All sides are digging in on the issue of the closure of part of the federal government. When all parties dig firmly into extreme positions, it is easy to find fault. So I will. On one hand is the president who has decided that this is his last stand. The question is whether he is […]
The Countryman
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Changing the law by breaking it
President John F. Kennedy was one among many to remind us that America’s is “a government of laws, not of men.” That truism underpinning our system of justice has been built into our federal and state governments since before we had either. In 1780, John Adams based the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
A good insurance policy
The slow return of daylight in early January usually sparks hope. This year, not so much. At least politically. For whatever reasons, pundits see a tough year ahead. The left is heartened by new majorities in Augusta and Washington, but Donald Trump is still president. The right is heartened by a stronger majority in the […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Mixing up everything — and everybody
As one ages, one increasingly evaluates the events of one’s life. Not just one’s personal life, but the life of the larger world as well. This is about the life of the larger world. Having grown up white in segregated Missouri, I have been aware since I was barely past toddler age that race is […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Making sure every vote counts
If you live in Maine, yeah. But if you lived in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan or New Jersey, not so much. Those states face efforts to rob citizens of their most precious civic possession, their vote. And just after Maine turned back a similar effort. Our right to vote has been under threat for a […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Successful bad ideas
The United States has been a world leader for more than a century because we are a country of ideas. Much of what is now the world’s commonplace began as an idea in the head of some American. We have had just the right combination of individualism and cooperation to come up with ideas (individuals) […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Absolute (and certain) corruption in college athletics
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That statement by Lord Acton in 1877 has become a staple in political science classrooms. He would have been dead-on if he had said money instead of power, too. Students in those political science classes can see the corruption firsthand. Just walk over to the practice […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
For this I give thanks . . .
No other country has a holiday for giving thanks, the radio announcer said. While most NPR people are well informed, I was sure the guy didn’t know what he was talking about. I had lived in Canada, which observes Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. So, I looked it up. Turns out seven other […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Maine's about-faces
One thing was certain, the school superintendent told us. Whoever we chose to succeed him would be strong in the areas in which we believed he was weak. That is the nature of regime change, he said. We were the search committee for School Administrative District 9 (Mount Blue), and our first task was to […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
They didn't come for us … this time
On any other day, the scene would have shocked me. But this time, not so much. An armed police officer was standing at the door of a house of worship. I was driving past the Beth Israel Synagogue in Waterville. Dozens of cars were parked outside. A Waterville city police officer stood by the door. […]