We often hear speakers who want to look at the big picture on some issue asking us to pull our thinking up to 50,000 feet because a high-altitude view hides all the details and complications so that we can see the philosophical or conceptual characteristics of the subject under discussion. I’d like to take a …
According to the news of the day, about 1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits at midnight last night. These are people who have been receiving the benefits for longer than the twenty six week maximum provided for in our Federal regulations. I have never received unemployment benefits myself so I only know what I …
We regularly hear it said that government doesn’t know how to create jobs or the creation of jobs is best left up to private industry. We rarely hear anyone challenge this idea so it must be true. Right? WRONG!!!! Let me explain myself. Just to make sure we are all on the same page here, …
As a retired military officer, I have spent a lot of time thinking about leadership and what makes a good leader. I served with exceptional leaders and some who fell a bit short during my time in the service. I have lots of notes that may become a book on the subject if I ever …
I’ll start by admitting that I don’t know enough about the rules of the United States Senate to explain how they changed the cloture (filibuster) rule from a sixty vote requirement to a simple majority for confirmation of Presidential nominees and did it on a simple majority vote. I am on record saying that I …
According to an Associated Press article out of Seattle, the voter turnout for the November elections in Washington State is going to be just over 44%. Let that sink in for a moment. Less than half of the registered voters voted. That means that even if a candidate or ballot issue got 100% of the …
There is certainly a need for some limits on how widely government information is disseminated. The best example would involve treaty negotiations, but labor negotiations or military planning would easily fall within the topics where some amount of secrecy is appropriate and there are a few more types of information that should be included here …
If we just look at a few political races from yesterday’s election, we can easily see what I have been talking about for some time. The Gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia were both influenced by large amounts of money flowing in from outside the State’s borders. Political parties, Political Action Committees (PACs), special …
Continuing with the subject of my last post about a constituency test as a qualification for political donations to a candidate, I would ask you to look around as this year’s election is only a week away. Where I live the special interests and outside money are pouring resources into a Mayoral race and the …
We typically don’t think about just who is and who is not a constituent when we start talking politics. The term gets thrown around pretty freely along with conversations about political action committees and political parties as well as voters and other special interests, but in this case I think we need to be precise …
