It only took three days and fifteen ballots for Rep. Kevin McCarthy to emerge as the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. He seemed to revel in his…
2023: A Look Ahead
It’s time for the Spirited Reasoner to dust off his crystal ball and gaze into the future. As he does so, it appears he finds more questions than answers. But…
Searching for a Speaker
Even Spirited Reasoners must admit that Donald Trump has taught us all a few lessons. By testing every seam and corner of our political fabric in order to install himself…
Trump or DeSantis?
Recent polls of Republican voters suggests that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could beat former president Donald Trump if the primaries were held today. See, A ‘civil war’ looms in the…
The Democrats Lose a Senator
This past week, Arizona U. S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced that she will no longer call herself a Democrat. Instead, she intends to call herself an “independent.” See, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/us/politics/kyrsten-sinema-arizona-senate-democrats.html Given…
Trump: Terminate the Constitution
Spirited Reasoners can remember a time when conservative Republicans were all about the strict, even literal, adherence to the U. S. Constitution. So-called Tea Party Republicans expressed outrage at the…
Annoyingly Aggressive Algorithms and Apps
Spirited Reasoners have long been annoyed at the (perhaps) unintended consequences of social media algorithms—namely, the way in which these algorithms encourage us to hide within our respective echo chambers,…
The Blog That Wasn’t—Part Two
Having concluded in last week’s post that Americans had, during this year’s midterm elections, taken a good step toward protecting our democratic values, the Spirited Reasoner feels constrained to lift…
The Blog That Wasn’t
Based on various prognostications preceding this year’s midterm elections, the Spirited Reasoner had been preparing a post along the following lines: What happens to a democracy when a majority of…
When Honesty No Longer Matters
Back in the days of our innocence—when President Clinton dared to face national cameras while declaring, “I did not have sex with that woman,” only to be proven wrong by…