Has the current state of American politics banished or abandoned common sense? Or, worse, have Americans banished or abandoned common sense in what is expected from their government and even from basic citizenship? This should be intolerable. It is not. Last week was filled with examples of the absence of common sense. The first was […]
Being King or Queen of Britain ain’t Easy
Tens of millions of Americans will watch the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III on Saturday. Despite George III and the American Revolution, Americans have been infatuated with British royalty. But being a royal is not easy in what has been a sometimes often tragic and recurring history of a darker side that has plagued […]
60 Years of Foreign Policy Blunders
The record of American interventions in Vietnam in 1964; Afghanistan in 2001; and Iraq in 2003 is one of failure. Given that many in the US Congress regard China as an “existential threat,” is the US at risk of making similar errors and mistakes in judgment extending across several administrations that will end in future […]
E Unum Pluribus?
The national motto of E PLURIBUS UNUM is “From Many, One,” denoting how the separate thirteen colonies were bound into one nation. Yet, the fierce divisions today from abortion to zoonotic transmission of Covid-19, if unchecked, could reverse E PLURIBUS UNUM into E UNUM PLURIBUS for “From One, Many.” Huge divisions always existed from 1775 […]
A Few Basic Foreign Policy Questions
In the UK, prime ministers undergo “Question Time” in Parliament. This can be a knockdown event despite the civility of addressing each other as “The Right Honorable Gentleman or Lady.” US presidents endure press conferences. The difference is that presidents can choose the time and place or choose not to hold any. Prime ministers do […]
No More Iraq—Don’t Count on It
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. As in Vietnam, this use of American force also failed, some would say catastrophically so. Why? That question has never been satisfactorily answered. It must be. The Bush administration invaded for three basic reasons. The first was that Saddam Hussein’s possession […]
What is the Real Chinese Threat?
As The (House) Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party begins its work, the threat posed by China has garnered strong bipartisan support in Congress. Many members of both Houses are already critical of the President’s forthcoming FY ’24 defence budget for not spending enough money to […]
The Disunited State of Amerca (DUSA)
How did the United States of America become the Dis-United State of Amerca, the “I” purposely deleted? One answer is both part cause and partial solution. Along the way, ideas, imagination and innovation (I3) have disappeared from view, replaced by ideology, fake and alternative news, slogans and a disregard for truth and fact metastasizing into […]
Has the US Lost its Way?
Hobbes asserted that without government, life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” But, ironically, even with the government, similar terms still might apply today. That is sadly true in America. About three-quarters of Americans see the country headed in the wrong direction. And an equal proportion report they are “dissatisfied” with their lives. […]
Balloons and Derailments: Was the US Goverment Missing in Action
Did the downing of four balloons and the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train that contaminated a small Ohio town with highly toxic materials have anything in common? Many would argue yes: a US government not only missing in action but one that was unready, disorganized and unable to mount a credible and compelling response. […]