Displaying items by tag: politics

In a country such as ours, good government has to start at the bottom and work its way up. If we look from the top down, we will always be disappointed.

On Memorial Day, the media do their usual sacralizing of war. Instead, it should be a day for the ritualized scourging of politicians. During the last 70 years, their lies have resulted in the unnecessary deaths of almost 100,000 American soldiers and millions of foreigners. And yet, people still get teary-eyed when politicians take the stage to talk about their devotion to the troops.

RALEIGH — U.S. Rep Mark Meadows, an 11th District Republican, has held his seat since 2011, and he chaired the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Because I spend much of my time these days encouraging constructive engagement across political difference, through such programs as Duke University’s North Carolina Leadership Forum, readers sometimes ask me if I think political differences are more appearance than reality — that if we just tried hard enough, we could reach a broad public consensus on many seemingly contentious issues.

Annie Karni, Maggie Haberman and Sheila Kaplan  of the New York Times describe U.S. president Donald Trump’s proposed ban on flavored e-cigarette products as “a swift and bold reaction to a growing public health crisis affecting teenagers” that Trump backed away from “under pressure from his political advisers and lobbyists to factor in the potential pushback from his supporters.”

Here was Colin Kaepernick's political statement in the National Football League, at least when he was still in the National Football League: He began to take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem. He did that and other players did that along with him in solidarity, and eventually the President of the United States called them SOBs because of it. The others didn't lose their jobs, at least not permanently. Kaepernick, who once had a pass in the air to win a Super Bowl for the 49ers, sure did.

GREENVILLE — President Donald Trump continued his feud with four progressive congresswomen while drawing a stark contrast between himself and his Democratic detractors Wednesday evening.

In a landmark victory for N.C. Republican lawmakers, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled gerrymandered congressional districts are a political issue, which federal courts should not decide as a matter of law.

Because I'm both a Libertarian and a loudmouth, I'm frequently hit with questions about libertarianism (and the Libertarian Party). Recently this one came up:

"What is the most controversial belief of Libertarians?"

Last week, Sen. Thom Tillis announced that he would vote for the resolution rejecting Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency. Tillis said in an op-ed in the Washington Post that he supports Trump’s “vision of 21st century border security,” but that the emergency declaration overstepped the executive branch’s power. He believes it violates the separation of powers and continues giving too much influence to the presidency.