Tag: Lora

In a “fireside chat” in the midst of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Veterans must not be demobilized into an environment of inflation and unemployment, to a place on a bread line or on a corner selling apples. We must this time have plans ready.”

Fareed Zakaria is a familiar pundit who writes a weekly foreign affairs column for the Washington Post and hosts CNN’s Sunday program “Fareed Zakaria GPS.” He has written a dozen books, most recently “Age of Revolutions” (2024).

From its earliest days, American foreign policy has undergone modifications as presidential administrations change. In overall goals, however, there are constants: protection of American land and people; protection of human rights and democracy; pursuit of policies that enhance domestic development and prosperity; maintaining a global balance of power; and for nearly a century supporting international peace through global cooperation. At times such goals are pursued from a nationalist vantage point, in that the pursuit of human rights and democracy abroad are sometimes overlooked or even rejected.

Former President Donald Trump recently stated that he would not support NATO countries unless they met his version of non-binding spending guidelines on defense; until then, “I would encourage (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want.” It ranks as perhaps the most shocking American statement in the history of Cold War public discourse.

In these troubled times for our country, it is understandable that many wonder if the “American dream” still lives. Might it be dead? Or at least dying? The dream evokes the ideal that all citizens enjoy “an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative.”

We don’t think much about pockets; they’re just part of the scene. But I never leave home without them, for they hold things like a wallet, keys, pen, eyeglasses, iPhone, and shopping list – if there’s room.

After touring the U.S. east of the Mississippi, French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville wrote “Democracy in America,” an examination of our national character. Equality of conditions was his central theme. So different from aristocratic Europe, middling Americans wore the same clothes, spoke same language, practiced the same habits, and enjoyed the same pleasures.

“There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.” So spoke Franklin D. Roosevelt in his acceptance speech before the 1936 Democratic Convention.

Historian Barbara Tuchman titled her book on World War I “The Guns of August,” for it was on the first of that month 109 years ago that Germany declared war on Russia. Over the course of four years, appalling horrors emerged: 20 million deaths during a war whose front extended from the English Channel to Switzerland.

There appears to be no end to the drama of our 45th president. He did not begin the political polarization that Americans are undergoing, but he did elevate it to new heights. Former president Donald Trump is facing a host of investigations, including his most recent indictment on June 8 for mishandling classified documents that he took with him when leaving the presidency and then lying about it. One of his former attorneys general, Robert Barr – who so effectively defended his boss in other matters – was moved to say that even if only half of the charges in the indictment hold, “Trump is toast.”