It’s good to have 2021 behind us and the Christmas holiday break seems to have given the country a much-needed breather to regroup on a number of fronts.  No one needed a breather more than Joe Biden and, actually, he owes Sen. Joe Manchin a big thank you for hopefully putting a nail in the […]

“No relationship will be as important to the 21st century as the one between the United States, the world’s great power, and China, the world’s rising power”–Richard N. Haas, President, Council on Foreign Relations, April 2007 “Let China sleep; when she wakes, she will shake the world”–Napoleon, 1817 The world is faced with so many […]

A couple of months ago, David Brooks wrote an article lamenting the fact that based on recent polling, including a recent Pew Research Center survey, many Americans no longer have faith in top political figures or the military to keep the U. S. on top in world affairs.  My first reaction was, does he think […]

I will make no attempt to defend or justify certain elements of the tactics of the Republicans in the House and Senate in the run-up to the current government shutdown “crisis”, particularly the futile attempt to defund Obamacare, although I agree with most aspects of the underlying policy substance in their recent   position–on Obamacare, […]

The political class and all of its groupies in the punditry industry just can’t stand it.  They cannot abide a major disaster of the nature of the Gulf oil well blowout that doesn’t have a political solution.  This frustration is manifest in every media update on the well and every White House press briefing–the 21st […]

No less an authority than Lech Walesa (you remember him, the former electrician who stood up to the Soviet puppet government in Poland, which ultimately, with a little help from Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and the Pope,  led to the fall of the Soviet empire) recently made an insightful observation:  “The world has no leadership.  […]

An editorial lead in the current issue of Chief Executive Magazine caught my attention. It essentially suggested that CEOs of the major companies are finally waking up to the realization that a renewed and primary emphasis on competitiveness is the key to the restoration of business credibility on a range of issues, including the multiple […]

A note on admirable policy leadership: My friend and publishing mentor Sen. John Andrews of Colorado will be co-sponsoring legislation led by Gov. Bill Owens to ban race-based college admissions in that state. Congratulations and best wishes. We need one of these in Texas. I wonder who has the courage for such leadership?

In response to my request for comments from readers on their ideas for the prominent themes of the 21st century, I received a particularly provocative response from Dr. John Fieler, which follows in part: “This century will either be noted for the rise of a third party into a position of prominence in this country, […]

Recently, in thumbing through some old files, I rediscovered copies of a speech and an article I authored on two occasions in the mid to late 1980’s. I was honored to be invited to deliver the commencement address to the Spring 1985 graduating class at Stephen F. Austin State University and, in 1989, I was […]