Posts by Carter Wrenn
Other People’s Money
It wasn’t exactly subtle the other morning when the newspaper ran two stories side by side: One about a single mother who works all day and then works three additional jobs nights and weekends to make ends meet – and a second story about the Director of the Raleigh Housing Authority. It turns out every year…
Read MoreBehind the Curtain?
Farmers are saying they’ve tried and tried but there’s no way on earth they can hire enough workers to pick the apples and cucumbers and sweet potatoes germinating in the fields so Congress had better get in gear and pass immigration reform jack-rabbit-quick to legalize undocumented immigrants (which is the farmers’ polite way of saying…
Read MoreHumility
The train wreck hit so unexpectedly and with such force that, after standing his ground through the opening chaos, the President retreated which turned out to be like pouring gas on the fire – the partisan bickering soared. And Obama’s poll numbers tanked. And now listening to the wise men in Washington that was all…
Read MorePolls
The other night Gary and I were invited to dinner with a dozen learned scholars who for some unfathomable reason were curious to hear us trace the roots of the demise of modern politics. And, of course, it was only a matter of time before I said the word ‘poll’ and as soon as…
Read MoreNot a Vice
Up in the gilded halls of Congress the Tea Partiers went on a tear last month voting against Debt Ceiling increases and budgets that didn’t cut spending but the whole proposition of fighting it out with Obama seemed altogether too risky to the Pachyderm Republicans so after a fortnight they gave up the ghost and…
Read MoreTearing Through Georgia
The row started, oddly enough, with a single email. Which got answered. And counter answered. Then, boom, there was a full scale war of emails going on (with me watching copies flying back and forth) that lasted two days. At first I thought my two friends were arguing over who to support in…
Read MoreThe Same-Old
The poor Tea Partiers have been getting pounded from pillar to post by the Washington political bosses and reporters and I’ll grant there’s a streak of oddness in the Tea Partiers but they also possess virtues like fighting for lost causes and having the courage of their convictions and besides, when you get right…
Read MoreOld Fogey Ways
Last week the newspapers were full of high-sounding stories about the Senate’s gay rights bill. They reported the Senate’s: – Completing the civil rights crusade started fifty years ago. – Letting the bells of freedom ring. – Advancing tolerance. – Barring discrimination. One Illinois Democrat intoned how happy he was the Senate’s ‘fulfilling Abraham…
Read MoreBosses
Mitch McConnell sounded a lot like an old-fashioned political boss: He sat down with a columnist from the Wall Street Journal, whipped out a knife, and plunged it right into the Tea Party. To govern, McConnell said, parties must win. And to win they have to run candidates who’re adults. That was a…
Read MoreThe Key
Polymorphous America enjoyed a boom week last week. The Senate passed a bill to show any fellow who doesn’t cotton to hiring transgenders, bisexuals or gay people the error of his ways. And, overjoyed, the President announced a more tolerant America goes hand in hand with a more prosperous America – as if…
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