| Jun 24, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyWhen I say publicly that I’m descended from slave owners, I almost always hear a gasp. I let the tension hang a moment and then I break it: “Well, someone has to be, right?” This usually gets a laugh, or at least a humph of recognition. Because many...
| Nov 13, 2013 | Food / FarmingWhat do turkey, sweet potatoes, and cranberries have in common? Yes, you eat them on Thanksgiving. Additionally, they are all distinctly American foods. So are potatoes and the corn in your corn bread. Believe it or not, the day that Columbus blundered into the...
| Oct 9, 2013 | Rights / DemocracyFifty years ago, two progressive former Kennedy administration officials opened the doors of the Institute for Policy Studies. Ever since, IPS public scholars have channeled our independence — from government and corporate money— to blend fresh, bold ideas with...
| Oct 2, 2013 | Economy / BusinessA hundred years ago, on October 3, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the first modern federal tax on income. John Buenker has been writing about the events that led to that signing for a good bit of the last 50 years. His 1985 book, The Income Tax and the...
| Aug 20, 2012 | Rights / DemocracyDavid Barton, a self-styled Christian historian who claims to debunk left-wing myths about America, is sure of it: If you studied the Founding Fathers like he has, you would know that “as far as they were concerned, they had already had the entire debate on...
