Archive
How Did We Get Here?
Dick Tuck, the legendary political prankster and wit, once ran for local office in San Francisco and lost. His concession speech, in its entirety: "The people have spoken — the bastards." Now, you know me — I wouldn’t say anything like that about the recent elections....
Leave No Generation Behind
Over a decade ago, I got a call from Bill Gates. Not the Bill Gates you're probably thinking of. It was Bill Gates Sr., the Microsoft founder's dad. He was eager to speak out in support of the federal estate tax, our nation’s only levy on inherited wealth. He called...
Blocking the Vote
When she heard that the GOP had nailed a Senate majority, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska grabbed a chair, lifted it over her head and shouted "I'm the chair, maaaaaaan!" The presumptive next chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's victory dance...
Silicon Valley Shakedown
The demigods of Silicon Valley like to present themselves as miracle workers, able to create electronic wonders (and wondrous profits) from nothing but their vaunted imaginations and entrepreneurial prowess. Well, yes. But there’s another part to that program: their...
Berkeley Beats Big Soda
While the Republicans were busy wiping the floor with Democrats on Election Day, the citizens of Berkeley, California were making history. An overwhelming majority of Berkeley's voters — 75 percent — passed the nation’s first soda tax. The penny-per-ounce tax on all...
Statue of Free Enterprise
How Shy People Stole Our Elections
A big surprise from this year's elections is that American politics has become dominated by the least likely of participants: shy people. That's strange, since running for office is an ego game, attracting those comfortable with self-promotion. But the hot new trend...
Don’t Worry, Get Stoned
Want to know the real winner of the 2014 mid-term elections? Weed! The nation's capital will soon have fun-filled "flower" fests in its lovely parks. Gardens will be green with the grasshopper with no legs. Kitchens will be filled the seductive smell of "space...
Stand Up and Fight
Debacle. Bloodbath. Drubbing. Call it what you will. For Democrats, this was an ugly Election Day. But there's no mandate for right-wing policies in its aftermath. Arkansas voters chose to raise the minimum wage while electing a senator who opposes doing so. Colorado...
In OtherWords: November 5, 2014
This week in OtherWords, Robert L. Borosage gives Democrats some advice in the wake of their lackluster performance in the mid-term elections and Jill Richardson suggests that doctors should prescribe fruits and veggies for more of their patients. Do you want to make...
