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Recent Posts: Transformational Citizenship
Tag Archives: Congress
The House GOP’s stalemate
The House Republicans’ conundrum won’t end with the selection of a speaker, whether Kevin McCarthy or someone else. Their problem is fundamental to their narrow majority, and its origin dates back more than 30 years. I became a professional congressional … Continue reading
Of inclusion and prosperity in a global community
Last week I attended commencement exercises at a prestigious university in the nation’s most diverse and creative city. The standard of living between rich and poor is nowhere greater than in New York, and the opportunities for graduates of Columbia … Continue reading
‘Change’ vs. our ossified process: It’s no contest
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Martin Luther King’s distillation of abolitionist Theodore Parker’s sermon is one of his most famous quotations. It resonates with us because we assume the universe is moral … Continue reading
Abraham Lincoln had it pretty good
When our 16th president was inaugurated, seven of the 11 Confederate states had already walked. South Carolina’s secession resolution, like those of other rebellious states, was unambiguous that slavery was the cause: A geographical line has been drawn across the … Continue reading
Which path toward a more perfect union?
I’m glad I don’t vote in Iowa – for a ton of reasons, including I don’t have to make a choice today. Most quadrennials, I’m neutral in the primaries, focused on the end game. Eight years ago I was passionate … Continue reading
Posted in Congress, election campaign, Supreme Court
Tagged Citizens United, Congress, DirecTV v. Imburgia, President Obama, Shelby County v. Holder, Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act
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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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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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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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Abraham Lincoln and the purpose of government
Abraham Lincoln was born 206 years ago today. Enshrined as our greatest president, he spent his three-decade political career writing and speaking about the framers’ intention, four score and seven years later. This week I visited the Ford’s Theatre Lincoln … Continue reading
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