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Here’s hoping Biden equal to challenge

Joe Biden faces many challenges as he embarks on his presidency today, after taking the oath of office at noon. Not since Abraham Lincoln has a president faced a nation so deeply divided. While the issues are different from those in the 1860s, the intense split could result in a kind of civil war — we are hoping without bloody battles and armies fighting — but one equally as rending and harmful to our republic. Unbending factions skirmishing publicly to make their opponents appear loathsome will only cause resentment and harden positions, deepening the chasm already ...

Regulate social media like utilities

Democracy took a big blow when Twitter shut down President Donald Trump's accounts and Google and Amazon ousted Parler, a site favored by millions of conservatives. Big Tech, which is run by the left, is robbing Americans of their right to communicate freely and exchange ideas. The nation's founders worried that the government would use its power to censure and crush competing viewpoints. Their remedy was the First Amendment, guaranteeing all of us freedom of speech and association and barring government censorship. They had no way of anticipating that tech companies would grow ...

Republicans getting stripped of money

With much of corporate America vowing to withhold donations to Republican insurrectionists, party leaders have a choice to make. The Trump cult or the money? The money or the Trump cult? One hoped that love of country and its democratic institutions would have been reason enough to strongly condemn fellow Republicans who tried to overturn the results of a legally certified election. Only a handful of Republicans rose to the occasion, with a few more signing on following the obscene Trump-fueled rampage on the Capitol. Despite pleading with President Donald Trump to stop the riot, ...

Americans deserve $2K without delay

It’s shameful that Republicans in the U.S. Senate have slowed to a tortoise-like pace when it comes to providing $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks to Americans, many of whom need help for the first — and perhaps only — time since they’ve been paying federal taxes. While Democrats, along with a few Republicans, in the U.S. House of Representatives and President Donald Trump all supporting the $2,000 figure, Senate Republicans claim it “will cost too much,” but they had no problem voting to ship billions of your tax dollars overseas to fund other countries. These senators sit ...

US democracy must be protected

For nearly 250 years, free and fair elections have been a hallmark of American democracy. In their pursuit to counter a king’s oppressive tyranny, our nation’s founders forged a representative government that gave power not to an elite monarch, but to the people. Since the founding of our nation, American government has reflected the will of the people. However, government “of, by, and for the people” is possible only as long as Americans have faith in the electoral system. To have truly fair and free elections, the American people must have confidence in their ...

Finding pandemic’s silver linings

WASHINGTON — Trying to find a silver lining in the pandemic while it’s still raging may be a fool’s errand, but evidence abounds that the curse of the coronavirus has had some positive effects on us, both individually and collectively. While we can hardly believe what’s happened — or that we’re still facing shutdowns and even more isolation — we’re still mostly sane and, with stupefying exceptions, largely responding responsibly. The more fortunate among us can still walk outside (with care) and adapt to the requirements of safety by social distancing and avoiding ...