Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Martin DyckmanMarch 23, 2016

In 1789, as the new United States of America was just taking root, Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that “If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” The quotation is making one of its frequent rounds on the Internet. The remark was ironic, if […]

Guest AuthorMarch 1, 2016

The most repeated phrase of late on social media and on talking-head shows is, “This election is unlike anything ever before!” Each time I hear it I have to chuckle. Is it just a sign of our times that we think ourselves so special that everything we do has to be the biggest or […]

Martin DyckmanFebruary 17, 2016

Mitch McConnell couldn’t even wait until Justice Antonin Scalia‘s corpse was cold before exploiting his death for partisan politics. The oleaginous majority leader means to keep the seat empty, no matter the likelihood of that paralyzing the sharply divided Supreme Court for a year, on the chance that voters might elect a Republican president to […]

Martin DyckmanFebruary 16, 2016

Mitch McConnell couldn’t even wait until Justice Antonin Scalia’s corpse was cold before exploiting his death for partisan politics. The oleaginous majority leader means to keep the seat empty, no matter the likelihood of that paralyzing the sharply divided Supreme Court for a year, on the chance that voters might elect a Republican president to […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 15, 2016

It’s Presidents Day again, a day when the schools and banks are closed, the local, state and federal bureaucracies leave us alone, and everyone else is busy working to pay for it all. The holiday goes back as far as 1879 and was originally intended to honor George Washington. This was later amended to include […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 14, 2016

It’s Presidents’ Day again, a day when the schools and banks are closed, the local, state and federal bureaucracies leave us alone, and everyone else is busy working to pay for it all. The holiday goes back as far as 1879 and was originally intended to honor George Washington. This was later amended to include […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 11, 2016

“A watched pot never boils!” You have heard that many times before. We all know it more aptly reflects our own impatience rather than our subjective reality. Of course a pot will boil if the heat is turned high enough. Watching the news this week from Oregon, the image of a simmering pot about to […]

Marc YachtJanuary 6, 2016

Presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson finds the voters fickle. As they say in the theater, “His star is fading.” After enjoying a top-notch rating since appearing on the political scene, the neurosurgeon seems fated to the dustbin of political history. Carson sinks faster than a leaky wooden boat. What happened to this Trump challenger? His […]

Guest AuthorOctober 13, 2015

As the 21st century finds its rhythm, and the 2016 presidential contest begins to take up most of our public space, it seems clear to me that we have two political parties in the United States, but they are both thoroughly Hamiltonian. We have what might be called the “greater Hamiltonian Party” and the “lesser […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 1, 2015

Those who flaunt the Confederate flag insist that it symbolizes “heritage,” not hate. Call it what they will, but that heritage is a heritage of hate. The slave owners and their politicians fancied themselves good, decent, God-fearing people. How could they square that with the countless hideous brutalities they inflicted on their human chattels? They […]

Tag: Thomas Jefferson
Image via AP

Martin Dyckman: Smart Republicans need to start thinking, acting on their own

Ed Moore: Is this an election unlike any seen before?

Martin Dyckman: Refusing to approve Obama nominee could hurt the Party of No in November

Martin Dyckman: Refusing to approve Obama nominee could hurt the Party of No in November

Tim Bryce: Presidents Day — Could they be elected today?

Tim Bryce: Presidents' Day – Could they be elected today?

Ed Moore: Our unwatched pot is already boiling

Marc Yacht: Ben Carson is fading because he's not qualified to be president

Clay S. Jenkinson: Restoring the American republic, beginning in Tallahassee

Martin Dyckman: The time is now to take it down