Thoughts of a Board Man

Not all traditions are good ones.  I can think of hereditary rule, female genital mutilation, fraternity hazing, and bullfighting, for starters.  Saying “bless you” after someone sneezes may count, too.  It implies that the person who sneezed needs some sort of divine intervention in their sinuses.  A sneeze is just an involuntary expulsion of air; as with many other involuntary expulsions, perhaps we should just start saying “excuse me” after we sneeze. Mid-way through this month, Mr. Trump floated the idea of canceling another tradition, the daily White House Press Briefing.  Is this briefing a bad tradition?  Sadly enough, many people in the press itself seem to think so.  But let's examine how it came about in the first place. Like many things in our modern government, the position of White House Press Secretary, the White House Press Corps, and the daily briefings all did not suddenly appear under the leadership of one particular Presid...

Imagine this: You're a child living in a very nice house on a relatively safe street.  Your immediate neighborhood is pretty safe too, but the city overall isn't a very safe place.  Lots of murders and robberies happen in your city.  Where you live, however, has been safe for years because your father and mother worked hard and spent a lot of money to move you there. Your father and mother haven't been getting along for quite some time now, though, and before too long, things end in divorce.  Your father leaves, and in the settlement your mother keeps the house.  You still get to stay in the neighborhood in which you grew up, and all your friends are still around, but they are sad your father left, as are you. Before too long, your mother acquires a boyfriend, and he moves in with the two of you.  Your mother likes him because he's very rich, and boastful, and charming.  He says he makes much more money than your father did and will work...

I'm puzzled by the mentality of some, like Dr. Cornel West, who not only advocate for a progressive revolution but for an outright division on the left. They are working to separate progressives from those they consider neoliberals and "corporate Democrats," and form a new political party, a “People's Party,” preferably with Bernie Sanders heading its ticket in 2020. My confusion arises from my understanding of history, both recent and farther back, and my understanding of politics as a former elected official in the minority. When we look at recent history, I am reminded of the historic electoral coalition that Barack Obama drew together in 2008 and 2012. As a candidate and as an incumbent President, Obama's coalition reached across lines of race, gender, class, region, and ideology. This coalition gave him the Presidency twice, and swept Democrats into control of the House and Senate for the first two years of his tenure. In response, the far-right ...