Redeeming Hope - Politics Archives

"Politics" archive

Listen to the voice from Iowa (13:50) - This past weekend, as I drove up to my house, there on the radio was Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack being interviewed on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. I put the car into park and didn’t move for the next five minutes. Vilsack is the first Democrat to announce his candidacy for U.S. president. His voice is refreshing – and needed. Listen to him and you hear someone who is not so polished and practiced... | 0 Trackbacks | 2 Comments

Election day hubris? (15:50) - Today, news of the impending “Democratic wave” – a big nationwide electoral sweep – surrounds us. But if this victory comes, what will it mean? My biggest fear, and greatest hope, is that Election Day hubris isn’t the ultimate victor. Remember the 1994 mid-term elections when Newt Gingrich swept into office with his Contract with America? I wrote at the time (I believe for MSNBC.com) that Gingrich had sorely misread the American electorate. While people... | 0 Trackbacks | 1 Comments

Can religion bring us together? (15:18) - This past week in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, I was asked the same question three different times, in three different places, in a matter of hours: “Can religion bring us together in public life and politics?” My response: Yes, but many on the right, and now on the left, must change. The questions came amid the recent turmoil here and overseas over the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. Surely, none of us need to... | 0 Trackbacks | 3 Comments

The State of Our Union - Listening to Nobody (12:14) - I watched President Bush and Governor Kaine last night in total shock and awe. Surely, they can’t believe the American people buy what they’re peddling. And members of Congress who keep howling and standing and clapping, surely they must know their posturing is silly. What about the real America? There were three phrases that framed last night’s speeches: “There is no honor in retreat;” America is a “hopeful society;” and there is “no higher calling... | 0 Trackbacks | 6 Comments

Finding Authentic Hope in a Miserable Mess (18:31) - Today, Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, was indicted. Those on the political left are calling for heads to roll. Yesterday, those on the political right made their claim to the Supreme Court by undermining the nomination of Harriet Miers, who finally withdrew. Meanwhile, the national debate over “poverty” in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina is now nowhere to be heard; finger-pointing and blame-placing are the new order of business. And while we... | 0 Comments

Pledges We Must Keep (17:57) - This Sunday we will mark the fourth anniversary of 9/11. I hold vivid memories of seeing in response to that tragedy Republican and Democratic members of Congress join hands on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and sing God Bless America. What came of our response, and what can we learn in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? You’ll recall that after 9/11 numerous pledges were made. You could hear people say that our politics would... | 0 Comments

Still Sticking Around? (17:56) - Have you noticed that a lot of people still have their bumper stickers on their cars from the ’04 election? What’s that about? An article about the bumper stickers in Sunday’s Washington Post includes an argument from Marshall Blonsky, a professor of semiotics at New York’s Parson School of Design, about why the stickers remain. According to the article: Personal identity is growing increasingly weak, Blonsky argues, and a political label "turbocharges" a weak identity... | 1 Comments

Finding Ourselves In Cultural Geography (18:28) - I’m heading off for vacation tomorrow wondering just how different we all are from each other. David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, whom I love to read, did another piece yesterday on cultural geography, or what might be called, the “divided America.” Brooks wrote: Forty-million Americans move every year, and they generally move in with people like themselves, so as the late James Chapin used to say, every place becomes more like itself. Crunchy... | 1 Comments

The Voices of Red and Blue (15:08) - When discussing my work over the years, I have often told people, “When I’m talking with a group of citizens, if I close my eyes and listen, I often find it impossible to tell whether the person speaking is a Republican or a Democrat, the region of the country they’re from, or their income or education.” I’m sure you’ve read those very words in this space before. Often this comment is met with polite skepticism.... | 7 Comments

Security and Sacrifice (10:36) - Holy smoke! No sooner than President Bush makes a proposal on Social Security, the daggers come out. Here’s what to look for in the coming debate. There is little doubt in my mind that this debate will degenerate into the typical acrimony and divisiveness we all so used to on tough political issues. The politicos and organized interest groups will stake out their positions, use the Social Security to rally their troops and raise dollars... | 2 Comments

Will & Grace (16:35) - Yesterday, Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich, in his State of the State address, chastised state legislators to be more respectful of the office of governor. Too bad there’s too little will and grace in Maryland right now – and in the rest of country – for such respect in politics to prevail. Ehrlich has been engaged in hand-to-hand combat with members of the state legislature for months. Some people blame his efforts to ram through... | 0 Comments

A Common Task (14:05) - Listen to the voices of people who wrote this past week in this space, and those who responded with their comments and an unmistakable message about society can be heard: we must step forward and focus on our values. People are telling us something important: we have lost sight of the values that bind us together. Sure, there are differences among us; but those differences, as one writer said, mustn’t lead to disintegration. Nor must... | 0 Comments