NEW YORK — Two decades ago, I wrote an essay in Foreign Affairs that described an unusual and worrying trend — the rise of illiberal democracy. Around the world, dictators were being deposed and elections were proliferating. But in many of the places where ballots were being counted, the rule of law, respect for minorities, […]

“When the chips are down, I have Israel’s back.” — Barack Obama, AIPAC conference, March 4, 2012 WASHINGTON — The audience —overwhelmingly Jewish, passionately pro-Israel and supremely gullible — applauded wildly. Four years later, Obama took the measure of Israel’s back and slid a knife into it. People don’t quite understand the damage done to […]

It may be a long four years. We elected a president with few policy positions, and given to insults. Hopefully his staff will ease him from his Twitter account, and he can learn how governments can improve lives. A fear remains: Trump, in my opinion, seems mentally ill with narcissism. Trained as an ethicist and […]

In light of recent news of the Maine Arts Commission’s decision not to fund an implementation grant proposed by L/A Arts on behalf of the Lewiston-Auburn community’s Cultural Plan, we  wish to comment briefly on the status of the Cultural Plan that so many in our community helped develop and support. The cultivation of that […]

For 45 minutes on Christmas Eve, I watched love, in all of its diversity, play out in front of me. Thanks, 2016. I needed that. I was parked in the arrivals lane at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, nearly an hour early for my daughter and her family. It is not my habit to arrive so […]