Progressive thoughts and strategies for the future
A recent article published here on Occasional Planet stated that the Republican debates last Thursday night were not as much of a clown car as expected. A friend of mine watched the Republican debates and had a similar take on how the Republicans sounded. However, the realities of the world in which we live came … Read moreYou can be mean and still sound rational
Earlier this week I received one of those odious phone calls with a political candidate asking for, you guessed it, money. I wish that solicitation calls were on the EPA watch list for harmful pollutants that damage our environment, but sadly, such is not the case. Donald Trump seems to have solved the problem of … Read moreTrump knows how to reform campaign finance
A new CNN / ORC poll just revealed that the majority of Americans want Congress to reject the nuclear deal with Iran that the Obama Administration negotiated. This is a shift from April, 2015 when the majority favored approval of the deal. It might be farcical that the American people are asked their views on … Read moreIran Nuclear Deal too complicated for TV commercials
Imagine if Donald Trump had entered the 2016 presidential race as a Democrat. He could have; there is no law that would have prevented him from doing so. He seems to be a natural Republican, and we’ll get to that momentarily. However, he does have a few characteristics that are more consistent with Democrats than … Read moreA whimsical look at why Trump is a Republican
You may not like what Donald Trump has to say, but you have to admit that there is a certain openness, even rawness, to what he says. Politics is such a canned sport; it’s almost like professional wrestling with everything scripted in advance. Many progressives have had trouble with the status quo and the platitudes … Read moreWhat Progressives can learn from Donald Trump
Like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the nuclear deal between Iran and five other countries including the United States is complicated, and the devil is in the details. When we’re talking about centrifuges, yellow cake, and a host of other components, it is very difficult for the layman to assess the trustworthiness of the agreement. In … Read moreAfter TPP, Obama may have a tough time convincing some on Iran deal
In the worst nightmare for progressives, Hillary Clinton will become president and be a tool of Wall Street and other entrenched interests. The flip view is that Clinton will bring about progressive transformation in ways that Barack Obama never could. The real question is whether Hillary Clinton wants to lead women to the left in … Read moreHillary can do what Barack could not: Winning women over to a progressive agenda
There is so much that the federal government could do in education. Besides taking the obvious first step of reducing student loan rates to those given by the Fed to commercial banks, it could take steps to equalize spending across the nation for public schools, use its influence to reduce the shackles of strict certification … Read moreDepartment of Education promotes racketeering and Jim Crow in schools