The subject of my last column was Ashland City Ordinance No. 3176, which will restore to police the ability to compel people whom they wish to cite for a violat...
“The Great Gatsby” is the most American of our great novels. Jay Gatsby’s story illuminates our culture like no other.
When Mr. Gatz turns up for his son’s fun...
I begin with two personal disclosures pertinent to the subject matter of this column. I’ve long been a member of Communication Workers of America; I’ve continue...
People of conscience were appalled by President Trump’s proposal that the benefits disbursed by SNAP (formerly food stamps) be converted from cash cards usable ...
For more than half my life I lived beside the Mississippi River. In my childhood we ate river shrimp, smaller but tastier than salt water varieties. No longer. ...
Who will you serve? In political as well as personal life, answering this question is foundational to any new beginning.
Democrats can win some elections witho...
Do threats produce compliance? Often yes, but it’s always a grudging compliance that lasts only as long as resistance seems futile. Lately, women have been impr...
We need to talk about money. That’s the way I ended my last column. Few of the people with whom I associate talk about money. People with a great deal of money ...
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a parlor game created in 1994 by three college students. Premised on the notion that any two humans are no more than six acquainta...
Few of us support gun violence at home; huge numbers of us support it abroad. Our efforts to curtail domestic violence of all sorts will be severely hampered so...
Reader unhappiness with last week’s column prompted some searching conversations. I’m pleased. When I get no pushback, I worry that, like MSNBC, I’m simply rein...
Among the numerous privileges with which I was endowed, being white and male were two. Helpful as they were, I don’t think they were determinative in smoothing ...
When I was a teaching assistant at Harvard, I had to sign a loyalty oath. The same was true when I took a full-time position at LSU. This trademark of the McCar...
If the mission of our military were to defend us from attack by hostile forces, it would be impossible to justify its present size, weaponry and deployment. Tho...
Last week I looked at driving our cars to test the validity of the pervasive assumptions of our culture — we compete with each other for the good things in life...
In my previous column I identified our oppressor as our culture, shaped by laissez-faire capitalism, which posits competition as our natural condition and the i...
Ever since Donald Trump emerged as the Republican standard-bearer, political observers have said the GOP will have to engage in extensive self-reflection to dec...
When I was active with the American Civil Liberties Union, I attended two of its biennial conventions — in 1968 and 1970. Those were turbulent years in the life...
Like most of you, I was saddened by the near coincidence of Peter Buckley’s retirement from the Oregon House and Sen. Alan Bates’ sudden death. But when I heard...
