“During all that time I didn’t see Willie. I didn’t see him again until he announced in the Democratic primary in 1930. But it wasn’t a primary. It was hell among the yearlings and the Charge of the Light Brigade and Saturday night in the back room of Casey’s saloon rolled into one, and when […]

It seems this blog overlaps one just published by my colleague Jeff Haymond.  But I will publish mine anyway, since it nicely supplements his. Donald Trump has been saying quite a bit recently about the disappearance of (especially) manufacturing jobs in the South as well as the “Rust Belt,” blaming those lost jobs on the […]

Today we find ourselves watching and wondering, after eight years of what I consider failed leadership, will we get an improvement?  There are so many huge issues our country faces, and they have been exacerbated by our current Divider-In-Chief.  Pitting one group of Americans against others, while lamenting partisanship, has been a hallmark of Mr. […]

Donald J. Trump, the New York billionaire, has the political world on a string. If he wins Ohio and Florida on March 15 (as I write, polls have him leading in both states), Trump will emerge as the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Typing that sentence six months ago was fantastical. Six years ago and […]

I had the opportunity to preach on the text of 1 Corinthians 1: 17-31 today, and was reminded myself (as is good for those who preach, lest we begin to think we are immune) that the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, though it seems foolish to the world, which exalts in its so-called […]

I know many pundits, think tanks, politicians, advisors to politicians, strategists, academics and consultants are trying to explain the “Trump phenomenon.”  Some have made excellent contributions.  But I came across one in the Washington Post of March 5, 2016 which seems to capture the movement well.  As an added benefit the article also traces the […]

Just as I was thinking about one of my favorite author-scholars today, I discovered he had very recently died.  Forrest McDonald, one of the truly great scholars of early American political thought, and long-time professor of history at the University of Alabama, passed away at the age of 89.  The first lesson I should learn […]

This morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly Employment Situation Summary. The unemployment rate remained at 4.9%. I was reading MoneyBeat blog at the Wall Street Journal. The following quote (posted at 8:45 AM) caught my attention. U-6 includes everybody, and that rate is at 9.7%. That is a high number for a purported […]

Cruz–interesting attack against Trump. Does he know the principles that made American great first. He should be asked that. #GOPDebate — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) March 4, 2016 Cruz–we have beaten Donald Trump again and again. Weak sauce when Trump has him 10-4 in state victories. #GOPDebate — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) March 4, 2016 […]

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a DC group, had this to say about Ted Cruz’s campaign proposals: “Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has, by our count, put forward seven sets of policy proposals on his campaign website covering areas such as immigration, military spending, and tax reform. By our very rough […]