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A Republic, if we can keep it: Now is not the time for despair, but renewed and relentless action
Most of us have heard the tale: As Benjamin Franklin walked out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, someone shouted out, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin is said to have responded, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” This Independence Day, many Americans feel betrayed and […]
Our new Republican activist U.S. Supreme Court is assaulting the separation of church and state
American politicians fear-mongering over moral and religious decline, and advocating for state sponsorship of religion, is as old as the founding of the Republic. The key original battle took place in Virginia between “Give me liberty, or give me death,” Patrick Henry, an astute political opportunist who opposed the U.S. Constitution, and the “Father of […]
Ohio politicians push regressive tax system while shedding crocodile tears over inflation
Inflation hurts the people who make the least money the most, as do supply-side, regressive tax systems. So the wailing over inflation by wealthy politicians refusing to help hungry families and burdening them with regressive taxes while giving hand-outs to the rich, rings pretty hollow. Inflation squeezes working and middle class families because money doesn’t […]
Ohio Republicans celebrate Pride by creepily bullying female athletes and trans people
Transgender people — especially transgender people of color — have been leading the activist charge toward LGBTQ+ equality since the beginning, literally throwing the first bottles at the Stonewall riots. And since the beginning, they’ve been the most victimized. They remain so, and Ohio Republicans have devised a savagely creepy, abhorrent way to target and […]
Ohio’s most powerful elected politicians are morally and ethically bankrupt
We aren’t living in the Ohio that most Ohioans want. We are living in the Ohio that corrupt politicians obsessed only with maintaining and maximizing their power, and enriching themselves and their donor friends, want us to live in. This week, the gerrymander-rigged Ohio General Assembly fast-tracked legislation to put more guns in Ohio public […]
On gun violence, we’ve got to be mad as hell, and say we’re not going to take this anymore
Primum non nocere. First, do no harm. This is a dictum for health care professionals to consider the possible harm that any intervention might do. Politicians ought to conduct themselves by the same principle, especially when it comes to gun violence, as this too is a public health issue. But instead, Ohio politicians have relentlessly loosened […]
Politicking the ballot: How gerrymandering controls which issues go to voters
An old game in politics revolves around putting certain issues on the ballot to energize certain voters to the polls during key elections. This isn’t special to any particular political party; it’s been used by Democrats and Republicans alike in various states around the country for many decades. Perhaps the most infamous iteration of it […]
Families going hungry: Food insecurity is bad in Ohio and poised to explode
America’s hunger crisis is coming to a head. With supply chain problems and inflated food prices alongside family economic struggles stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Ohio families facing food insecurity has exploded. Meanwhile, the Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday, 700,000 low-income Ohio households could see big cuts to the food stamps program in […]
Returning power over basic rights to illegally gerrymandered states like Ohio is a disaster
Gerrymandering destroys legitimate representation, so the U.S. Supreme Court returning power over basic civil rights to illegally gerrymandered states like Ohio is an absolute disaster in waiting. Many people will suffer horribly in ways big and small. Do you want your privacy rights, your health care rights, your marriage rights, your discrimination protections, and your […]
We have the tools to build an extraordinary civilization. We ought to use them
Too often sharing the news feels like being a messenger of madness. Every day, foundational democratic institutions suffer sustained assault while a corrupt, extremist right-wing tyranny over Ohio politics and policy reigns. As important as it is to chronicle the “first draft of history” by finding the facts and holding power to account, the American […]
Authoritarianism v. democratic self-governance: The battle of the ages
ROME — When I’m not helping chronicle the charade of governance that is Ohio policy and politics, I’m most often studying the history of human civilization, with an emphasis on America and antiquity. Taking a short hiatus from the circus maximus of the Ohio Statehouse, standing amidst the ruins of the Roman Forum, I pondered […]
Orwell only wrote one introduction of an Animal Farm foreign translation. It was for Ukraine
Eric Blair, pen name George Orwell, was not perfect as a person, but then, who is? Nevertheless, Orwell got the three major issues of the 20th Century right: He was anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-Communist/anti-Stalinist. Orwell’s military days in Burma taught him the human atrocity of the British Empire: “I had already made up my mind […]