In caucus rhetoric, we have to do better than this
A lot more is at stake in terms of self-governance and dealing with inconvenient truths. You’ve likely seen the TV ad in which John Delaney, a hard-working, earnest campaigner for [...]
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Posted April 03, 2019in Rants & Reason
Posted March 06, 2019in Rants & Reason
Run for your lives! The caucuses are coming!
The Iowa caucuses, Feb. 3, 2020, will again provide Iowa a chance to serve the nation — to usher in GOP alternatives to Donald Trump and to heal fractures in [...]
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Posted February 06, 2019in Rants & Reason
Thoughts from the Founders on ‘We the people’
Can we keep it? Given the Trump phenomenon, the question “Could it happen here?” keeps popping up in political commentary. Such commentary often refers to the 1935 novel by Sinclair [...]
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Posted January 02, 2019in Rants & Reason
Resolve not to self-destruct in 2019
There’s little reassurance in scholarly, religious or glib comments that “we’ll survive.” Maybe instead of wishing one another “Happy New Year” for 2019, we should say something like “Stay sane” or “Peace [...]
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Posted December 05, 2018in Rants & Reason
The Kiwis are praying for us
And a word from the massacre generation This holiday season comes with the gut-wrenching fact that — really — there have to be better ways to share fellowship and mutual concerns than [...]
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Posted October 31, 2018in Rants & Reason
Cries of ‘We want Willkie’ echo today
A testimony to the Cowles-Willkie friendship and their civil rights advocacy stands at 900 17th St. in Des Moines Talk about good timing! Consider the recent release of “THE IMPROBABLE [...]
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Posted October 03, 2018in Rants & Reason
Here’s some ‘loud sounding wisdom’ for you
Consider which incumbents should be promoted to “citizen.” A bizarre day, indeed — providing thoughts for this round-up of current events. First off, it began with a Des Moines Register news report [...]
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Posted September 05, 2018in Rants & Reason
Trump sins
Acolytes shout ‘Hallelujah! Amen!’ A trinity of points to open this theological treatise: First, here’s a line from a commercial popular before many readers of CITYVIEW were born: “I’m not [...]
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Posted August 01, 2018in Rants & Reason
Taking stock of ‘Fake News’
From Tigranes to Trump. To cope with frustrations over “Fake News,” we might consider what “Fake” isn’t and what “News” is. As for what “Fake” isn’t, many antonyms say it is not [...]
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Posted July 04, 2018in Rants & Reason
The future of Iowa newspapers?
Surprise: It all depends! A feature story I wrote in this month’s CITYVIEW offers some context for considering a question that reflects how much affection Iowans have had for their [...]
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