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Liberals Need to Stop Making Excuses

by Bernard A. Weisberger

HNN Roundtable: Do Democrats Have a Double Standard for Obama?Bernard A. Weisberger: Liberals Need to Stop Making ExcusesMichael Lind: Progressives Don’t Have a Double Standard—But Partisan Democratic Talking Heads DoKenneth W. Mack: Progressive Are Disenchanted with Obama—Abolitionists Were Disenchanted with LincolnDaniel Pipes: Republicans Are Inconsistent with Obama, But Democrats Are HypocriticalRick Shenkman: Is Obama So Bad at Impromptu Remarks that He Can't Handle More News Conferences?Gil Troy: Obama Should Own His Continuities with the Bush White House 

The Partnership of Betty and Gerald Ford

by Yanek Mieczkowski

In February 1948, Gerald Ford, then a Grand Rapids lawyer, told Betty Bloomer, the fashion designer he was dating, “I’d like to marry you, but we can’t get married until next fall and I can’t tell you why.”  Those cryptic words began a partnership that spanned nearly sixty years.  At its core was their love, but it also represented a political bond that lasted a quarter century on Capitol Hill and transformed the White House during their 895 days as First Couple. What Ford could not divulge to Betty in 1948 was his plan to run for Michigan’s Fifth District congressional seat.  That fall his life changed dramatically.  In October he married Betty, and the next month he won a seat in Congress, marking the first of thirteen consecutive terms.

Progressive are Disenchanted with Obama—Abolitionists were Disenchanted with Lincoln

by Kenneth W. Mack

HNN Roundtable: Do Democrats Have a Double Standard for Obama?

Obama Should Own His Continuities with the Bush White House

by Gil Troy

HNN Roundtable: Do Democrats Have a Double Standard for Obama?Bernard A. Weisberger: Liberals Need to Stop Making ExcusesMichael Lind: Progressives Don’t Have a Double Standard—But Partisan Democratic Talking Heads DoKenneth W. Mack: Progressive Are Disenchanted with Obama—Abolitionists Were Disenchanted with LincolnDaniel Pipes: Republicans Are Inconsistent with Obama, But Democrats Are HypocriticalRick Shenkman: Is Obama So Bad at Impromptu Remarks that He Can't Handle More News Conferences?Gil Troy: Obama Should Own His Continuities with the Bush White HouseDo the Democrats have a double standard for Obama?Of course they do.

We Need to Rethink the Morality of the Economy

by James Livingston

Why can’t the liberal Left answer the Right when budget deficits are the issue?  Why are Democrats, Obama included, so eager to reduce spending on so-called entitlements? Because they agree with Republicans on the morality of spending, the causes of economic growth, and the numbers that flow from this agreement—and only from this agreement.  This bipartisan consensus reads as follows.  “We’re spending too much on Medicare and related welfare state-sponsored services, so much that radical changes in these programs are urgently necessary.  The disparity between contributions made and benefits received is impossible to sustain either as a moral proposition or an economic projection.  Meanwhile, however, our choice of revenue sources has shrunk, because we’ve learned since the 1970s that we can’t penalize the ‘job creators’ [investors] in the private sector by raising taxes on their profits and incomes.  Thus we face budget shortfalls at the federal and state levels that can be met only by spending cuts.”

Progressives Don’t Have a Double Standard—But Partisan Democratic Talking Heads Do

by Michael Lind

HNN Roundtable: Do Democrats Have a Double Standard for Obama?

Is Obama So Bad at Impromptu Remarks that he Can't Handle More News Conferences?

by Rick Shenkman

HNN Roundtable: Do Democrats Have a Double Standard for Obama?

UT-Austin Issues Strong Defense of Humanities

by John Willingham

Under attack from critics who want to apply market-based principles to public universities in Texas, the University of Texas at Austin issued a report on July 6 that strongly defends the humanities and chides marketing proponents for trying to impose rigid and simplistic solutions on higher education.“The higher education experience is not akin to shopping on iTunes or visiting Banana Republic,” the report says.  Called “Maintaining Excellence and Efficiency at the University of Texas at Austin,” it is the work of Randy L. Diehl, Dean of the UT College of Liberal Arts, with assistance from the executive leadership team at the College.“Curricula are based on the wisdom of traditional educational experience, accrediting agencies and state requirements—not simply the momentary wants of the consumer.”

