National Democrats
A Touch of Politeness
After taking our order the waitress, a plain-faced country woman with a gimp knee, limped toward the kitchen. David, a retired lawyer, sitting beside his son-in-law Kevin, leaning back, staring across the table at me, half laughed. “I’m sad to say Kevin’s got his foot in politics.” Round face, jaw set, Kevin grinned. “Can you…
Read MoreThe Past Isn’t Dead
A court upended Trump’s tariffs – Trump said losing tariffs would land us in a great depression. Look back at history: In 1930 to stop ‘The Great Depression’ Republicans passed tariffs; the economy plummeted, unemployment rose to 25%. Next Trump said the War Department changed its name to the Defense Department to ‘go woke.’ The…
Read MoreA Sign of Hope
Republican Congressmen were for releasing the Epstein files – until the White House told them, No. Don’t do that. The Republican men, seeing it as practical, quickly fell in line behind Trump. The women turned out to be a different story. Two congressmen introduced a discharge petition to release the files. Eight Epstein victims went…
Read MoreA Sign of Hope
‘What did you think of those students?’ Gary asked after we spent an hour at a forum at N. C. State University. The students weren’t anything like politicians you watch on TV these days –– no one ranted, strutted; voices calm, when they disagreed, politeness held. Gary saw that as a sign of better days…
Read MoreIgnoring the Past
The future’s a mystery. But it’s also true history repeats itself. So when we come to a fork in the road the past – by shedding light on old mistakes – can help us choose the road to take. At the end of ‘The Roaring Twenties’ my grandmother married – as a young girl she’d…
Read MoreA Lost Virtue
Seldom agreeing, grasping for power, our two political parties have fought for years. Back in Reagan days, Democrats said we needed more government to fix problems. Republicans, like Reagan, shot back government was the problem. Still, as Reagan and Tip O’Neill battled, they shared common values. Both respected that Americans had the right to disagree…
Read MoreA Reckoning
Hitler couldn’t destroy America. The Soviet Union couldn’t either. But Trump’s warning us one federal court has the power to destroy us. Of course, he was angry the court ruled against him. And he was posturing to get clicks on social media. But he left one question unanswered. Here’s what happened: Using what he calls…
Read MoreThe Times They Are a’ Changin’
The other day I read Big Tech Algorithms – by feeding us what we crave to see, hear, believe – are warping our character. There’s probably some truth in that but tale spinning goes all the way back to the Serpent tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden – it’s an old bone-deep sin. Parents…
Read MoreBleeding Democrats
If the Democratic Party were a hospital patient, every monitor would be blaring emergency alarms. The party is bleeding voter registrations – nationally and in North Carolina. After the 2020 election, there were over 373,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans (2,620,162 to 2,246,540) in North Carolina. Today, there are just over 15,800 more registered Democrats…
Read MoreA Line in the Sand
After Watergate, puzzled, trying to figure out reams of new election laws, I started looking for a lawyer – but there wasn’t a single lawyer in North Carolina who practiced that kind of law. I called Stan Evans, head of the American Conservative Union in Washington, and he said one name: “John Bolton.” A week…
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