An Obituary for my Patriotism

A friend–whose perspective I value–challenged me yesterday on my dark view of the Fourth of July celebration this year. I decided to expand my answer into a blogpost.  At issue (I believe) is whether I could make more of a difference in improving the system by aligning myself with my neighbors and fellow citizens in

Out of Many, One.

To My Conservative Friends & Family, If you’re seeing this, it’s because you haven’t unfriended or unfollowed me on Facebook, and for that, I’m grateful.  Throughout this period in our history (one of many, actually) of deep and bitter political division, I have steadfastly refused to unfriend anyone based on our political differences.  A couple

The judgment of history is on you, Senator McConnell: do the right thing.

Dear Senator McConnell, I’m writing to implore you to carefully consider the judgment of history in this perilous moment.  I completely understand the intense party loyalty and pressure that you must feel. It has to be tempting to think about 2020 and the November election and to focus on doing battle against the Democrats. You

9/11: Where do we go from here?

On this 15th anniversary of 9/11, I feel as if I still have more questions than answers:  Why so much hatred in the world? Why do we continue to let hatred and fear divide us? I have the sinking feeling that no matter who wins the presidential election this year, we all lose because the

The Angels of Our Better Nature

My spirit is so deeply grieved by this horrific massacre in Oregon and by the predictable partisan bickering about what we should do about it.  America, we can and must do better.  We owe it to our ancestors who fought and sacrificed and compromised and immigrated and bled to build our nation. The status quo