Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

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 […]

Bill PrescottJune 30, 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 […]

Peter SchorschFebruary 9, 2015

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the three unalienable rights that the Declaration of Independence says have been given to all of us by the “Creator,” and that governments are created to protect. Were the Declaration to be updated for the 21st century, could it be amended to include a right to hail […]

Guest AuthorOctober 7, 2014

If you haven’t yet heard about political writer Matt Bai’s book on the failed presidential hopes of Gary Hart, you will. Bai, once political editor for the New York Times’ Sunday magazine and current political editor for Yahoo, asserts that one week in 1987 forever changed politics in America. Bai is on the interview circuit […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 3, 2014

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. … These eloquent and powerful words were composed by a man who owned 600 slaves during his lifetime. The pitiful […]

Guest AuthorJune 30, 2014

Here are 10 reasons to pry the husband away from the bathroom, the kids away from the World Cup, and read The Declaration of Independence together as a family: It takes three minutes. Tops. That’s a 180-second break from arguing with your daughter about her bikini and how no one really needs to see that […]

Guest AuthorMay 18, 2014

Ralph Waldo Emerson was contemptuous of “foolish consistency,” calling it “the hobgoblin of little minds.” Oh Waldo, if you could see us now! By his eloquent standard, worse than consistent fools, Americans have devolved into intellectual Lilliputians. It wasn’t ever thus. Some of our greatest presidents have been “wisely inconsistent,” sanely changing their minds in […]

Guest AuthorMarch 25, 2014

Recently I read an opinion piece by Teresa Sullivan, President of the University of Virginia, in which she highlighted four kinds of value in higher education. Her writing is relevant, especially with conversation in Washington, D.C. focusing on two benefits of a college education – getting a job upon graduation and how much a graduate […]

Tag: Thomas Jefferson
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 4/18/25-Candles and remembrances are left near the Unconquered statue a few hours after the Florida State University Gathering of Unity Vigil held Friday to honor victims of the recent mass shooting. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

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

Martin Dyckman: The time is now to take it down

Peter Schorsch: Raise a toast to disruption in Tallahassee

Doug Clifton: Miami Herald was right to pursue tip about Gary Hart dalliance

Martin Dyckman: Thomas Jefferson rationalized his slaveholding with racist nonsense

Catherine Durkin Robinson: 10 reasons to read the Declaration of Independence

Stephen Goldstein: Charlie Crist on Cuba: Facing facts, not flip-flopping

Ed Moore: Placing value on higher education