Sep
18th

The Rise and Fall of the Labor Union

By the end of the 19th century, business interests had grown so powerful in our society that their stranglehold on individual prosperity created an inequity between the common citizens and the wealthy, industrial class. Tired of working harder and getting less than those who owned the businesses they helped succeed, and angered by conditions that […]


Sep
14th

Reining In Big Business

To the average person living in a democracy, capitalism, and the social changes it forges, rarely is given much thought. And yet our very lives, not to mention our livelihoods, are so wholly connected to our capitalistic economy, that the line between people and business has become blurred, and the properties of one has been […]


Aug
27th

Does Your Insurance Cover That?

Sometimes, bad things just happen. It’s a fact of life, plain and simple. Houses burn down. Stores get robbed. Cars get wrecked. People get cancer. In each of these scenarios (and any number of misfortunes) there is likely to be emotional, physical, or material damage. There is also a negative financial impact that can run […]


Aug
23rd

Meaningful Bankruptcy Reform

Financially speaking, bankruptcy occurs when you don’t have enough money coming in to cover your bills. As a legal maneuver, bankruptcy offers an individual, business, or government entity an opportunity to crawl out from under their accumulated debt and either restructure a repayment plan, reduce amounts to be repaid to creditors, or liquidate real assets […]


Aug
12th

Bizarro Zero Tolerance

We live in a society that at times seems to take great pains to produce the most idiotic and inane policies possible. In this era of nonsensical political correctness, where up is told it’s really down, and the word “is” has infinite meanings, one of the most confounding practices to be injected into our society […]


Aug
7th

Democracy or Theocracy

Democracy is a concept of government whereby the general population consents to abide by rules of society set in place by elected representatives. In a democracy, everyone is supposed to have a chance to speak their mind on any given issue through their vote or through direct petition to the government. In a democracy, government […]


Aug
2nd

The Perils of Organized Religion

Religion should be defined as a relationship between a person and their god, whether that god is a single supernatural being or a multi-faceted force of life or a really tall evergreen tree. Religion, in this form, can be a powerful force for good in a persons life, offering them comfort in times of trouble, […]


Jul
28th

My Religion Can Beat Up Your Religion!

Religion, in its purest form, is an individual quest for the answers to life’s most elusive questions: How did we get here? What happens when we die? What is the purpose of life? Is there a higher being or greater power than ourselves? To what do we owe our existence? What do we owe each […]


Jul
25th

A Question of Trust

The world in which we live is steadily becoming increasingly cynical, or at least it seems. We’ve come to expect our politicians to be corrupt and dishonest. We’ve come to see our businesses as greedy and unsympathetic to the plights of their workers. We view each other through tinted lenses that paint us as red […]


Jul
10th

That’s (Mass) Entertainment

As the father of a young child, I am often dismayed at what passes for family entertainment these days, at least insofar as the mass media is concerned. Finding television shows that are not laced with violence, gratuitous sexual innuendo, foul language or rude behavior is almost impossible. Listening to the radio in the car […]