This year is the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. It’s also the 150th anniversary of the closest America has ever come to a constitutional meltdown over the …

We’re seven weeks from the midterm elections. Mail-in and absentee voting has already begun in some states. Voters are starting to pay more attention to the candidates and to the parties they …

This week the United States and its people are soberly remembering the stunning terrorist attacks that weaponized jetliners to kill thousands of people in the American homeland on September 11, 2001. …

By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, . . . — from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Song of Hiawatha” Kathy and I are spending a few days at the beautiful …

A series of ads on TV over the last few months haven’t tripped my trigger. I have finally figured out why. In those ads, an older guy with a trimmed white mustache tries to teach middle-aged …

As if your TV set were not inundated by enough political ads these days, you can expect a whole other set of them soon. The new load, probably coming your way after Labor Day, will try to …

Many officeholders strongly advocate openness in government. Let all unclassified information out, and good things will happen. That’s a good idea, as far as it goes. But openness alone, even coupled with advocacy proposals, falls short of progress. To close …

Last week I focused my column on my dreams for American foreign policy. This week I embarked on Chapter Two, this time for our government’s domestic policy. I quickly discovered this focus is …

Daydreaming is a universal pastime. What would I do if I won the lottery? What far-off places would I visit? Is this the year the Hawkeyes win the NCAA football playoffs, and the St. Louis Cardinals …

One fist of iron, the other of steel If the right one don’t get you then the left one will — from “Sixteen Tons” as sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford That’s the challenge the …

Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader of Iran, vows revenge on the “criminals” who assassinated his father, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had led Iran for 36 years. It must be assumed …

If the Confederate States of America (CSA) had succeeded in winning, or negotiating, its independence from the United States of America in the Civil War, this year it would be celebrating its 165th …

Donald Trump is the most consequential President of the United States in more than 75 years. He now controls, partially controls, or heavily influences most of the major sectors of American life. He …

Back in January 2017, as Barack Obama was wrapping up his second term as President and preparing to hand the office over to Donald Trump, I wrote a column about why I was going to miss him. Last …

At least four important public policy questions keep rolling around in my head. Two deal with foreign policy, the other two with federal taxes. I’d like to see them ascend the priority scale of the …

This is a trivial column. I turned 85 last Monday. Family saluted me with a birthday dinner, thoughtful gifts, and lots of well wishes. Many friends congratulated me as well. It all warmed my …

Kathy and I were privileged to be on hand for a grandson’s high school commencement ceremony at Adel-De Soto-Minburn High School in Adel last Sunday. The event was hugely attended, impressive, and …

Suppose your Republican legislature is trying to carve up your mostly black Democratic congressional district and distribute its parts into two or more mostly white Republican districts? If you …

Barrels upon innumerable barrels of ink have graced the pages of court documents for many, many decades in the quest for American justice. Attorneys for both sides have marshaled their best arguments …

Americans have rarely faced the facts about the role of national theft in the history of their nation. From the time of the first Europeans’ arrival in North America, the newcomers employed theft …