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Recent Posts: Transformational Citizenship
Author Archives: Bennett Minton
Celebrating “Tax Day” – and perverting it
IT IS A NATIONAL DAY OF ACCOUNTS: Tax Day. In bygone years, lots of us had our returns stamped at the post office after dark, taking to the last hour to reaffirm our citizenship. Long before Turbotax, I participated in … Continue reading
Reassessing the thin blue line
If the sacrifices of Michael Brown, Walter Scott and others to come wake us to the nature of the thin blue line that the economic oligarchy has established to keep us gasping in the context of fear and chaos, then … Continue reading
Posted in Prison industry
Tagged Darren Wilson, Eric Garner, Errol Morris, Michael Brown, Michael Slager, prison industry, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott
1 Comment
What’s next: equal rights after Indiana
Last week we discovered how far we have come in recognizing the human rights of people who do not identify with sexual norms. As a matter of law, LGBT rights have been ping-ponging between federal and state legislatures and courts … Continue reading
Posted in Bill of Rights
Tagged belief, Congress, Constitution, LGBT rights, same-sex marriage, Voting Rights Act
1 Comment
Byway for a visionary country
Going-to-the-Sun is an engineering marvel, a highway scraped out of snow-capped mountains that lifts travelers over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park. That a park would be named after a chunk of ice in far-off Montana long fascinated me. In … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Congress, federal budget, National Park Service
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Belief as limitation, on campus and off
When I am not thinking about the next blog, I staff workshops that support people in discovering that all of their experience is narrowed by their beliefs. The simplest example of this phenomena is that a little while ago, we … Continue reading
Posted in education, Voting Rights Act
Tagged American exceptionalism, AP history, belief, Gratitude Training, political correctness, Selma
1 Comment
A tale of two tuition bills
Recently I tossed decades of canceled paper checks, but one I kept: $424 for tuition and fees at the University of Virginia for fall 1978, my sophomore year. If college costs reflected CPI, this year Mr. Jefferson’s Academical Village would … Continue reading
Compulsory voting: Would it fix what ails us?
With commemorations of Selma and the taking stock of how far we have come in extending voting rights, a question occurs: What would American democracy look like if voting were a requirement of citizenship? First, consider what American democracy looks … Continue reading
Posted in Voting
Tagged belief, congressional redistricting, Declaration of Independence, gerrymandering, voting rights
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Three speeches and a bump on the road to a more perfect union
In our journey toward a more perfect union, we have witnessed cycles of history since Abraham Lincoln delivered the greatest speech in American history 150 years ago. Two other speeches, 50 years ago this month, complete a cycle of that … Continue reading
Posted in Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Constitution, Voting Rights Act
Tagged 15th Amendment, Abraham Lincoln, Edmund Pettus Bridge, Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Second Inaugural, Selma, Supreme Court, Texas HB 14, Veasey v. Perry, voter ID, voting rights, Voting Rights Act
1 Comment
Belief and the ‘debate’ over global warming
In Miriam-Webster, belief is “a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing.” I’ve been mulling the grip of belief on public policy, prompted by reports of state legislators trying to … Continue reading
Posted in environment
Tagged belief, climate change, Environment, EPA, global warming, James Inhofe, science
2 Comments
American exceptionalism and the context of fear
Headlines roar over Rudy Giuliani’s latest personal shot against the president for being unpatriotic and an Oklahoma legislator’s bill to bar high school students from taking AP history. Both actions and reactions concern our image of America. Giuliani gets attention … Continue reading
Posted in education
Tagged AP history, Exceptionalism, President Obama, Republican National Committee, Rudy Giuliani
4 Comments
Transformational Citizenship 