The celebration of American independence is supposed to be a unifying national ritual. But we are a country with profound differences over the meaning of nationhood itself. People in more typical countries —such as Belgium, Japan or Russia—are attached primarily to a unique piece of earth, a unique language, a[Read More…]

Should there be a gathering of Americans including Bernie Sanders (77 years old), Joe Biden (76), Donald Trump (73), Elizabeth Warren (70) and this opinion writer. It’s argued that Keizertimes readers would judge us to be a group of older white guys who are close to the same age. Now[Read More…]

Personal privacy is a triggering issue for most Americans. They don’t want the government, business or people they don’t know to go rooting around their lives. The privacy issue takes on a different face when it comes to a loved one, especially when technology, such as cellphones and computers, is[Read More…]

The star of the first Democratic presidential primary debate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., was attorney general of California and, before that, district attorney for San Francisco. This put her in the vanguard of the Golden State’s sanctuary state and sanctuary city policies.  Now, it seems, all the 2020 Democratic hopefuls—and[Read More…]

I worked for a leader who was sometimes accused of lacking in the smarts department. But no one I know who spent time with President George W. Bush was left with that impression. Bush took an almost gleeful satisfaction in picking holes in arguments, as any half-prepared briefer quickly learned.[Read More…]

We’ve been at war with other countries over the last sixty years where outcomes have not been as predicted and promises unfulfilled. They have brought huge losses in military and collateral lives and devastated our treasury. Meanwhile, needs at home go unattended. Objective observers promise that a war with Iran will be[Read More…]

How one responds to the Republican state senators hightailing it out of the capital to deny a quorum during the debate and vote for the cap and trade bill likely depends on one’s ideological bent. The right cheered on the maneuver; the left disparaged the move. To deny ruling Democrats[Read More…]

Some of the best learning is done when we don’t think we’re learning. Kids think that all education must cease for the summer—June through August is for fun and frolicking. Experienced parents know the truth. When a human is in their teenage years, every day is a time for learning[Read More…]

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report that is the closest thing we have to the quantification of despair. Between 1999 and 2017, suicide rates in America rose to their highest level since World War II. The increase can be found among women and men,[Read More…]

An aching heart is the result of daily news reports that, while my government ignores the fact-based warnings that climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect, no matter its name, means that, if we continue as we’re going now, it will not be possible for the human species to survive[Read More…]