Category Archives: politics

What We Have Lost: Our Stories Make Us One

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Boz

“Thanksgiving lessons jettison pilgrim hats, welcome truth” This headline from the Associated Press exploded inside my skull when I saw it three days ago, and in the dust that settled, I read an important lesson about what has been lost as … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, current events, divisiveness, education, freedom, history, language, literature, narrative, politics, story | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dostoevsky in Beulah Land

Posted on November 8, 2020 by Boz

Despite the glorious, almost too-warm temperatures for a day six weeks into autumn, I took off for my late-morning walk with a heavy heart. I was depressed, outraged, and frightened over lost hopes for a return to American values, a … Continue reading →

Posted in current events, divisiveness, hope, photography, politics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

My #WalkAway Story

Posted on October 24, 2020 by Boz

As I write, the Presidential election of 2020 is ten days away. I agree with those on both sides of the aisle that it is the most important election at least in my lifetime (which is long); I will not, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill of Rights, critical thinking, current events, divisiveness, education, First Amendment, free speech, freedom, history, politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Everything Not Forbidden Is Compulsory

Posted on August 26, 2020 by Boz

When I first passed this sign yesterday morning on the way to class, I thought it was an instruction in etiquette: “Don’t sit here because this is a table, and sitting on tables is rude.” Silly me.

Posted in Bill of Rights, books, COVID-19, critical thinking, current events, divisiveness, education, First Amendment, free speech, freedom, history, language, literature, news, novel coronavirus, politics, society, totalitarianism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The First Casualty?

Posted on March 31, 2020 by Boz

The question mark in my title was well and thoroughly considered. I actually have no idea which was the first of the constantly rising number of casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. But I am aware of many. And no, my title … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill of Rights, critical thinking, current events, etymology, First Amendment, free speech, freedom, nature, news, politics, religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Misinterpreting Emerson: A Meditation on Consistency, the Constitution, and American Exceptionalism

Posted on August 11, 2019 by Boz

When I first started working as a disability examiner for Social Security, we had no desktop computers, just Wang terminals; nor could we communicate via email, just intraoffice messaging whose default was “reply all.” Hence, I established a wide reputation … Continue reading →

Posted in Bill of Rights, First Amendment, free speech, gun rights, history, politics, Second Amendment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sloganeering: Fake Language Is the Problem–Not Fake News

Posted on October 27, 2018 by Boz

I have not posted anything on my blog since September 21–over a month ago, my longest dry spell since I began it in May of 2016. Significantly, this hiatus coincides quite neatly with the weeks that have elapsed since the … Continue reading →

Posted in critical thinking, current events, language, politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Grammar, Meet God

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Boz

Although I care deeply about language and am passionately interested in its origins and characteristics, I have no claims as a linguist. Therefore, what follows comes more from my heart than my head–mostly emotion tempered with a bit of knowledge … Continue reading →

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Yellow Fleas

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Boz

The end of Reconstruction in 1877 gave birth to the Solid South. In both Presidential and state politics, the South retained its essentially single-party identity until the passage of the Civil Right Act in 1964. During that time, Southerners would … Continue reading →

Posted in current events, education, free speech, history, language, news, politics, sexual harassment | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reconsidering the American Consensus–and Rehabilitating the 1950s

Posted on April 29, 2018 by Boz

The Mering thesis and the roots of consensus history At the University of Arizona in the mid-1970s, John V. Mering inculcated his disciples with a devotion to the consensus historiography whose bedrock was The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It … Continue reading →

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