Of the questions posed throughout human history few are more pertinent to contemporary culture than one from Pontius Pilate. Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea who presided over Jesus Christ’s trial, uttered the far-ranging query: “What is truth?” Varied opinions are the norm concerning Jesus Christ. Some people see him as a good man, a […]
“In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.” Leon Trotsky, 1937, from “The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is […]
Trade policies are tricky. They are geo-political chess games. But they used to be determined by simple supply and demand basics. If you needed spices from India, you bought spices from India. If you liked Irish crystal and linens, you bought Irish crystal and linens. Conversely, if India needed steel, Pittsburgh supplied it. The U.S. shipped grains all over […]
Rightfully so, we are feeling really good about ourselves today as Republicans have taken power away from Liberals all across America. For the first time in over a century, Republicans in North Carolina own a majority in the NC House and Senate. Things like Voter ID and redistricting are coming – and we should be […]
The five myths of Regressive politics #1: Conservatives Are Racists Whenever conservatives comment on racial issues they’re immediately compared to the Grand Dragons of the Ku Klux Klan. Such an accusation would be laughable if it weren’t so egregious. In reality conservatives are the colorblind idealists. Since all that’s rightly promised to free people is […]
“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” ~ Groucho Marx Don’t you sometimes wish this were true with our elected officials? As in: ‘I refuse to run for any Congress that would have me as a Congressman/Senator!’ Groucho’s sentiment could apply to hundreds of candidates each and every year it seems. […]
Editor’s Note: This should have been included when the column was originally published; it would have cleared up a lot of confusion and misperceptions. Matthew Ridenhour wrote it as a Marine and a political thinker, and as one of this site’s valued House Guest contributors, unrelated to his role as a leader of the local […]
If there’s an area in which U.S. Senators excel more than tossing tax dollars down rat holes it must be in blowing hot air. List grandstanding and pandering among their attributes, too. The recently passed Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM, S. 2847) displayed these Senatorial “skills” for all to see. If you watch television […]
For the first time in recent memory the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), in concert with county staff, is looking at how to be reasonable about the money they spend on capital projects. This is historic. Never before has the majority of the BOCC or county staff concerned themselves with how much they spent […]
The U.S. Constitution guarantees equal rights under the law to each citizen. Period. As history would confirm, people in power skew the laws to enhance their own power, gain votes, assuage their own egos, and, in our last 250 years, try to circumvent the U.S. Constitution. In my lifetime I’ve seen the powerful in government […]
