Veterans and Congressmen: Gerald R. Ford and Charles B. Rangel
Charles Rangel and Gerald Ford were veterans of the Korean War and World War II, respectively. When Rangel was elected to Congress in 1971, history brought him together with then-Michigan Rep. Jerry Ford, first elected to Congress in 1948.
The Fertility Crisis and Its Political/Intellectual Roots
The decline in fertility throughout the developed world is a widely noted problem: both in the U.S. and most of the developed world, the rate of reproduction is well short of what would be required to sustain our population at existing levels.
Hannah Arendt and the Dangers of “Inner Emigration”
In the past, I used to grab my morning tea and then check the news. Now, I wake up and dread the morning’s political news.
Study Finds Congress Often Out of Sync With America
In an era of deep political polarization, a new study indicates that many members of Congress may be out of step not just with the opposition party, but with their own voters as well.
Out of Many, One: A Legal and Constitutional Approach to Unity
As a lifelong student of political philosophy and political science, rather than a practitioner of law, I tend to approach such ideas by turning to the great minds who discovered and articulated them over the centuries.
Ford’s Swimming Pool
On June 30, 1975, one of US President Gerald Ford’s lesser dreams was realized with the opening of the White House pool.
Sports and Politics
I’ve heard it said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. I’ve also heard that people these days are pretty stressed out, and I have to wonder if that’s because we’re all being so damned vigilant.
What makes it “necessary”?
As we mark the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we reflect on its interesting use of “necessary.”
Uncovering the Past: One Writer’s Fight to Save a Forgotten Vietnam Archive
After archivists at the Library of Congress thanked me for helping locate a lost video archive about the fall of Saigon, I wrote to several government officials requesting a review of all archives in the Veterans History Project. When I received no replies, I turned to Vietnam-era journalist Marvin Kalb.
Entangling Grudges: Washington's Other Warning
In his 1796 farewell address, George Washington famously cautioned about the dangers to liberty of the United States entering into entangling alliances.
The Surprising Convergence of Donald Trump's Economic Advice to the American People and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Advice to His Own People
Among the issues that Donald Trump successfully campaigned on in 2024, the most influential one, along with putting a stop to rampant illegal immigration, was undoubtedly improving the American people’s standard of living, following years of high inflation under the Biden administration.