In the seventeenth century, Sir Isaac Newton postulated his Third Law of Motion, which states that for every force, there’s an equal counterforce. Also during that era, empiricists like John Locke were producing theories about human motion in the form of social and political interaction. Collectively, they changed the course of human events forever. In “We’re in a New Era of Class Warfare. Is Change Still Possible?,” Columbia University professor of history Dr. Kim Phillips-Fein, posits there’s a fundamental difference between…

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A reader asked why I preface the title of these essays with We the People. I replied in part that I mean it in context the Founders meant it when they inscribed the phrase into the Preamble. His query, though, prompted me think more deeply about who constitutes We the People. I now realize that it’s not easily definable. Although my definition is far more expansive than that of our Founders, it’s not unlimited. It’s munificent to say We the…

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We’ve entered a new age. There are cynics who might shrug and say they’ve been there done that, explaining they’ve seen new ages come and go. Still, they might remember that once upon a time they might’ve been harbingers of a new age. But that was ages ago and memories fail. Now they mindlessly meander toward their demise, blissfully oblivious to the harm being done to our country and to the planet. That’s the thing with new ages. They age…

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Do you remember the Plymouth, Oldsmobile, or Mercury?  How about the De Soto, Hudson, or Studebaker? Go back further to the REO Speed Wagon, not the rock group but the pickup truck. Think now of options travelers had “back in the day” about choosing an airline. Consider how many no longer exist, like TWA, Eastern, and Allegheny Airlines. On one flight from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia on Allegheny Airlines, I was seated next to a priest. We struck up a lively…

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While reading Thomas Edsall’s essay “Is This Liberalism’s Last Stand?” in the New York Times, I learned a new term: Precariat. When I saw that precariat wasn’t on the Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, I concluded it was economic jargon, a brainiac term that only economic geeks are familiar with. But as I researched further, I discovered it’s not jargon at all. Apparently, it’s been in usage for about thirty years. Guy Standing even wrote a book about it in 2011: “The…

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The idea of character has been on my mind of late. Character, of course, has multiple meanings, from a symbol to a person. It even can be descriptive as in “He’s quite a character.” Which gets at the most intriguing application of the term: a person’s character. Besides being one, everyone has one. We’re all characters with a character. A person’s character is not only descriptive, it’s also telling about their values, attitudes, and more. Some people are of good…

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Like you (hopefully), I love America. What’s not to love about an old lady or man who’s 250 years old? Truth be told, there’s plenty not to love because like each of us, Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam are human. They’ve—we’ve—made colossal mistakes, but they’ve also done a lot of good and achieved feats no other nation in history accomplished. Think of it: There’s only one national flag “fluttering” on the moon. The countdown has begun to our semiquincentennial, the…

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(Opening and concluding paragraphs) I’ll be honest: I’m reluctant to read memoirs. I’ve often found them to be inaccessible or irrelevant because their focus on an aspect of the author’s life is meaningful for a limited audience. So when a couple of friends encouraged me to write mine, I froze. “Why?” I asked. To which they replied with some prattle about how I’ve lived an extraordinary life. “You’re kidding me, right? Who hasn’t?” I retorted. No, my life hasn’t been…

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June is Pride Month. The concept has become so ingrained in our culture that it doesn’t need to be explained. It’s often preceded with Gay or LGBTQ, but I prefer Pride because it broadens the scope beyond the sexual natures of Gays, Lesbians, et alia. For participants and supporters, Pride is a time to celebrate the dignity of LGBTQs’ personhood. For others, it can be a time of discomfort and even disgust. The two perspectives derive largely from how one…

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If you’re a long-time reader, you likely know I occasionally delve into topics related to social interaction, human psychology, and related areas. Although I’ve studied them formally, what has schooled me best about the human condition is the same as what you’ve been schooled—educated—in: life. I’m operating on the premise you’re one who’s paid attention to interpersonal dynamics as you’ve coursed your way through life and have spent time considering—wondering—why a certain person or a group does and believes as…

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Creep has multiple meanings and usages. It can be a verb, noun, or an adjective, as in “That creepy dude gave me the creeps as he crept near.” Creep can also be used to modify a concept like budget or age. Then there’s comfort creep, the slow, inexorable advancement of our push to make our lives cushier, which is the primary theme of Michael Easter’s The Comfort Crisis. In “Taking Stock of Our Comfort Zones,” I focused on how comfort…

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To train for a marathon, I ran uphill from Georgetown, which sits at 8500 feet above sea level, on the bike path paralleling the highway. When I got to Bakerville at about 10,000 feet, I paused to sip Gator Ade and enjoy a banana. I then continued onward for another mile or two before reversing course and heading back down. I estimated I ran about eighteen miles, which seems a lot except a marathon is twenty-six plus miles. Once I…

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The Constitution is the Law of the Land, but what it exactly says is a matter of debate. In Marbury v. Madison in 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled the Supreme Court is the final arbiter when he declared, “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” Whether one likes it or not, it makes sense. After all, someone has to decide what the text of the Constitution and a law…

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A dear friend recently shared the heartbreaking news about her daughter being diagnosed with a form of cancer. Having lost three siblings and several friends to the disease, I fully appreciate the toll it takes on the victim as well as on their family and friends. I now include the young woman in my meditations alongside a great-niece and four friends who are also fighting cancer. I read regularly about people in the wealthiest society in history who grocery “shop”…

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Were we as divided on May 4, 1970 as we are now? That was the day when Ohio National Guardsmen fired on unarmed anti-war protestors on the Kent State campus, killing four and wounding nine others. I’ve been asked a version of that question multiple times over the past year, most recently by my niece, Bernadette, who is a military veteran, student of history, and keen observer of behavior. Her question struck me not only because of its timeliness but…

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