Maybe it’s not all middle-class discontent, a desire for outside-the-beltway candidates or angry Americans. Maybe the core reason Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump enjoy a surprising number of followers is something far simpler: Maybe it’s television shows. In 1939, Jimmy Stewart played a U.S. Senator in a movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” and Americans […]

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In pure capitalism, the rich get richer because “it takes money to make money.” They buy stocks and bonds, expand factories and charge the lower class more and more for basic necessities simply because they can. “It’s just business.” On the other hand, the poor live paycheck to paycheck, and if the price of bread […]

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This is a partial answer to the question: “Why do we get so worked up about stuff – like elections?” In Denmark, residents happily pay top dollar in taxes for “free” services from the government. In the U.S., dirt-poor farmers bristle at paying taxes for anything beyond a military that provides for the common defense. […]

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The unexpected dinner guest, for me, is a six-foot drag queen with two-inch eyelashes and head-to-toe body glitter. But first some background. In 1967, Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn welcomed their daughter and fiancé home for dinner only to discover that the young man was black – a “shudder” mixed-race couple in the movie “Guess […]

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The death of Supreme Court Justice Scalia hasn’t changed the U.S. Constitution, the role of the president or the duties of the U.S. Senate. Governmentally, it’s a non-issue. It has, however, changed politics, which is too often confused with government. They’re different beasts – lovers caught up in a dysfunctional relationship. As a result of […]

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