Confessions of a C-Student
I’m speaking with Ruth. We’re at a birthday celebration of a mutual friend. She tells me she didn't start college until she was...
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Jan 2, 202210 min read
John Jay, on his birthday
December 12th is John Jay’s birthday. As one of the seven most influential founders of our country, Jay’s contributions are not as well...
Jan 2, 20228 min read
State of the Union
It’s a memorable scene from a memorable movie. Actor Spencer Tracy—portraying a wealthy industrialist running for president—is looking...
Jan 2, 20223 min read
John Adams, on his birthday
October 30 is the birthday of John Adams, our second president. John Adams was one of America’s greatest statesmen--and one of its worst...
Jan 2, 20223 min read
The Spirit of Liberty
The influential jurist with the unlikely but appropriate name of Learned Hand served as the presiding judge of the Second Circuit Court...
Dec 13, 20216 min read
Hamilton, the musical
After buying tickets and waiting almost a year, we finally got to see “Hamilton,” the smash Broadway musical. It was midweek, and the...
Dec 13, 20217 min read
The Two-Party System
The two-party system was not written into the plan. Indeed, the framers of the United States Constitution worked hard to create a...
Dec 13, 20215 min read
Do You Really Want To Be Rich?
Two reviews: THE MONEY GAME, by Adam Smith Putting your money in the stock market: is it a gamble, or is it an investment? Does the...
Dec 13, 20214 min read
Mastering Self
Mastering Self: Three Reviews I CAN IF I WANT TO, by Arnold Lazarus and Allen Fay “We are not disturbed by things—external events—but by...
Dec 13, 20214 min read
A Change of Head & Heart
It was like a religious conversion—a profound altering of thought, a decided charge of heart, and a rechartering of course. For Supreme...
Dec 13, 20213 min read
A Highway Runs Through it
“There’s America, there’s the South, then there’s Mississippi.” So said President Lyndon Johnson. He might have added, “And then there’s...
Sep 27, 202110 min read
The Bearded Presidents
They're the Bearded Presidents—or, if you will, the Great Emancipator and the Seven Dwarfs. No president before or after these...
Sep 27, 20214 min read
Ted Koppel and the Ten Commandments
Note: what follows was given to me as a letter some time around 1990: "In this time of commencement addresses, I recall one in...
Sep 27, 20215 min read
The C-Word
It’s the most famous dinner in U.S. history. It was hosted by Thomas Jefferson at his well-appointed townhouse on Maiden Lane, a stone’s...
Sep 27, 20213 min read
Do We Need Women in Government?
When women assume power in government, the world will become a kindler, gentler place. Says who? Well, Frank Capra for one. In his 1948...
Sep 26, 20218 min read
Wall Street vs. Main Street
It’s amazing how little politicians know. What they say often amounts to half-truths: yes, there is some truth in what they’re saying,...
Sep 26, 202111 min read
Ten Presidents in Ten Minutes--From John Q. Adams to James Buchanan
What makes a great president? “Great presidents possess, or are possessed by, a vision of an ideal America,” say the editors of the...
Sep 26, 20216 min read
The Supreme Court--A brief history
It was an eye-opening experience. In my last year of college I took two courses on Constitutional Law (Con Law I & II) and discovered...
Sep 26, 20215 min read
The Vision Thing and our first five Presidents
It was George H.W. Bush who made the expression famous, mainly because his critics said he lacked it. His predecessor Ronald Reagan had...
Sep 25, 20214 min read
Debunking a Myth
“This summer, when you become inundated with all the American bicentennial Fourth-of-July brouhaha, don’t forget you’re celebrating the...
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