Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Martin DyckmanDecember 23, 2014

Insanity has been defined often (though most likely never by Albert Einstein himself) as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. By that standard, the U.S. embargo on trade with Cuba is a spectacular example of insanity. After almost 53 years, it still is nowhere near to bestowing liberty on the […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 17, 2014

We Americans owe our civil liberties not only to the statesmen such as James Madison who wrote them into the Constitution or to the lawyers and judges who have upheld them. We also have people to thank who we wouldn’t necessarily want as friends or neighbors. They’re the ones accused of crimes – and sometimes […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 15, 2014

If Jeb Bush runs for president, as he most likely will, one of his signature issues, education, will get him hammered from both sides. The Republican Party’s tea bag wing is unforgiving – so far – over his embrace of the Common Core standards even though the federal government has had almost nothing to do with them. […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 11, 2014

It did not come as news this week that the CIA had tortured terrorism suspects. Americans already knew that. So did our enemies. The U.S. Senate select committee’s controversial report accomplished much more, however, than to simply provide the brutal, degrading, horrifying details. Equally disturbing, if not more so, was the conclusion that agency officials […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 9, 2014

In the news: Strippers listed as “admissions representatives” were hired to recruit students for a dodgy for-profit Florida trade college that FBI raids eventually put out of business. That’s the shocker in a federal lawsuit the Miami Herald reported last week. According to the suit, the school “purposely hired attractive women and sometimes exotic dancers […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 4, 2014

As if American students don’t already face enough standardized tests, here comes another. Legislatures in eight states are considering adding success on a civics test to the requirements for high school graduation. Florida isn’t one of them, but it can’t be long before test-happy Tallahassee adopts the idea, which surfaced most recently in North Dakota. […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 3, 2014

As if American students don’t already face enough standardized tests, here comes another. Legislatures in eight states are considering adding success on a civics test to the requirements for high school graduation. Florida isn’t one of them, but it can’t be long before test-happy Tallahassee adopts the idea, which surfaced most recently in North Dakota. […]

Martin DyckmanNovember 30, 2014

Many years ago, a Union County jury spared the life of an inmate who had killed the Florida State Prison’s deputy warden during an escape attempt. Raiford was the governmental version of a company town, so how did the killer get second-degree murder instead of a ticket to the electric chair? The reason, as an […]

Martin DyckmanNovember 20, 2014

The anniversary of one of the most significant moments in our history slipped by Wednesday, largely overlooked by those of us preoccupied with a worrisome future. It was on Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery, that President Abraham Lincoln expressed the purpose of America as we like to think of […]

Martin DyckmanNovember 17, 2014

Nearly 70 years ago, when the Florida Democratic Party was a monopoly, the political scientist V. O. Key Jr., saw a problem that haunts it to the present day. In Florida, he wrote, it was “every man for himself.” Individual candidates built their own organizations, which dissolved when they left office or gave up running. […]

Tag: Martin Dyckman

Martin Dyckman: Cuban embargo a spectacular example of insanity

Martin Dyckman: Bad people who helped make good law

Martin Dyckman: Jeb might have an education problem in 2016

Martin Dyckman: Listen to Sen. John McCain, who speaks with great authority on torture

Martin Dyckman: Admissions ‘fraud’ adds to college debt

Martin Dyckman: Watch for yet another standardized test — this one on civics

Martin Dyckman: Watch for yet another standardized test — this one on civics

Martin Dyckman: Ferguson prosecutor should have recused himself because of his police ties

Martin Dyckman: Why do people not vote? Primarily because they don’t think they’ll make a difference

Martin Dyckman: Fla. Democrats need to find a message with a broad appeal