I write this column on Mondays, and today is Monday, August 26. Does that mean anything to you? It should, especially if you are a woman. August 26 is the anniversary of our right to vote.  Read More 

The Founding Fathers were a picture of contradiction: radical leftists when they incited war against established government, they were conservatives in creating a new system that was virtually impossible to change.  Read More 

I wrote last week about states, specifically about “donor” and “receiver” states: how much each gets back from the federal government for each dollar paid. You may recall that North Dakota was the biggest beneficiary, getting more than $2 for every dollar that residents pay in federal income tax, while New Jersey folks get only 61 cents of each buck.  Read More 

I like to see Republicans dispute each other, especially when one of them is a know-nothing, no-to-everything guy and the other is the endangered species, a moderate Republican. That happened last week, with Kentucky’s Rand Paul and New Jersey’s Chris Christie.  Read More 

I want to write about constitutional amendments. Please don’t turn the page. It matters.  Read More 

The news media did a pretty fair job of recognizing the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg last week, but the only attention to the other 150th that I saw was a small line in the syndicated “Today in History.”  Read More 

When I wrote about sex trafficking earlier, I mentioned an article that Thalia Potter, legislative aide to Senator Pat Frank, showed me while I was lobbying for reform of rape law back in the 1980s. In the satirical piece, the author substituted “sex” or “rape” for “robbery” or “theft.”  Read More 

A recent report from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni questioned the completeness of higher education in Florida. It turns out that only one of our public universities requires students to take any history class at all.  Read More 

The Hillsborough County Commission on the Status of Women has been promoting informational programs on the problem of sex trafficking for several months. The May meeting of the Athena Society featured law enforcement officials, as well as a survivor of incest, and so many people were interested in the topic that a good portion of the audience stayed after adjournment to hear more.  Read More 

Summer, in the minds of Americans, begins with Memorial Day and ends with Labor Day, with a nod to Flag Day in June and great celebration of Independence Day in July. Too often, though, we hear speeches about the founding fathers with little attention to the founding mothers – without whom, history would end in a generation.  Read More