I can." He'll have a hard time making Washington more inconsequential.

Congress does nothing but campaign for contributions for reelection. With breaks every month to...

In 1993 we cut spending and raised taxes on everything -- including Social Security -- giving the country eight years of its strongest economy and giving President Bush a balanced budget in 2001. President Bush put the country on borrowing and steroids to the tune of $5 trillion, and...

The Norwegian Christian pleads guilty to terrorism, explaining that he wanted to save Europe from a "Muslim takeover." The Saudi Arabian Muslim, Osama bin Laden, pleaded guilty constantly to his terrorism at the Air Force Barracks in Saudi Arabia, the embassies in Kuwait and Tanzania, the U.S.S. Cole, and the...

The people don't realize that Washington is playing games. Once you get to Congress, you can stay there if you play the money game and don't make any mistakes. The money game is vicious. To be elected the seventh time to the United States Senate in 1998, it took $8.5...