I’ve been thinking a lot about community in the last few weeks. We are just now wrapping up a municipal election cycle that occasionally got pretty divisive. I heard from and talked to many citizens of our cities as well as candidates about their ideas and often their frustrations. Almost ...
Success breeds failure. Policies and practices well suited to society at one juncture in history are often poorly suited to the world they have beneficially transformed. If you carry a good thing too far, it can turn out not to be a good thing anymore. Case in point, one of the most successful ...
Rumors of a proposed 10,000 bed ICE detention facility are floating about. Governor Cox denies knowledge, but last year, indicated that he would welcome a facility, stating difficulties in housing and transporting detainees. One case is illustrative of the challenge. An incarcerated person ...
Virginia and New Jersey, the two states that voted for governor in 2025, both voted for then-Vice President Kamala Harris over then-candidate Donald Trump by 52%-46% margins in 2024. Democrats ran significantly better in both states on Tuesday. One reason is that Trump Republicans, as an ...
The writer and activist Helen Keller, who overcame the challenges of being both deaf and blind, spoke about the power of cooperation and shared purpose. She once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” That thought, to me, captures the spirit of local government ...
Family serves as the foundational unit of society and a vital source of what is called social capital—the value created through social relationships, networks, and shared norms that enable people and groups to work together effectively. It is the benefit obtained from human connections. Its ...
