Last week, I was flying to Washington DC on Southwest Airlines with a layover in Dallas. I was en route to the Hispanic Wealth Project Policy Forum at the Urban Institute and looking forward to seeing my friends and colleagues from around the country. While I was boarding in Dallas, my daughter, who was flying…
The 116th Congress will take office on January 3rd. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest and one of the most intriguing members of the new congress. The Bronx native has captured the imagination of millions of young people with her audacity, charm, and transparency. Through social media, she is literally taking 75 million millennials on this…
For all the talk that our political system is broken, I think it’s actually pretty solid. That is not to say it shouldn’t evolve. Along with a few other things, I think there is too much money in politics, gerrymandering should be illegal, and it should be a lot easier for eligible citizens to vote.…
I read a good article in the NY Times about how the Democrats keep underestimating Trump’s political gifts. I won’t comment further except to say that the Dems should be dominating the midterms and the fact that they are not says a lot about Trump and a lot about the lack of real leadership within…
Many people are calling the upcoming midterm elections the most important in recent memory. For nearly two years, the Trump administration has pushed their agenda with the benefit of a Republican majority in both the House and the Senate. This advantage has helped the President get two of his nominees on the Supreme Court, pass…
Last week I was flying back from NY to San Diego. It was the day of the Ford/Kavanaugh hearings and you could watch live television from the Direct TV feed on the plane. An older gentleman sitting across the aisle from me was watching the hearings and literally screaming at the television as senators questioned…
As I am writing this blog, I am watching the memorial service in Washington, DC for Senator John McCain. McCain’s daughter Meghan gave one of the most heartfelt eulogies you’ll ever see punctuating the principles that guided her father’s life. Listening to the speeches, both today and earlier in the week, made me appreciate the…
What does conservative icon, Bill O’Reilly have in common with liberal talking head, Chris Matthews? They both consider former Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy a role model and a hero. I have been reading Matthews’ book Robert Kennedy “A Raging Spirit” and recognized how few politicians do things simply because they are the right things…
This week schools across America staged walkouts to protest gun violence. As with everything these days, people and the media began drawing political lines. Most people support the right of students to express their anger over the proliferation of gun violence in schools. However, others criticized the walkout as nothing more than insubordination and poor…
A constitutional crisis occurs either when the constitution does not provide a clear answer for a specific situation, or when a government official or branch of the government willfully defies adherence to the constitution. A constitutional crisis is a big deal, and can sometimes result in impeachment, civil war or collapse of the government itself.…