Tag Archives: current-events

Resorting to Power Reflects Failure of Leadership

Posted on September 7, 2013 by mhowgill

As Dana Milbank pointed out in Wednesday’s Post, the administration needs to come clean with the facts on which it is basing a decision to intervene unilaterally in Syria. This momentous decision should not be made in sealed rooms by … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged consensus, constitution, current affairs, current-events, dogma, freedom, international affairs, leadership, Middle East, military power, politics, power, Syria, terror, unilateral action, United Nations, war | Leave a comment

Seeking Unbound Lives

Posted on November 12, 2012 by mhowgill

Republicans are frantically seeking someone to blame for their completely predictable election defeat last week. But all their carping and evasion hasn’t yet revealed the most obvious explanation. The United States in 2012 moved closer to its Founders’ vision of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged competitiveness, current-events, diversity, dogma, election, election results, freedom, ideology, immigration policy, leadership, politics, presidency, presidential election | 1 Comment

Without Integrity Nothing Else Matters

Posted on September 24, 2012 by mhowgill

Do I make myself more handsome by portraying others as ugly? Can I make my ideas sound better by distorting those of others? When we knowingly misrepresent facts, we’re lying. And lying is among the gravest of threats to our … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged accuracy, competitiveness, current-events, diversity, election, ethics, free speech, integrity, leadership, politics, presidential election, truth, voter rights | Leave a comment

Free Speech Can’t Live with Lies

Posted on September 13, 2012 by mhowgill

According to scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann, the bi-partisan duo who recently published It’s Even Worse than It Looks, “Viral emails and word-of-mouth campaigns are expanding sharply, mostly aimed at false facts about political adversaries”(p. 66). Last November, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged current-events, election, free speech, freedom, Internet lies, leadership, politics, presidential election, truth, viral emails, voter rights, voting rights | Leave a comment

Confirmation Bias

Posted on August 31, 2012 by mhowgill

In legislative deliberations, Congress increasingly rejects scientific findings in favor of persuasive lobbying positions and political dogma. This behavior is reported in their most recent work, It’s Even Worse than It Looks by American Enterprise Institute’s Norman Ornstein and Brookings’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged current-events, leadership, politics, presidential election, science | Leave a comment

Lead or Get Out of the Way!

Posted on August 27, 2012 by mhowgill

Can America still compete? Although the United States has led the world in agricultural and industrial production, we’re now threatened by global competitors as science and technology, freer markets and cheap labor make foreign economies grow. Fortunately, embedded at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged competitiveness, current-events, diversity, innovation, leadership, politics, religion | Leave a comment

Are We Exceptional or Ordinary?

Posted on August 23, 2012 by mhowgill

At the core of our Constitution lies justification for what conservatives call “American exceptionalism”—an obligation to deliver freedom and democracy to the world. This ideology, created “under God,” has assumed new clout with the union between political and Christian fundamentalism—a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abortion, current-events, politics, religion, science | Leave a comment

Solutions Versus Slurs

Posted on August 22, 2012 by mhowgill

The United States, built by men and women from diverse cultural backgrounds, is among the most innovative nations in history. Our cultural narrative includes the conception that we’re a “melting pot,” folding different customs into a system of practices that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged competitiveness, current-events, innovation, politics, presidential election, religion, science | Leave a comment

Sorting fact from belief

Posted on August 16, 2012 by mhowgill

Congress has cried “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war. Driven by ideology and dogma the Republican and Democratic Parties are tearing at each other’s throats and eviscerating reason from the body politic. Compromise is treated as a disease … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged current-events, politics, religion, science | Leave a comment