William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry, had moved to New York City in 1902. A year earlier in a short story, Porter coined the phrase “banana republic” to describe a fictional Central American nation called Costaragua. In 1904,… Read More ›
2020 election
Voting Nullification
Except for the continued inanity of conspiracy theorists and theories about the theft of the 2020 presidential election, we may be grateful in this post-Thanksgiving moment that our ballots in that contest mattered and prevailed. Virginia turnout was 75% of… Read More ›
The Itinerant Vigilante
Don Quixote was not a vigilante in the literal sense of the term. His self-appointed mission was essentially to revive the romantic qualities of medieval chivalry as a knight errant wandering in search of adventures. An ideal knight represented a… Read More ›
Crossing the Bar
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) poetically addressed the common emotion surrounding death in his famous poem Crossing the Bar, stating “may there be no moaning of the bar” at the transcendence from life to the beyond. In America, there are bars… Read More ›
Proportionality Matters
The 2020 election drew 155 million voters to the polls. On January 6, 2021, a violent mob of hundreds or more sought to nullify those votes by assaulting the Capitol Building where the Electoral College count was being conducted. One… Read More ›
Rara Civis [Rare Citizen]
By Frank Blechman The polls say that although the creature is rare (less than 5% of the voting population), there is still such a thing as an “undecided voter.” Maybe the quarantine is keeping me too isolated, but I have… Read More ›
Majority Madness
The following statement caught our attention as one that time and advances in political science have left in the dustbin of academic wisdom: Virginian-Pilot, April 1, 2020 One truth I often tell students: When it comes to politics, Republicans are… Read More ›
The Wave That Could Carry Trump to Re-election
Editors’ Note: Crossposted and excerpted from The New York Times, June 18, 2019. National and state polls don’t tell the whole story. A global anti-elite surge improves the president’s chance of victory. By Matthew Continetti Mr. Continetti is editor in chief… Read More ›
My Country ‘Tis of Thee … Not HE
Although the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2, 1776, the first annual celebration of that event occurred on July 4, 1777, with some pomp and circumstance in Philadelphia. A number of ships festooned with the nation’s colors lined… Read More ›