Republicans Are Inconsistent with Obama, But Democrats Are Hypocritical

by Daniel Pipes

HNN Roundtable: Do Democrats Have a Double Standard for Obama?Bernard A. Weisberger: Liberals Need to Stop Making ExcusesMichael Lind: Progressives Don’t Have a Double Standard—But Partisan Democratic Talking Heads DoKenneth W. Mack: Progressive Are Disenchanted with Obama—Abolitionists Were Disenchanted with LincolnDaniel Pipes: Republicans Are Inconsistent with Obama, But Democrats Are HypocriticalRick Shenkman: Is Obama So Bad at Impromptu Remarks that He Can't Handle More News Conferences?Gil Troy: Obama Should Own His Continuities with the Bush White HouseWhile it is certainly true that Democrats cut Obama slack on policies where they would slam Bush or McCain, as a fair-minded Republican I note that the reverse holds true as well:  Republicans slam Obama and go easy on Bush.  I will establish both points in my areas of expertise, the Middle East and Islam.

Immigration Reform is Overdue

by Ian Goldin

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-3 decision to overturn the Obama administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appeal against the Legal Arizona Workers Act is indicative of the extent to which legal and public opinion on immigration is dangerously polarised.  In Arizona and elsewhere the smouldering debate over migration policy has generated more heat than light, risking progress on the stuttering but overdue reform agenda.  Immigration reform is too important to be lost in the political maze.  The USA’s future depends on it.  Evidence from the past experience and analysis, not fear mongering, should drive the agenda.

Rick Perry, Don't Let the Confederate Flag on the Texas License Plate

by Edward H. Sebesta

August 1, 2011Edward H. Sebesta Dallas, TX esebesta@tx.rr.comGovernor Rick Perry Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711-2428Dear Hon. Governor Rick Perry:The Houston Chronicle reported on June 24, 2011, in an article entitled “Confederate Texas plate is one vote short” by Renée C. Lee, a Confederate-themed license plate proposed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) was not approved by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles due to a tie vote.  Lee informs readers, however, that in the future it is expected that the board will approve the Confederate license plate, because one of the board members who had voted against the license plate for the SCV had died and will be replaced by a board member, appointed by you, who is expected to vote for it.  We enclose with this letter a copy of the Houston Chronicle newspaper article.We, the co-signers of this letter, ask that you do not appoint any board members in the future who would vote for an SCV license plate and appoint instead board members who will vote against such a plate, with or without Confederate symbols.

The Declaration of Independence and the American Dream

by Jim Cullen

What is the point of this story? What information pertains? The thought that life could be better Is woven indelibly into our hearts And our brains --Paul Simon, “Train in the Distance” (1983)“America is a young country,” people sometimes say.  What they really seem to mean is: “the United States is a young nation.”  Such a statement makes some sense if one thinks of a political entity that came into existence circa July 4, 1776.  It makes less sense when one considers that the Constitution that followed about a dozen years later is the oldest written functioning one in the world.  Compared with a traditional nation-state like France or Spain, sure—the United States is a young nation, even if France has had a few republics since then.

Rick Perry's War on Higher Ed in Texas

by John Willingham

In April of this year, Paul Burka, one of the best and most knowledgeable writers about Texas, wrote in his regular column for Texas Monthly magazine that “Rick Perry is waging a quiet war against our current system of higher education, which makes him a lot like some previous governors. He may win, but we’ll lose.”

The Diversity of College Diversity

by John R. Thelin

The New York Times ran a story on June 14 about diversity in admissions to selective colleges, focusing on students “gaming” the system when some applicants reported their racial and ethnic background.  Having a parent who is African-Ameri

Give Teachers Flexibility

by Jim Cullen

As a classroom teacher, I find the NEAP survey results, like most education reports, engender a sense of epistemological modesty.  There are so many factors—parental role, economic and racial disparities, government mandates like special needs—that get woven into data, and can only be partially controlled.

Playing Chicken with the Economy

by Robert Brent Toplin

Republicans say they will not raise the debt ceiling if Democrats do not accept their demands for huge spending cuts.  Will they go all the way in this confrontation, even to the point of triggering the first default in the U.S. government’s history?

The Westboro Baptist Church vs. ... The Ku Klux Klan?

by Kelly J. Baker

On Memorial Day, the holiday for remembering “the nation’s war dead,” the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) of Kansas led a three-person protest at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.  In and of itself, the protest is not newsworthy.

The Rise and Fall of the American Jewish Establishment

by Jack Ross

It has now been a year since the publication of the widely discussed essay in the

Where Have All the Jobs Gone?

by Judith Stein

In May, the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent.  The economy added only 54,000 jobs, much fewer than the 300,000 that the economy requires each month to make a dent in that rate.  Even the better April figure (222,000 new jobs) did not match what was necessary.

A Brief History of Opposition to Public-Sector Unionism

by Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman

There is nothing new about opposition to public-sector unionism.  It has been a feature of American life for over one hundred years.  But in some ways, the current wave of anti-unionism is a departure. Three different eras of opposition to public-sector unionism, including the current one, have been distinguished by distinct core arguments against collective bargaining for public employees.