Recent Posts
I’ve always known that languages evolve. But I didn’t realize how many changes I would be able to perceive in one short lifetime. Now, at the age of 57, I can personally report on some changes I’ve observed in English…
Three years ago today, something significant happened — historically significant, it seems to me. Yet perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is how little it’s been written about. Will history recognize the Battle of Grant Park? First of all:…
The August 16, 2022 special election for Alaska’s one and only seat in the U.S. House was notable for several reasons, including being the first time ranked-choice voting (RCV) was used to fill the seat. Students of voting methods have…
Yesterday, Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) caused a lot of heads to spin when she announced that she would not support altering the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation. One prominent columnist tweeted that she was “effectively asking the…
Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision on DACA is only a temporary reprieve for undocumented DREAMers; there’s little to prevent the Trump administration from trying again with a modified process. Meanwhile, the DACA program is popular with both Democrats and Republicans. In…
I recently watched Intelligence Squared’s debate on the two-party system, and I was shocked by the outcome. Before the debate, 35 percent of the audience agreed with the motion, which was “Two Cheers for Two Parties” (by the way, not…
I have recently published a book I’ve been working for more than five years. It’s entitled “Beyond Two Parties: Why America Needs a Multiparty System and How We Can Have It” and is available at Amazon and other online retailers…
Many people feel disappointed by the Rucho v. Common Cause decision, handed down last week by the Supreme Court. I don’t blame them. The Supreme Court recognized that partisan gerrymandering is, in their own words, “incompatible with democratic principles”, yet…
I’ve been cooking vegetarian chili since the late 1990s. In those days, Don Barnes’s QuintesSensual Chili made a big impression on me, and I used it as a starting point. With this chili I have simplified things, eliminating the fake…