Life often involves a desire to grasp or obtain something that in the end was not a very good idea. Many of us had parents who shared this admonition with us when we craved this or that thing. We were warned—wisely—that the things we yearn for rapidly become the things we abjure Read more…
“I can’t write,” is the response I often hear from people who have had an interesting life but shy away from writing about their experiences. That’s too bad, because many of us have lives filled with lessons and stories that others can benefit from, provided someone shares them. True enough, lessons can Read more…
I haven’t met many Presidents. The only formal introduction was to President George W. Bush in 2005. On that occasion I was paraded through the Oval Office with several of my Republican Virginia House of Delegate colleagues for a publicity picture shaking hands with the President. It was pleasant. He met with all Read more…
There were 333.3 million people living in the United States in 2022. Of that number, 260 million, or about 78 percent, are adults. Of that number, 168 million, or just 64 percent of all adults, are registered voters. Of them, 154 million, or 91 percent, voted in 2020. That was huge. These are the statistics. Read more…
For several decades, America has been engaged in “Affirmative Action.” That concept had its origin during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The term first materialized in 1961, when then President John F. Kennedy created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. His Special Legal Counsel and Executive Vice Chairman to that Committee, a Read more…
It’s a sad day. We have all had them. But for me, it’s very sad. Yesterday morning I learned Lieutenant General (Retired) Thomas G. Rhame (US Army) passed away. He had bravely fought a long-term illness and did so with the same determination and positive outlook that typified his years of service as a Read more…
When it comes to the American military, you rarely see an image of a US Army, Navy, Marine, or Air Force officer in a blue beret. To be sure, in the Army there are different colored headgear, as we would say, including some berets. Maroon for the Airborne, tan for Rangers, green Read more…
I watch less television these days. There’s too much nonsense that substitutes for news, like people who “lose it” in a fast food drive-through because their order was wrong or people who call 911 because they can’t find the remote control. Notwithstanding these silly things, the most irritable aspects of television these Read more…
A symptom of a healthy republic is the willingness of good and decent people to offer themselves for public service. Emphasis on “service.” In my time in the Virginia General Assembly, for instance, I observed there were three kinds of people who populated elective office. First, there were those who “wanted to Read more…
The expression “children should be seen and not heard” has its roots, some say, in an English proverb of the 15th century. I think this saying would be appropriate for our times. It could be applied to a huge swath of politicians, talking heads in the media, cable television hosts who are more interested Read more…