Columns

Throughout America’s history, our country has been engaged in a profound debate on the limits of government. In the Federalist Papers, the Founders argued passionately for a federal government that would protect the American people from foreign threats. At the same time, they struggled to create a structure to contain and control that government in order to protect the God-given rights of the American people. In drafting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they maintained a careful balance between preserving civil liberties and protecting our citizens from enemy threats.

    The legal drive for same-sex marriage is marching throughout the land, as the state of Oregon became, last week, the 13th state in a row where judges ruled laws banning it to be unconstitutional.
    Forces of religion that seek political influence – meaning what we’ve always called “the religious right” – remain opposed to same-sex marriage on purely religious grounds. They don’t seem to understand that American courts don’t work for organized religion.

On May 10, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service admitted to inappropriately targeting conservative groups for “extra scrutiny” in connection with their applications for tax-exempt status.  President Obama denounced this behavior as “outrageous” and “unacceptable.” He pledged that the Administration would “find out exactly what happened” and would make sure wrongdoers were “held fully accountable.” In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee just days later, Attorney General Eric Holder promised that “this will not be ab

    I’ve been wondering why “Democrats” seem to be almost hysterical about the House select committee that Speaker of the House John Boehner is setting up to investigate the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U. S. consulate in Benghazi that killed our ambassador to Libya, among other Americans. They seem like they are actually afraid of it and I wonder if  they know, or suspect, that there is a huge embarrassment for their party lurking out there, waiting to be discovered.