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Recent Posts: Transformational Citizenship
Author Archives: Bennett Minton
Model of consistency
Consider the nation when Barack Obama first swore the oath: In the depths of an economic crisis, precipitated by our collective disregard of financial stewardship, that would eliminate 8.8 million jobs and wipe out $19.2 trillion in household wealth Regaining … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Abraham Lincoln, gerrymandering, President Obama, voting rights
1 Comment
The girth of the tax code – in one provision
Ever wonder about line 23 on your annual Form 1040? In 2002 Congress created a temporary $250 “above the line” tax deduction to acknowledge teachers for the money they spend on classroom materials that their employers won’t. Teachers spend several … Continue reading
Posted in Congress, Uncategorized
Tagged taxes, teachers
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A political phenomenon crashes the season of hope
Donald Trump is just the hired help. A canary in a coalmine, the reality-show star is a measure of our civic health. Trump has held up a mirror, and his polling finds a slice of the electorate angry about our … Continue reading
The Pope and the Speaker
A parent had arrived to remind the children of their purpose. Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by … Continue reading
Posted in gerrymandering
Tagged gerrymandering, Hastert rule, House of Representatives, John Boehner, Pope Francis
1 Comment
Gerrymandering in Virginia: The legislature gets personal
What happened in the Virginia General Assembly this week is a result of gerrymandering – the political process by which the political parties take care of themselves and ignore their constituents. The events – a state Supreme Court justice and … Continue reading
Posted in gerrymandering, Voting, Voting Rights Act
Tagged gerrymandering, Jane Marum Roush, Rossie D. Alston Jr., Virginia General Assembly, voting rights, Voting Rights Act
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The Senate as kabuki theatre
The Senate’s vote this week on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood illustrates several forces that have converted the “world’s greatest deliberative body” into a mechanism of non-stop campaigning. The impetus for the vote came from group that claims to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Center for Medical Progress, filibuster, Planned Parenthood, U.S. Senate
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‘That cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion’
On this Memorial Day, I’m pondering the connection between our struggle for freedom and equality and the sacrifices of service men and women. Memorial Day was invented on May 30, 1868, as “Decoration Day.” Now it climaxes a three-day weekend … Continue reading
Posted in LGBT rights, Supreme Court
Tagged LGBT rights, Mattachine Society, Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage, Supreme Court
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Bert Neuborne and ‘Madison’s Music’
Have you considered why the First Amendment is structured the way it is, or how the 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights came to be so ordered? Me neither, until I read Bert Neuborne’s new book, Madison’s Music: On … Continue reading
Posted in Bill of Rights, James Madison, U.S. Constitution, Voting
Tagged 14th Amendment, Baker v. Carr, Bill of Rights, Citizens United, Congress, First Amendment, Supreme Court
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“Civil Death”: Florida’s Criminal Disenfranchisement
The Honorable Rick Scott Tallahassee, Florida Dear Governor Scott: Belated congratulations on your reelection in November. I don’t write to every governor, but as a non-resident, property-tax-payer who spends about half the year in the Sunshine State (summers too – … Continue reading
Posted in civil rights, U.S. Constitution, Voting
Tagged 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment, civil rights, Constitution, disenfranchisement, voting rights
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A wake – or awake? – in Baltimore
After riots broke out in cities across the country in the summer of 1967, President Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Known as the Kerner Commission after its chairman, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, it issued a 426-page … Continue reading
Posted in civil rights
Tagged civil rights, Congress, congressional budget, Kerner Commission
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