The Baines Report
Julian Bond. Photo: Courtesy Virginia Film Festival, 2012 Since 1996, the Barbara Jordan Forum has been a means of honoring its namesake, a celebrated Texas politician and a beloved former LBJ professor. As a kick-off to this year’s program back in February, civil rights activist Julian Bond delivered a keynote address to a packed auditorium […]
Two recent events – one in the public sector, one in the private sector – have helped to engage millions of Americans in a debate on privacy rights and information security: the debate over SOPA & Facebook employer hacking. These actions have led to robust debates, not just about what we as individuals can reasonably […]
Reflecting on September 11 has become a sort of tradition over the past 10 years, an opportunity to consider how American policy and society has transformed since this shocking event which has become a sort of landmark in U.S. history. I suggest that, on this 10-year anniversary and in light of the so-called Arab Spring, we […]
Our national debt is $14.2 trillion, which is more than our gross domestic product. Currently we borrow 43 cents of every dollar that we spend. Both Republicans and Democrats are concerned about our growing debt, yet both parties have exacerbated the problem. President Bush Jr. more than doubled military spending during his presidency, from […]
The January 8 shooting in Arizona was a tragedy. A democratic society cannot condone political violence, and all sides of the political spectrum quickly condemned the attack. Yet, instead of uniting people, this event had a polarizing effect on a nation struggling to reach a political consensus on a just about every issue. The […]