My last job on the Hill was for a Congressman who was elected as part of the GOP Class of ’94. I joined his staff in August of 1995 – well after the first 100 days that saw votes on every plank of the Contract with America, but still in the middle of the Republican Revolution. It…
One of the challenges of publishing a quarterly journal is that you want to stay relevant to the issues of the moment without chasing the headlines of the day. This latest edition of THE RIPON FORUM is no different.
The famed screenwriter William Goldman once wrote a book about Hollywood called, Adventures in the Screen Trade. In it, he discussed his career working in the film industry and his experience as the creative force behind such hits as Marathon Man and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He also offered up what remains one…
Given all the negative headlines these days, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of what is good about America and what it is that draws people to our shores. More than anything, it is our system that sets us apart. It is a system based on freedom and individual initiative, and one that – despite…
I got turned onto Bruce Springsteen the summer before my junior year in college. It was 1984. Born in the USA had come out on June 4th. And my friends and I were on a 10-day road trip to Florida before school started back up in the fall.
by LOU ZICKAR One of the storylines in Washington this year has been the inability of Congress and the President to come together on some of the key challenges facing our nation.
Every time there is a mass shooting in America, a predictable political storyline unfolds — Democrats and those on the left say it’s time to pass tougher gun laws, while Republicans and those on the right say it’s time to reform the way we treat the mentally ill.
According to political experts, one of the key constituencies of the past few elections has been “Walmart moms.” These are the moms, these same experts tell us, who have at least one child at home and shop at Walmart at least once a month. In all likelihood, they are also moms who shop at Walmart because…
With the 2012 election less than 100 days away, perhaps it’s a good time to make another prediction — if Barack Obama wins a second term as President, one of the first things he’s going to do is call Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles into the Oval Office and tell them to: “Get it done.”
When Fred Upton was named the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee last December, it was not just one of the biggest victories of his career, but also a victory over radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who waged an on-air crusade to deny the Michigan Republican the gavel.
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For many Republicans who were young at the time, and for many other Republicans who look back on at that time fondly today, the 1988 campaign of Jack Kemp for President represents, in some ways, the GOP equivalent of the “dream that was Rome.” It was a moment when the possibilities that lie ahead for…