Posts by Carter Wrenn
Recessional
The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, A humble and a contrite heart. Victoria ruled for 60 years, Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth, but its strength was ebbing. Rudyard Kipling, in a short poem in 1897, wrote about battles the British…
Read MoreA Sign of Hope
Out of a clear blue sky a sign of hope landed in my inbox Saturday morning. Here’s Larissa Phillips’ story from The Free Press (below). Whatever Happens, Love Thy Neighbor I’m a Democrat living in a red, rural county. Trump supporters have mowed my lawn, walked my dog, and eroded my prejudices with their…
Read MoreNo Healing?
Biden got out. Harris got in. Trump got shot. Insults flew. The election boiled down to seven states. It’s over tomorrow night – and Lord willing Wednesday the sun will rise on a peaceful day. And healing begins. But what if…as Trump watches votes roll in tomorrow night, leading Harris, he announces he won. But…
Read MoreA Different Drummer
Russia’s targeting Hispanic voters in six swing states, spreading tales on the internet during our election. Iran’s targeting Arab Americans, Muslims, and Black voters in swing states. China’s spinning tales in Spanish on Facebook, YouTube and X, targeting Hispanic voters not just in the Presidential race but in House and Senate races. And it hacked…
Read MoreWild Times
This election keeps getting crazier and crazier – we’ve now got China hacking Trump’s cell phone. And Russia spinning tales on the internet to help Trump. A New York Times headline howled Harris dropped an F-bomb on Trump – calling him a fascist. Trump fired back – calling her a communist. Elon Musk’s holding a…
Read MoreA Strange Time
Imagine walking down a road, getting blinded by a flash of light, falling down, hearing a voice say your name. That happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. What if today, after a flash of light, the voice of God said, Don’t lie. Would people listen? Would politicians? At lunch, stirring a bowl of…
Read MoreStories about Politics
My memoir – The Trail of the Serpent – is going to be published next Tuesday, on October 22nd. The title comes from a line by Irish poet Thomas Moore: “Some flow’rets of Eden ye still inherit, but the trail of the Serpent is over them all.” Telling stories I follow the trail of the…
Read MoreTaboo
As a boy growing up in Virginia my grandmother told me, Be polite…to dowager aunts, grandmothers, rudeness was taboo. Courtesy was an old southern habit. In college I sat down in the bleachers to watch a football game – students poured whiskey into paper cups, guzzled, faces flushed screamed, cheered – but politeness still held.…
Read MoreTwo Roads…
From Walter Mondale to Obama Democrat politicians preached the same gospel: Government was the way to solve problems – the way they saw it the more money and power government held in its hands the more problems they’d solve. The way Republicans saw it was different: Government didn’t solve problems – it made them worse.…
Read MoreKeep Your Fingers Crossed…
At the end of the Vance–Walz debate I thought, I wish those two were the ones running for president. Their debate was like a flashback to an earlier time – both men threw punches, got punched, but did it in a courteous way. Without meanness. An old niceness we haven’t seen for a while in…
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