The association of modern American Republicans with the color red and Democrats with the color blue has always left me a tad perplexed and amused. For those of us old enough to remember significant …
Over the past decade and a half, North Carolina’s policy environment has become increasingly favorable to growth, development, and progress. State lawmakers have improved how government taxes, …
The spectacle of public executions. Deadly military strikes on foreign countries. Innocent civilian lives lost to war. Aggressive ICE raids. Government officials accused of using their powers to …
Two recent Change Research polls affirm what seasoned political consultants and observers know: at this point in an election cycle, the election cake is already baked. The large percentage of those …
A benefit of being old, which I am, is I’ve lived through many events that have repeated. As a result, senior citizens like me have a longer perspective than younger people. Consequently, sometimes …
One of the most important distinguishing characteristics of a free society is what former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis described simply and eloquently nearly a century ago as “the right to …
For as long as human beings have lived in settled communities subject to political (rather than familial) authority, there have been political factions — as well as politicians decrying the …
Voters beware! At the end of your ballot, you’re asked to approve permanent changes to the North Carolina constitution that will harm families for generations. In particular, a proposed …
I suspect nearly everyone reading this column will agree that ovarian cancer is a terrible thing, and that preventing ovarian cancer, or predicting it and catching it early to enhance a woman's …
The North Carolina General Assembly approved substantial pay increases for public schoolteachers earlier this year. If a bipartisan commission has its way, teacher compensation will soar over …
Three decades ago, James Carville, the political analyst and adviser to President Bill Clinton, made a memorable statement. Paraphrasing, Carville said that if he were to come back to a second life, …
"What I want you to do," U.S. President Donald Trump told a South Carolina rally audience in August, "is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot" when it's time to vote in the 2026 midterm election …
The top priority among voters this year is affordability. Various polls in North Carolina and other states ask the question in various ways — sometimes asking respondents about “affordability” …
On Sept. 4, Judge William Sullivan, of Massachusetts's Plymouth County Superior Court, declared a mistrial in the case of Commonwealth v. Lindsey Clancy. After seven days of deliberation, the jury …
Although I know full well that bad news draws more eyeballs than good news, I feel compelled to observe that something rather shocking — and promising — happened last week. Both major political …
What’s the point in celebrating the Constitution one day a year if we permit the government to violate it the other 364? Sept. 17 marks the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, …
There are many reasons that a heck of a lot of people in 21st Century North Carolina — a modern, wealthy, high-tech society of more than 11 million — regularly face a harsh reality usually …
At the end of August, Florida's Department of Transportation ordered the removal of automated license plate readers from state road "rights-of-way." Several Florida counties and cities have since …
When economist and Hoover Institution scholar Thomas Sowell famously observed that “there are no solutions, only tradeoffs,” the North Carolina native wasn’t suggesting that public-policy …
As the North Carolina Supreme Court begins a new session, we need to remember what this court is supposed to be. It is supposed to be a check on power. It is supposed to protect our constitutional …