Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Advice to a (small ‘d’) democrat

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Bennett Minton

A friend asks for facts about Joe Biden, without mentioning Donald Trump, to help her decide. Not comprehensive, but this is what I wrote her after spending 15 minutes on the question (and a few more refining for this post): … Continue reading →

Posted in election campaign, Joe Biden, presidential election 2020, Uncategorized, Voting Rights Act | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The lies our textbooks told us

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Bennett Minton

A link to The Washington Post version of my post on the Virginia government’s effort to rewrite history. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/slavery-history-virginia-textbook/2020/07/31/d8571eda-d1f0-11ea-8c55-61e7fa5e82ab_story.html. Published in the Sunday opinion section on August 2, it drew more than 1900 comments. My sampling suggests people were inspired … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil War, slavery, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The lies our textbooks told us

Exhuming history, exposing lies

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Bennett Minton

As I watched Richmond city workers, surrounded by cheering protestors, remove a hundred-year-old towering bronze of Stonewall Jackson on horseback from its base on Monument Avenue, tears streamed down my face. On the 157th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil War, slavery, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The revolution will not be televised

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Bennett Minton

I hear the frustration of Bernie supporters. I too am frustrated at the cultural and institutional conservatism that has created a country where the accident of birth determines economic fate. In 240 years we’ve had a few shifts of the … Continue reading →

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What I ponder at the Lincoln Memorial

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Bennett Minton

What have I learned in 60 years? Take little for granted, other than that I will (likely) return home from a bike ride. At dawn I took my customary solstice/birthday pilgrimage to the Lincoln Memorial and faced the Washington Monument, … Continue reading →

Posted in Abraham Lincoln, civil rights, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

A few days in southern Utah . . .

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Bennett Minton

. . . where a piece of the Trump administration’s environmental agenda is playing out, and where hordes of Americans (and foreigners) can’t get enough of the West. Fiery Furnace is a mind game

Posted in environment, National Park Service, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Denouement of ‘repeal and replace’

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Bennett Minton

As societies become more complex, the government (the instrument of our social compact) is called on to do more to arrange commerce – the exchange of goods and services. Market regulation is a necessary component of development, to ensure some … Continue reading →

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The meaning and the drama of Trump’s budget

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Bennett Minton

Newt Gingrich lives in President Trump’s first pass at a federal budget. The purpose of a budget – government, corporate or household – is to put vision in numbers. First identify the goals, the strategies to execute them and their … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, federal budget, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Electoral College: Will no one rid us of this meddlesome relic?

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Bennett Minton

On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, the Electoral College is expected to demonstrate not only its uselessness but its destructiveness by choosing for president a candidate who lost the national popular vote by more than 2 … Continue reading →

Posted in Electoral College, Supreme Court, U.S. Constitution, Voting, Voting Rights Act | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Electoral College: Will no one rid us of this meddlesome relic?

‘Change’ vs. our ossified process: It’s no contest

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Bennett Minton

“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 →

Posted in Congress, election campaign, Electoral College, gerrymandering, U.S. Constitution, Voting | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment