August 18th, 20230Americans are pessimistic about our democracy, according to a recent poll. It’s a worrisome finding. Of course, it’s easy to watch the news and conclude our government isn’t working. But we must not get to the point where we think we can’t solve our problems in a democratic fashion. That’s a danger line.
The poll, by The...
August 2nd, 20230The late Israeli commentator Uri Avnery wrote, “I am increasingly worried that the Israeli-Palestinian struggle… is assuming a more and more religious character.”
At first glance, the statement may seem baffling. If Israel is a “Jewish State” that serves as a “homeland” for all Jewish people, everywhere, does it not...
November 9th, 20220By Lee H. Hamilton
Watching Brazil’s presidential election from the U.S. has been like looking into a funhouse mirror. The image looks a lot like us, for better or for worse.
According to official results, challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ousted the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, and will take office Jan. 1. But the margin was...
October 15th, 20220A new national poll has some disturbing insights into the health of democracy in the country and voters' outlook about unity.
The poll commissioned by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and conducted by Brilliant Corners Research and Strategies has found that ahead of the 2022 midterm election, strong majorities of...
June 6th, 20200Over the last few years, the health of American democracy has come under great scrutiny. Polling routinely shows that Americans are concerned that democratic institutions aren’t working as well as they ought to. Inevitably, this brings up the question of whether we can mend our problems or if the system of representative democracy...
September 3rd, 20190Sometimes, you wonder if the world is doomed to descend into autocracy. Certainly, that’s what the coverage of the past few years suggests. We read about the nations that are already there, like China and Russia, of course, and Saudi Arabia and Iran. Or about countries like Hungary, Turkey and Poland that are nominally...
August 23rd, 20190Democracy’s premise is that ordinary citizens can make solid decisions on complex issues. But this basic principle and the structure of laws and practices erected over the centuries to safeguard it are being questioned as rarely before.
It’s not just that political leaders in various Western democracies seem to have little regard...
June 8th, 20190You may not be ready for next year’s elections, but in political time, they’re coming up fast. Even politicians who aren’t running for president are crafting their stump speeches. Which means that at some point you’re almost certain to hear someone announce, sternly, “I. Will. Not. Compromise.” And if you’re there in the...
December 14th, 20180The other day, a friend asked what surprised me most about politics. This may seem strange, but I’d never really thought about the question.
My response was off-the-cuff but heartfelt. The biggest surprise is also among my biggest disappointments with American political life: The ongoing effort by politicians to suppress...
September 1st, 20180If you take a dim view of our political parties, you’re in sterling company. So did George Washington.
In his famous farewell address, he warned us against “the baneful effects of the spirit of party.” A political party, he wrote, “agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of...
August 3rd, 20181By Mohamed Mohamed
Since its inception, Israel has been a discriminatory state, posing as a (false) democracy. This is not a matter of opinion; it is a fact and there is plenty of evidence to back it up.
On Thursday, July 19, the Israeli Knesset passed the “Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People” bill into...
March 16th, 20180DEARBORN – On March 15, a large crowd of community members and local elected officials came out to Byblos Banquet Hall in support of 19th District Court Chief Judge Salem Salamey’s bid to be re-elected to the bench.
Salamey, a father of four, was elected Dearborn’s first Arab American judge in 2012. He is currently running...
March 2nd, 20180BLOOMINGTON, IN — Politicians in Washington may say they are doing the public's bidding in Congress, but the people lean towards the view that Congress is more polarized than the citizenry, according to a survey of public attitudes about Congress and public affairs conducted by the Indiana University Center on Representative...