In “Twilight at Monticello,” author Alan Pell Crawford recounts Thomas Jefferson’s fear that “America was fast becoming a republic in name only, where power may have been derived from the people, but where they possessed it ‘only on the days of their elections.’ After this it is the property of their rulers.” President Obama’s first [...]

Is the federal government up to the challenge of citizen engagement with the public on an individual basis?  Is it too much to expect an institution with an annual budget of three trillion dollars and as the nation’s largest employer with close to two million employees ready to go one-on-one with John or Jane Q. [...]

Washington Post Staff Writer Dan Balz provided an analysis of Tuesday’s elections across the country.  His story is titled “Contests serve as warning to Democrats: It’s not 2008 anymore.”  Using the outcomes of two gubernatorial elections (New Jersey and Virginia), Dan summarized that yesterday’s elections “demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized [...]

Today, NPR’s Morning Edition had a story about the State of Michigan using part of its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funds to pay what amounted to operating expenses of the state government; pretty much to backfill spending cuts it had made.   In effect, the federal program that was created to stimulate economic [...]

America’s rebuilding must transcend its infrastructure I’ve been contemplating Tuesday’s inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama and feeling some anxiety as the historic event nears.  Reading, watching and listening to Americans discuss their expectations for what’s on the horizon for this nation demonstrates both concern and hope of the changes to come.  “Change” has been the [...]