We’re all familiar with the Latin phrase cui bono? — “who benefits?”  Less familiar, perhaps, is cui detrimento? — “to whose detriment?”  With that in mind, today I thought we might examine the issue of potential Puerto Rican statehood. As I’ve written before, if...

Criticism of individual Supreme Court decisions by the democrats is evolving into something far dangerous than mere criticism.  It’s become an organized effort to portray the Court itself as illegitimate whenever its rulings conflict with progressive political goals. ...

Today marks the 157th anniversary of the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad — the nation-building achievement that helped bind the United States together from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Completed on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, the...

“I may disagree with what you say, but I’ll defend your right to say it”—a quote that captures the essence of classical liberalism: individual liberty, freedom of speech, conscience, and religion.  A philosophy that strongly influenced the Founders and is reflected in...

Occasionally, when the mood strikes me I’ll resurrect a favorite commentary from my past life as a commentary writer for the Vail Daily.  I think it’s good to re-share positive ideas.  This post/commentary was published on January 2nd, 2003, and I while I view the...

I came of age in the sixties—Vietnam, social upheaval, the Beatles—and I remember clearly how I viewed the World War II generation. They seemed old, rigid, and out of step with the times. What I didn’t appreciate then was how little time actually separated us. It had...

If given the opportunity to attend the Super Bowl, Game 7 of the World Series, Game 7 of the NBA Finals, or Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final—there’s no question which one I’m choosing. I love them all. The Super Bowl is a once-a-year spectacle, the World Series carries...

For as long as I can remember, communication had built-in closure.  A verbal acknowledgment.  A letter answered.  A phone call returned.   And every face-to-face comment earned, at minimum, a nod.  There was an endpoint—a signal that the message had been received and...

Walk through any airport today and you’ll see pajama bottoms, sweatpants, and slippers.  And it’s not just younger travelers.  It seems as if comfort has become the default uniform of public life in America That’s not to suggest we return to the 1940s and ’50s, when...

To understand what we may be facing in the Middle East today, it helps to revisit a moment when fanaticism and power collided in 1945. By mid-1945, the United States was preparing for a full-scale invasion of the Japanese home islands.  Japan was already reeling—its...