The killing of George Floyd has resulted in actions of various types against historical statues in the United States that may celebrate or demonstrate bigotry or racial bias. These actions have sparked a national conversation on what to do because of those statues. In our opinion, the statues under scrutiny are America’s statues of limitations. They are part of America’s history. They communicate messages intentionally and unintentionally regarding the historical limitations of this … [Read more...]

    In 2010, we wrote a blog titled Interdependence Day: Celebrating the “Us” in USA calling for establishing Interdependence Day as a new national holiday. That blog was precipitated by a reaction to a “the acrimonious climate and the negative tone and tenor of the national debate in the United States” at that time. In 2015, we proposed the Interdependence Day concept again. A primary reason for doing so was the tragic shooting in that year of eight African Americans … [Read more...]

    Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air. — Kareem Adbul-Jabbar On May 25, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, with the assistance of three other officers, killed George Floyd, a black man, by holding … [Read more...]

  President Donald Trump and Republicans in the Senate have stated there is no need, at this point in time, for additional stimulus dollars to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. They are wrong. There is a desperate need. States and local government need financial support to maintain the essential health, education and public services they provide for their citizens. Those small businesses that will survive the cataclysmic crash that has occurred will need financial support to manage … [Read more...]

  Part Three: Plans for Preserving Our Democracy [This is the third and final blog of a three-part series focused on what is happening in our democratic republic in terms of repression and regression and what should be done in response to these conditions. In the first blog, we examined the areas of repression. In the second, we examined the areas of regression. In this blog, we present and discuss plans for protecting and preserving our democracy.] Make no little plans, … [Read more...]

Part Two: The Areas of Regression [This is the second blog of a three-part series focused on what is happening in our democratic republic in terms of repression and regression and what should be done in response to these conditions. In the first, we examined the areas of repression. In this blog, we examine the areas of regression. In the third, we will present and discuss plans for protecting and preserving our democracy.] For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy … [Read more...]

Part One: The Areas of Repression   [This is the first blog of a three-part series focused on what is happening in our democratic republic today in terms of repression and regression and what should be done in response to these conditions. In this blog, we examine the areas of repression. In the second, we will examine the areas of regression. And, in the third we will present and discuss plans for protecting and preserving our democracy.] No man is an island…. any man’s death … [Read more...]

    Not Socialism. Not Capitalism. A More Inclusive and Equitable Democracy. In this 20th year of the 21st century, the United States of America has become a land of inequality and a sanctuary for the rich and powerful. The top 1% of earners have more wealth than the bottom 80% and the top 20% have more wealth than all those in the middle class. America today is an economically divided nation. And, as we noted in our previous blog, those on the underside of that … [Read more...]

    This past decade was a one of loss for the United States. We’ve hoped that this decade would be one of recovery. As we noted in our last blog, however, we are not off to a good start in this regard. There were five disquieting events in the first week of February indicating that the loss in the 2010s might continue and even accelerate in 2020s. They were: President Trump’s State of the Union address The Senate’s acquittal of Donald Trump on the impeachment … [Read more...]

  The decade 2010–2019 for the United States, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, was one that “ended not with a bang but with a whimper.” Some of that whimper was President Donald Trump bemoaning the unjustness of his impeachment by the U.S. House. Some of it was writers looking back retrospectively and commenting on those ten years. In their assessment, this past decade was not one of joy and American progress but one of sadness and retreat. The cover page of the Sunday Review … [Read more...]