169 results for author: Dave Svetlik

China and Russia are not our enemies

We all look forward with hope for the new year, yet we know humanity faces great challenges. Growing competition between China, Russia, and America is among them.

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering: the practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections

A letter to national legislators

Dear National Legislators, we know you fight for us, but we’re confused.

Defending America

Imagine for a moment America has undergone an attack from a foreign nation. Incendiary bombs have been dropped on the west coast.

The purpose of government is to help

There once was a story of America. It told of the aspiration of centuries of human struggle, of the glowing proof that people from every nation, every walk of life, every religious belief, could come together for the good of all. It told of a magnificent government – of, by, and for the people. It was a story of hope, fairness and respect, a story of community, of caring for one’s fellow man, a story of all the best that humans could be.

Defending America from the U.S. Department of Defense

In his final year in office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had also been the 5-star general who led the allied forces against Nazi Germany in World War II, warned Americans against the dangers of maintaining an oversized military and the military-industrial complex itself. He knew this joining of industry and the military could easily grow out of control, could easily drain rather than protect the nation, could easily become a threat to the future of democracy. Here is a portion of a speech President Eisenhower gave to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in April of 1953: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket ...

The common foe; the common solution

We are done being divided by the elites. We are done being distracted into hating one another. This is both a challenge and a hope. My family, my wife and I, our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren over the age of 18, probably canceled one another’s presidential votes this past election. Some voted for Biden, some for Trump. These are all intelligent people, they all have formal education beyond high school, and they all have the same concerns. They want a better life and a brighter future for themselves and their families. When Bernie Sanders, who to my knowledge most of my family supported, lost in the primaries, the presidential ...

WHY WE ARE A NATION DIVIDED

  Born in the 1940’s, my generation was the fortunate beneficiary of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) “New Deal,” whose long-term goals after the Great Depression were to enact public, government policies that would develop the nation’s resources while ensuring a fair and egalitarian distribution of America’s vast wealth.   World War II had been won and, using its constitutionally authorized right to create the nation’s money, our federal government provided free college education for tens of thousands of returning military men and women under the GI Bill, it paid for the rural electrification of small communities and ...

VOTE TO END ABORTIONS

  We are fast approaching the November election and once again, abortion is a critical factor in choosing a candidate. In truth, no one wants to see an abortion. It is a tragic moment in any society. But if we genuinely wish to reduce abortions, we must remember – abortion is the terrible symptom. The cause is unintended, unwanted pregnancy. As always, the cause must be treated if we wish to eradicate the symptom.   Unintended pregnancies, of course, give immediate rise to the common reaction - - “people shouldn’t have had sex, they should have abstained.” At the risk of sounding cavalier, this is equivalent to passing laws ...

MAKING AMERICA GREAT

  We hear much today about “making America great,” and certainly we as a people should see this as an aspirational goal. But what does it mean to be “great?” And importantly, we must recognize there have been forces throughout history that are beyond the control of any individual, any country, and perhaps beyond the control of humanity itself.  No nation is free of these evolutionary trends.   Economically speaking, one of the leading indicators that a globally preeminent nation has reached its apex, is how it “earns” its living. Does the nation produce real goods and services that benefit humanity, or has it evolved to ...