‘This is America. …And here, right matters’

November 25, 2019

In her diary entry for July 15, 1944, Anne Frank wrote words that would harrow and challenge generations not yet born: “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” Less than a month later, “people” would discover Anne and seven other Jews hiding in a secret room. “People” would pack her in a crowded cattle car with only a barrel for a toilet and send her on a three-day journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The following February at Bergen-Belsen, “people” would watch her die of typhus. She was 15 years old. All of which makes her words ...

What is ‘unfettered capitalism’?

November 25, 2019

Enemies of unfettered capitalism, unite! For as long as I can remember, people on the left have complained about “unfettered capitalism.” Moderate liberals do it, and of course flat-out Marxists do it. In his new book, “A Bit of Everything: Power, People, Profits and Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent,” Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz contends that the only way we’ll be able to confront climate change is through a new social contract. “Capitalism will be part of the story, but it can’t be the kind of capitalism that we’ve had for the last 40 ...

D’s, R’s teamed for Sesame Street

November 22, 2019

By Newton N. Minow Chicago Tribune (TNS) The opening days of the House impeachment inquiry deepened the sharp political divisions that make our country more polarized than we once could have imagined. We seem unable to find common ground on even the most fundamental issues of law and evidence. On those same days, I saw commemorations of the 50th anniversary of “Sesame Street” and began to reflect about an unbelievable series of coincidences that led a bipartisan group to make the show possible. I got to see it happen from a front-row seat. Just before Christmas in 1968, Dean Burch ...

Communities across US face water crisis

November 21, 2019

CRESCO, Iowa – If you come to this rural Iowa town, you’ll learn about a problem that may sound familiar. In The New York Times, for instance, you’ve learned that many residents in Newark, N.J., have gone nearly two years without being able to turn on the faucets in their homes to take a drink of water, cook or even brush their teeth. The culprit: lead-coated pipes that have been seeping their poisons into the homes and schools in a scattering of neighborhoods. The problem was first ignored and denied. City officials declared the water safe and then took months to admit their ...

Is Medicare for All healthy?

November 21, 2019

By Marie Fishpaw The Heritage Foundation (TNS) Think you’ll be better off if Congress outlaws your private health coverage and puts you on a new government-run health plan called “Medicare for All”? Over half of House Democrats and 14 senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) say you will. They promise this massive change and disruption is worth it because most will save money. For example, Sanders has said: “Are people going to pay more in taxes? Yes. But at the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of people are going to end up paying ...

Bloomberg, billionaires & self-righteousness

November 20, 2019

I’d like to personally bop over the head the next Democrat who says that Michael Bloomberg shouldn’t be running for president because he’s a billionaire. Let’s give thanks that a simple-minded dismissal of rich candidates didn’t sink FDR’s chances. Billionaires are not the enemy. If you believe that those raking in astronomical incomes should be paying higher taxes — and Warren Buffet and I do — that is a job for our elected representatives who write the tax code. Bernie Sanders is currently rattling his tongue about striking fear in the hearts of the “billionaire ...