I’ve done some hand wringing about robots, wondering about the degree to which they will change our world. Take self-driving cars, for example.  Who is responsible if a self-driving car has an accident.  The designer?  The manufacturer?  The automobile owner? Or, can we blame a

In 1936, Aldous Huxley observed that if democracy is to work, one must govern with the consent of the people.  (“Modern Despots,” by Aldous Huxley, reprinted for a 1936 article in Harper’s, February 18, 2018, pg. 37.)  Thanks to gerrymandering and the Electoral College, who co

Four years ago, I wrote a blog in which I quoted 29- year-old Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, as saying young people were smarter than anyone else.  (Click) By my math, he turned 34 on May 14 of this year, and when I read his recent testimony before Congress, I had to smile. (Clic

Folks in the business world sometimes survive the political one by appeasing both sides of the aisle. When I sought corporate contributions for my campaigns,  I wasn’t surprised to learn my  opponent had left some office with a check before me. I felt no ill-will.  I usually left

I joked  with a friend, recently, that if religious conservatives have their way, abortions will be illegal at the point of coitus.  We both laughed.  But I’m not laughing anymore.  Iowa’s woman governor, Kim Reynolds, has signed a bill that makes abortion illegal at the first

If the young want to know why the old keep looking to the past, I’ll tell them.  Sometimes, we old folks  don’t like where the future is taking us.  Our measuring stick is Time and being  longer than theirs, the old can recognize the difference between progress and change.  W

When I served in public life, common knowledge was that the number of jail inmates swelled in winter.  Desperate to come in from the cold, the indigent resorted to petty crimes and waited for the police to arrest them.  Law enforcement officers became social workers.  Their job was

Recently, Ben Carson, head of Housing and Urban Development, proposed reducing rent subsidies almost threefold for the poorest of the poor.  If his proposal were to pass Congress, it  would mean the indigent would have to spend almost 2/3 of their income for housing, leaving 1/3 for

President Donald Trump will probably appoint a Supreme Court Justice during his presidency.  That appointment will tilt the current balance between liberal and conservative justices on that bench.  His choice will be of great concern and keep journalists up to their elbows in ink fo

Recently, I spiced up a blog (2/2/2017) with a little alphabet profanity: WTF.  A couple of readers chuckled and seemed surprised that I either knew or would use the expression.  I may have been a school teacher at one time, but life in the Labor movement and in politics gave me a r