News at Home

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• 10/24/2021
  

  How the Republicans Became the Anti-Abortion Party, and What it Means for the GOP Today

  by Donne Levy

  Conservative evangelicals rode the abortion issue to a place of power in the Republican coalition. Will their success help or harm the party now that abortion rights are more imperiled than at any time since 1973? 

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• 10/24/2021
  

  Four Myths of Presidential Power

  by Daniel Farber

  History looms large in arguments about the Constitution these days. But there are widespread misunderstandings of what history tells us about presidential powers, from making war to being impeached. 

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• 10/24/2021
  

  Flying the Confederate Battle Flag in the North is a Special Sort of Disgrace

  by Daniel Koch

  Upstate New York was once the most pro-Lincoln and anti-slavery part of the Union. The growing presence of Confederate symbols there insults the region's history and contributions paid in blood for freedom. 

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• 10/24/2021
  

  Why Is Pentagon Spending Rising When "We Can't Afford" Everything Else?

  by Lawrence Wittner

  The self-interest of politicians and defense contractors, not popular demand or military necessity, is driving a new US military buildup that continues unabated even as other vital national priorities go begging. 

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• 10/17/2021
  

  Scoring the Presidents on Integrity and Humanity in Dealing with Native American Nations

  by Michael A. Genovese

  Since George Washington, the President has had principal influence in government policy toward Native American nations. The nation's record is not generally a proud one but some presidents have dealt more honorably than others. 

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• 10/17/2021
  

  We Need Poets as Much as Physicists and Artists as Much as Actuaries

  by David P. Barash

  We need the expertise of scientists and technologists to solve big problems, but we need artists to make people care enough about those problems to demand solutions.

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• 10/17/2021
  

  West Virginia's Founding Politicians Understood Democracy Better than Today's

  by Daniel W. Sunshine

  The filibuster, as currently constructed, violates what West Virginia founder Waitman Willey described as “the great fundamental political right of the majority to rule.” West Virginia’s quest to improve their democracy offers lessons on how to heal our own.

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• 10/17/2021
  

  The Fantasy of Hispanic Heritage Month

  by Frank P. Barajas

  Conceived by a Congressman to honor the contributions of ethnic Mexicans to American society, Hispanic Heritage Month is based in a mythical Spanish past that obscures the indigenous history of the west and legitimates the succession of power from Iberian to Anglo elites. 

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• 10/17/2021
  

  Passing Time and the Challenge of Catching "Eyewitnesses to History"

  by Thomas Doherty

  Historians have only recently wised up to the need to capture eyewitness remembrances of events. As the "Greatest Generation" passes and the Baby Boomers age, a cultural historian urges: talk to people while you still can. 

• 
• 10/10/2021
  

  The Horseshoe Crab is the Unsung, and Threatened, Hero of the Pandemic

  by William Sargent

  With due regard to Anthony Fauci, horseshoe crabs are truly the unsung heroes of the pandemic.

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• 10/3/2021
  

  A House Still Divided (Part 2)

  by Walter G. Moss

  There are signs that Americans can begin to resolve the fierce struggle underway about what kind of nation we will be. 

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• 10/3/2021
  

  Ending COVID in Our Lifetimes Requires Seeing the Bonds of Shared Humanity

  by Michael Hogan

  "In the end, like those who sought to escape the plague in Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death,” we are all vulnerable and at risk if we do not look to see that our fellow human beings both at home and abroad are safeguarded as well."

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• 10/3/2021
  

  The Forgotten History of Solidarity Between Black and Indigenous Freedom Movements

  by Kyle T. Mays

  "We have forgotten a similar time in history when African American and Native American activists battled against colonialism and white supremacy, respecting the uniqueness of both groups’ history, but understanding that an end to US empire would require solidarity."

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• 10/3/2021
  

  How Evangelical Conversion Narratives Feed the "Free Choice" Rhetoric at Your School Board Meeting

  by Rebecca L. Davis

  Evangelical Christianity grew in America by emphasizing the power of individual conversion as a "choice for Christ." This frame explains not only the prominence of Evangelicals among anti-mask and anti-vaccine protesters, but also the frequent rhetorical connections they make between COVID policy and LGBTQ tolerance. 

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• 10/3/2021
  

  At 82, Dion Offers a Rock and Roll Light in the Darkness

  by Richard Aquila

  Dion's new recording isn't just a work of Baby Boomer nostalgia; it reaches to the past to understand the present, says a historian of rock in American culture.

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• 9/26/2021
  

  A House Still Divided (Part 1)

  by Walter G. Moss

  The core of our polarization is a disagreement about what kind of country we will be – one dominated by Christian white men or one, in Frederick Douglass's words, "of perfect civil equality to the people of all races and of all creeds, and to men of no creeds." 

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• 9/26/2021
  

  The Roots of the Politicization of the National Parks Service

  by Nick DeLuca

  The National Park Service has never been totally independent of politics. But a 1996 law requiring Senate approval of the NPS Director, combined with the Trump administration's use of acting directors, has created uncertainty. Approving Biden's nominee Chuck Sams is a key step to putting the National Parks on solid footing. 

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• 9/26/2021
  

  The Rogues Gallery: The Messy Growth of Modern Policing in Gilded Age New York City

  by John Oller

  John Oller's new book on the rise of the NYPD combines a history of the social dynamics of the booming city, with its extremes of wealth and poverty, and a gallery of colorful rogues – in and out of uniform – whose battles shaped American law enforcement for good and ill. 

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• 9/19/2021
  

  We are All Becoming Cassandras: Leaders Must Heed the People on Climate, Disarmament, and Pandemic

  by Lawrence Wittner

  In classical myth, Cassandra was a lone prophet whose accurate predictions were ignored. Today, a growing share of humanity are playing the Cassandra role against a political and economic elite standing in the way of solutions to the threats of climate change, pandemic disease and nuclear annihilation. 

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• 9/19/2021
  

  Richmond's Lee Statue Has Come Down. What About Confederate Memorials in Cemeteries?

  by Jeffrey Smith

  The statue of Robert E. Lee on Richmond’s Monument Avenue finally came down, to both fanfare and controversy. But some Confederate monuments are even more politically loaded—the ones where we bury the dead.