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Politics: It Can Be A Noble Vocation

To some the words politics or politician are pejoratives. A person the voters have elected to represent them and their community may be dismissed as “just a politician.” In our representative democracy, what should a politician be and how should politics be viewed? The famous American theologian and ethicist, Reinhold Niebuhr astutely observed: “The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.” Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II and President from 1953-1961 said the practice of politics is a “serious, complicated and, in ...

County Response To SNAP Withholding Is Underwhelming

What are we to make of Trump’s handling of the SNAP “crisis”—one of his own making? Because he hasn’t offered a logical explanation of why anyone would want their fellow Americans to go hungry when the government is sitting on the resources they need, we have to read the contextual tea leaves. Before we do, a crucial caveat: the government shutdown isn’t an excuse; SNAP benefits have never been curtailed during previous shutdowns. This time, a federal court has ordered the administration to continue these benefits, but Trump is resisting that order. Given Trump’s ...

Socialism Is More Intense Liberalism

There was a time when both major political parties had a substantial number of liberals and conservatives. But over the course of the lifetime of everyone reading this column today, liberals have shifted to the Democrats, while conservatives have shifted to the Republicans. That has led—within the GOP—to a philosophical shift that has been, on balance, good for the GOP and good for the country. ♦♦♦ The shift within the GOP isn’t the only shift. Yet the shift within the Democrat party has been, on balance, bad for the party and the country. How many Democrat ...

I Still Pine For Pinecones

Preparing for this weekend’s garage sale, I came across a canvas bag I hadn’t seen in years. It was filled with pinecones. Giant Sequoia pinecones. Some of these babies are almost a foot long, and my memory of first seeing them goes back to 1949. 1949? Yes, I was alive then – and out of diapers. In fact, I was out of third grade. But the huge pinecones that my mother brought home from California fascinated me for their pure size. I studied redwood trees and the giant Sequoias, and I knew I had to see them for myself someday. My mother’s first trip to California in 1944 ...

Everything You Didn’t Want To Know About Salt

Given the tremendous change and angst we are seeing in the world today, you might wonder why I’ve chosen to write about such an insignificant topic as salt. But that’s precisely why I’m writing about it. Now is not the time to lose our wonder about the world, or to lose our curiosity. In fact, if ever we needed to learn about the mesmerizing topic of salt, today is that day. Let’s face it, it’s the only rock we eat. That common household item has a long and intriguing history. And without sounding too bombastic, I will go as far as to say that salt has shaped civilization ...

Am I Waking Up Late Night Or Early Morning?

“These days I’m up about the time I used to go to bed Living large was once the deal, now I watch the stars instead They’re timeless and predictable, unlike most things that I do But I’d tell the wind and my old friend, I’m headed home to you.” These are the lyrics of Verse Three of a Jimmy Buffett song titled Coast of Carolina. It is Track 4 from his album, License to Chill, which was released in 2004 and produced by Mac McAnally and Robert Utley. The song was written for his wife Jane, as a follow up to his hit song Come Monday, also written to Jane, as a hugely ...