11 Oct, 2022
Dictatorship? Raise hands
Show of hands: Who wants the US to be a dictatorship? Ah, no one? Well, almost no one. We see your hand, Mr. Trump.
24 Mar, 2022
The deep connections between democracy and nonviolence
In recent weeks, leaders and commentators here and abroad have rightly framed Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine as a struggle between autocracy and democracy.
20 Dec, 2021
Downhill from the Summit for Democracy
The just-concluded Summit for Democracy was intended to be a rallying point for democratic and nearly-democratic states, with pep talks on confronting rising authoritarianism and building democratic institutions...
6 Nov, 2021
Vote back better
My Dad skated for the Minnesota Gophers hockey team after he finally got done serving “for the duration” in World War II in the Philippines. So, of course, he was our coach as we PeeWees tried to learn to play hockey in Minnesota in the late 1950s. As a coach, one of his favorite go-to instructions to us was, “OK, team, back to the basics!”...
7 Jul, 2018
At Home and Abroad, Trump Abandons Human Rights
“In January 1941, with the prospect looming of US involvement in another European war, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke of America’s...
6 Feb, 2018
Trumped up treason
““Somebody said ‘treasonous.’ I mean — yeah I guess, why not. Can we call that treason? Why not. I mean,...
23 Dec, 2017
Those Tax-and-spend Republicans
“OK the Republicans got their tax plunder law. They win, we lose. Some 83 percent of the $benefits will go...
8 Sep, 2017
Democracy Insurance
“Here’s a basic rule of public policy: If a society wants a capability, it has to pay for it…” Hardy...