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The Seneca Nation's Cigarette Fight With Congress

by Matthew Dennis

News flash from western New York:  Indians are on the warpath, and they’re trying to scalp your children!  At least, that’s what the

The Tea Party Movement Has Deep American Roots

by Louise W. Knight

This country began with a fierce debate, and it does not appear to be over.  The folks rallying to the Tea Party campaign espouse a program that goes right back to the Articles of Confederation.  Whatever we think of it, the movement is as American as apple pie.  And its followers think so too, calling themselves "patriots" rather than Republicans or Democrats. Mark Skoda, the president of a Tea Party PAC, recently summed up what he calls their f

The Wearing of the Green

by Christopher Shannon

Well, it’s that time of year again.  As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, many Irish Americans prepare to celebrate their ethnic heritage, while many other Americans prepare to steer clear of the stre

Getting Gun History Right

by Saul Cornell

Captain Jim Williams, a member of the newly created African-American militia in South Carolina, was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in 1871. A placard

Recovering the Voice of Martin Luther King from 1960

by Keith L. Sprunger

Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King spoke at Bethel College on the topic, “The Future of Integration.” This was part of the Memorial Hall lecture series; the date was January 21, 1960. A few people of the community still recall attending the lecture, but memories are weak. Bethel College is a Mennonite liberal arts college at North Newton, Kansas, founded in 1887. Moving toward its 125th anniversary in 2012, the college is highlighting various events in its history. T

The Texas State Board of Education's Attempt to Christianize the Founders

by John Willingham

In the recent social studies debates before the elected Texas State Board of Education, board member Terri Leo, an energetic Republican activist for more than twenty years, led attempts by the board's conservative bloc to include a more Christian influence in the curriculum, with the ultimate goal of teaching that America was—and now should be—a Christian nation with an exceptional, divinely-ordained mission in history. In a section for fifth graders on the causes

Dismantling SUNY, America's Largest Public University System

by Lawrence S. Wittner

In January 2010, when New York Governor David Paterson unveiled plans for the enactment of a "Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovatio

Choking Off Our Past by Cutting Preservation

by Ed Hooper

Historical preservation in the United States got hit by a freight train when President Obama recently released his FY2011 budget.  The president's budget eliminates funding for the Save America's Treasures and Preserve America programs, and cuts funding for National Heritage Areas by 50 percent.  This is the hardest financial hit historical preservation has taken in more than 20 years. Historical preservation in the United States depends upon the federal government to monito

Obama Isn't the First Male Feminist

by Arianne Chernock

A year ago, Ms. Magazine made the controversial choice to place a newly-elected President Obama on its cover, dress shirt and tie ripped open, with th

Al Haig's Cuban Odyssey with the Kennedys

by Don Bohning

The death of Al Haig on Saturday, February 20, generated the usual lengthy obituary for prominent figures and their noteworthy contributions –

Shouting Down the Israeli Ambassador: Boneheaded? Perhaps... Illegal? Not So Fast

by Mark A. LeVine

The outburst by eleven UC students against Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren has generated a firestorm of condemnation of their actions, including from UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, whose credentials as a defender of free speech rights

Criticism of Obama Mirrors That of FDR

by Elizabeth Tandy Shermer

It has been little more than a year since Barack Obama took office.  In the last months of his campaign, in the wait for his swearing in, and throughout his presidency, there has been the constant comparison and reference to the Great Depression, the New Deal, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  We have seen it from those on the Left who see a New Popular Front coalescing against what they deem fascist tea baggers.  We have seen it from liberal economists, such as Paul Krugma

The Manhattan Declaration and "Traditional" Marriage

by David Lee McMullen

While most Americans have not yet heard of the Manhattan Declaration, it is rapidly gathering support among conservative Christians.  More than 400,000 have signed the declaration since it was introduced in November.  While an initial reading suggests that it is simply a rehashing of familiar issues – abortion rights, gay marriage and religious freedom – there is much more to it, especially when one understands the history. On the surface, the declaration dr

Is Michelle Obama the Ultimate Insider?

by Kenneth Weisbrode

Whenever the initial glow of a presidency begins to fade, there's a race among critics to find a compelling Rasputin or a group of gray eminences pulling the levers of the presidency in the wrong direction. The critics of Barack Obama's administration are no different.  Today's reputed culprits are the so-called gang of four:  Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff; Valerie Jarrett, Obama's longtime friend and backer from Chicago; David Axelrod, his chief political s

The Faculty Mental Health Story That’s Being Missed After the Huntsville Massacre

by Heather Munro Prescott

Three years ago I gave historical reflections on Cho Seung-Hui’s shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. ("Mental Health is Everyone’s Business," H

It's Tax Time Again: Should You Feel You're Overtaxed?

by Robin Einhorn

The evidence is clear, and especially around April 15. Americans hate everything about taxation.

Obama, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Partisanship

by Bryan DuBose Peery

Although Obama’s first term has done little to raise his own popularity, it has done much to restore public favor to another man—the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. In 2005 the late Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., lamented that we were “forgetting Reinhold Niebuhr.” Thanks to a 2007 interview with columnist David Brooks, in which then Senator Obama identified Niebuhr as

How the Modern Day Tea Partiers Missed the Message of 1773

by Jim Sleeper

I don't see why Tea Party Patriots in Nashville paid Sarah Palin $100,000 for a keynote last week when, for no more than the love of country, they co

Liberals Get a War President of Their Very Own

by Murray Polner

Suddenly and surprisingly, we have a Bush-like Obama Doctrine. To the applause of liberal hawks and formerly critical neocons, the president declared in his N

Stealing the First Amendment from the People

by Matthew E. Crow

Last week's Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which freed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on election campaigns, greatly compromises the integrity of all three branches of the federal government.  Its most dangerous consequence has so far been overlooked, and that is the co-optation of American citizens into contributing to campaigns they do not support. The origins of the First Amendment lie in concern for the