Recent Blog Posts

Market values, exemplified by the use of money as a key measure and medium of political efficacy, have gained increasing impact on how campaigns are run and on how those who are elected govern.   Civic values need to play a larger role.

Is FedEx Field, where the Washington Redskins play, as meaningful a symbol of civic culture as the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium where the team formerly played?  Outsourcing citizenship, while saving money, can weaken social bonds essential for effective governance.

Money’s influence in politics seems here to stay, but for those who feel we need to change that, there is a solution. It’s called voting. It might seem naive to say it, but democracy can actually solve this problem with democracy.

In the contract society, “citizens” have become government’s “customers,” and they judge government by how satisfied they are with what they get.  That’s not a prescription for healthy governance.

Our problems and possibilities are too many and too complex for one human being to understand and address.  Leadership in a republic demands something other than a “Lone Ranger” on a white horse.