A famous ancient Greek legend holds that Dionysius II, the tyrant of the Sicilian Greek city of Syracuse (at a time when Sicily was ruled by Greeks and Carthaginians, and a time when the word “tyrant” was merely a term of art and not a pejorative), had a rather obsequious servant named Damocles. Damocles told the tyrant that as a great man of power and authority surrounded by magnificence, Dionysius was truly extremely fortunate.
BURLINGAME, CALIF. -- On March 14, the California Republican Party held its annual spring convention at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame. The goal of the convention -- its theme “Rebuild, Renew, Reclaim” -- was to “rebuild our party from the ground up, renew important community relationships, and reclaim California for our families and our future,” according to the website.
Millennials have been a major driving force in politics, especially in recent presidential elections. Since 2008, about half of voters under 30 went to the polls, making up nearly one-fifth of the total vote cast. Coincidentally, they heavily favored Obama, support that tipped several large battleground states in his favor. That may be about to change by the end of 2014.
In my last column, I wrote of the Executive Branch's responsibility to enforce all laws passed by the legislature. Failure to do so means that the executive (whether governor or president) is not doing his or her job. However, I was at dinner the other night with a friend who studies constitutional law when she posed this question in response: If a law is passed by the legislature that is in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution (or even a state constitution), does the executive have a responsibility to still enforce the law?
I know what you are thinking; how can something be more equal than something else? It is a good question because that would be impossible. If two things are equal, the value of neither can be greater nor lesser than the other -- they have the same value. Equal protection under the law, for instance, should mean that everyone has the same protections under the law and that it neither favors nor discriminates against one group over another. The law treats every citizen of the state equally -- or should.
Wars are won on the home front. We learned this in World War II. The soldiers fought bravely and hard, but what really won the war was the economic and industrial power that translated into planes and tanks and ammunition. And the great amplifier of our economic strength was sacrifice, both voluntary and enforced. People could not buy anything they wanted whenever they wanted it.
In Missouri, the state House of Representatives recently and overwhelmingly passed a bill that would compel law enforcement officials to get a warrant before tracking a person's electronic mobile device(s).
As we turn into the new age of ushered equality, questions of how equal Americans are continue to persist. Gender inequality, according to the president, is still a major issue concerning the United States. In Obama's State of the Union speech he said, “Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment.”
Oregon's political atmosphere, with its wide range of official political parties, gives one an initial feeling that the election process is somewhat representative, but a closer look at the process belies this initial perception.
Voting technology has come a long way. For the ancient Athenians it entailed dropping black and white rocks into clay pots. Today, voting technology in the U.S. is largely contingent upon proprietary code, developed and owned by private enterprise. This begs the question, "Is this working for voters?"