Political History

Mitt Romney used his New Hampshire victory speech to preview the line of attack he’ll pursue against President Obama this fall. Boy, was it dull.

Romney’s basic claim is that Obama doesn’t believe in American greatness, and he does. If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been the basic Republican template since Ronald Reagan ran against Jimmy Carter. Democrats apologize for America, belittle America, Europeanize America while Republicans believe that as long as Americans remember their greatness and retain their optimism, everything will turn out fine.

On Monday, October 10, 2011 Citizens in Charge Foundation will join with Californians from all over the state to celebrate the 100th Anniversary Celebration of California’s Initiative & Referendum Process. The event is free and open to the public, but RSVP to Amanda@CitizensInCharge.org is required for registration.

This event is taking place thanks to the support of sponsors:

(originally posted at Fox & Hounds Daily)
This past weekend, more than 300 Californians - chosen at random, as part of an audience shaped to reflect the views and demographics of the state's registered voters - gathered at a Torrance hotel for California's first-ever Deliberative Poll.

(first posted at Fox and Hounds Daily)

Republicans love hallowing Ronald Reagan’s name. Too bad they know so little about the guy.

Last week in Hawaii, the Republican National Committee almost passed a resolution named after the Gipper. “Whereas President Ronald Reagan believed that the Republican Party should support and espouse conservative principles and public policies,” it declared, only candidates who complied with eight of 10 “Reaganite” principles would be eligible for party funds.

Is the 21st century a Dark Age, compared to the 20th? Is the culture of modernity and enlightenment slipping away, in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world? Is this really an age of neo-primitivism and superstition?

Does it often seem that many American politicians and pundits are talking past each other? That is because they really are. The frustrating nature of public debate arises in large part from the fact that Americans do not share a single worldview.

Richard R. John takes the stage to discuss his book, “Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications”, emphasizing the importance of policy intervention to protect citizens’ access to national resources which suffers at the sole watch of industry forces, as the past and present show.

Ted Sorensen, who died early last week, was legendary among all of us in the speechwriting fraternity for the extraordinary body of work he crafted with President John F. Kennedy. Even the Republicans pilfered from him, and inside the Clinton White House, he represented a gold standard that we constantly strove to reach, with imperfect results (it’s harder than it looks).

The House ethics charges facing Maxine Waters for aiding a bank on whose board her husband sat have been met with a shrug here in California, and why not? Waters’ alleged misdeeds are only the latest scandal produced by the state’s members of Congress, authors of a decade-long list of embarrassment so lengthy that it begs the question:

Does California have the worst congressional delegation in the country?