Does voting make any difference? Is it worth the trouble? The answer depends upon you. If you and enough other people vote for someone who has pledged to represent your…
Tag: trust
Keeping Our Republic
In general, constitutions are written by people who expect to live and work together for generations to come. It’s when enough people no longer feel this way that Constitutions are…
A Tale of Two Countries
Clashes in Berkeley and Portland bring to mind an interesting story about two countries where people who felt frustrated with each other and their governments. Citizens in Columbia and Venezuela…
Are You Well Served by the USPS?
The U.S. Constitution provides for nearly universal adult access to the ballot. The pandemic is making that difficult. Most voting precincts had historically depended upon retirees to administer the system,…
New Course on Trust & The Presidency
Take this short civics course about trust, distrust, and the presidency.
Declaration of Independence
Consider every citizen in this country to be an American, worthy of your support and help.
Trust and Our Police
To improve trust in our police, fairness and accountability must be more evenly distributed along lines of race and ethnicity.
Divided We Fall
History shows that one of the shortest paths towards dictatorship is to get the people divided against each other.
Our Leaders Don’t Want Us to Know
We get to have leaders who are accountable to us, and we get to choose our leaders peacefully – but only if …
Freedom of the Press
Thomas Jefferson said “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.” A free press is especially important in the coronavirus pandemic.
Urgent Attention Needed
It is hard to fight the corona virus without a healthy liberal, republican democracy. Urgent attention is needed.
In Need of Vigilant Defense
Liberal, republican democracy is precious for the freedom, peace, and better quality of life it can bring, but those benefits don’t come for free. Citizens need to do more to protect and strengthen their democracies – starting here at home.
Strongmen for Scared People?
Strongmen for scared people leads to failure. Democracies have the edge when it comes to health care. Read on.
Voting During the Pandemic
Interest in voting by mail has increased – because of anxiety over catching the virus from fellow voters. It seems simple but there are important trade-offs to consider.
Emergency COVID-19 Powers
Emergency powers are sometimes necessary, but they should always be temporary, and only Congress should have the authority to renew them.
Corona Virus, Democracy, and Accountability
First, please take a look at the good advice from the CDC. Second, consider also how you might be able to help the people around you. Nextdoor.com and other social…
Constitution Day, 2019
The framers came up with a Constitution that allows people who distrust each other to work productively together in pursuit of their own happiness – but only if the principles of accountability, fairness, and constrained power are respected and enforced.
Building a Trustworthy Gov’t
The US Senate is considering another rule change aimed at reducing the backlog of presidential appointees awaiting Senate confirmation. The reality of political appointees has created a battlefield as partisans…
Connecting the Dots
Pundits haven’t yet fully connected the dots in front of them. Yes, presidential use of national emergency powers to spend money on things that Congress chose not to authorize is against the Article 1 of Constitution. Here is the other dot: the choice of president became more consequential as the Office of the President became more powerful. This trend explains why election campaigns have been fought ever more viciously – by politicians and citizens alike.
Martin Luther King Jr.
In a democracy, people need to trust that they will be treated fairly. They need to know they can vote like anyone else, that they will be treated just as…
Supreme Court and Democracy
With the composition of the Supreme Court being so consequential, the Senate has an eternal obligation to confirm justices who will defend the constitution on a non-partisan basis for all people within our borders. We hope citizens will ask their senators to go beyond that and make support for free, fair, and accountable democracy one of their major confirmation criteria.
Divided We Fall
What if those in power now could be given assurances that they could continue to compete politically all across the nation – if they end their dangerous tactics of retaliation and entrenchment – combined with assurances that today’s opposition will also swear off such tactics? Doing so would allow everyone to return to the business of getting better results for our country, for our children, and for our grandchildren. All that is required is that elected officials look out for the public interest instead of governing in pursuit of their self interest – and for each of us to insist they do so.