Featured Commentary category, Page 64

AARP is the nation’s biggest and most influential advocacy group for seniors. It has about 38 million members — more than 11% of the U.S. population. From lobbying for better conditions in nursing homes to getting travel discounts for members, the organization has done much to help retired people over...

China’s global ambitions pose an existential threat to Western democracy, prosperity and security, but the Biden administration, preoccupied with domestic economic renewal and social justice, has not articulated a comprehensive policy. Cooperation on climate change could materialize, but the consequences for economic competition — fundamentally the trade and investment relationship...

December’s end is when we reflect on what we hope to improve in the year to come … and also the time for my annual predictions of news headlines for the next 12 months. Usually I begin by evaluating last year’s predictions, but this year only one bears mention: For...

With state and congressional redistricting underway in Harrisburg, many politicians have blamed “partisan gerrymandering” for past election losses. But this is another instance when the conventional wisdom gets it wrong. Redistricting-watchers fearing an electoral apocalypse and those hoping for a clear path to victory need a healthy dose of reality....

Streetcars were once a ubiquitous presence in Pennsylvania’s cities and towns. This mode of transport — a symbol of America’s booming industrial age — was born in Scranton, which became known as “The Electric City” when it opened the first continuously operating electric trolley system in 1886. Soon thereafter, Scranton...

Peace on Earth and goodwill to men this time of year seems increasingly absent in diverse places. In America, the noble objective seems to have long ago left the U.S. Capitol, where too many members of Congress are as divided and angry at each other as ever. A new study...

America is immersed in a culture war that is a new manifestation of its age-old problem with race. School board meetings across America have devolved into ugly protests about critical race theory. The strategy to rebrand CRT was created, organized and executed intentionally as a political wedge issue. Right-wing operative...

Outside, millions of desperate people have been standing for hours in lines stretching around the corners of America’s city streets and suburban strip malls. Inside, others have been searching the internet — and getting kicked off by overloaded websites and ticked-off by under-informing ones. They were just trying to do...

There are two problems with the conventional wisdom about polarization in American society. The first is that it mistakes widespread conflict with one master battle between conservatives and liberals. The second is that it overlooks a large percentage of Americans who do not identify with either the Democrats or the...

Today we look back on the year in politics and forward to the midterm election, now less than 325 days away. Because 2021 was so much fun, why not live it again? Please. Our plague year began, in fittingly grim fashion, with pro-Trump insurrectionists overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an...

The cadaver dogs were busy performing the grim duties of their training when the opportunists leapt into action. They couldn’t let a catastrophic loss of human life get in the way of pitching a hefty dose of politically expedient, anti-science rhetoric. To which countless others shook our heads and asked,...

As a U.S. Army veteran, I’m not someone that most would expect to speak up about electric cars and transportation. I am no far-left environmentalist. However, I believe we should all be good stewards of our earth, and that EVs are a clear path toward a cleaner planet while advancing...

Throughout the legislative reapportionment process, we at Pennsylvania Voice, along with our statewide partner organizations, have consistently advocated that the new state legislative maps that will determine who has political power in Pennsylvania for the next 10 years be drawn with racial equity as a core consideration. In fact, our...

Dozens of NHL players are under covid-19 protocols, resulting in teams playing shorthanded, and in some cases, temporarily shutting down. There have been several postponed games over the past two weeks, including cross border games, with teams that were still in action playing to empty arena. The NHL has now...

You know that old tale about the guy stranded on a rooftop during a flood who beseeches God to rescue him? A neighbor in a rowboat comes and offers to rescue him. “No, I’ve asked God to save me,” the man says. Then a police boat makes the same offer,...

A study by the Harvard Graduate School of Education — based on an October 2020 poll released in February 2021 — deserved widespread media coverage. It got almost none. Given what was going on this past February, that is not surprising. But it is regrettable nonetheless. The study found that...

The year, 1944. The date, Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. The time, midnight. And for this day, we hoped the sounds of World War II would be drowned out by the hymns of Christmas sung by millions of Christians in tens of thousands of churches celebrating the birth of a small...

President Biden has attempted to tamp down the frustration many feel over his inability to crush the pandemic, as he promised he would do when campaigning for the office he now holds. In a Tuesday afternoon address from the White House, the president promised to ramp up testing sites and...

The Democrats should have listened to Joe Manchin. As their “Build Back Better” agenda assumed legislative shape, the Democratic senator from West Virginia kept telling them what he didn’t like about it. On Nov. 1, he decried the bill’s “shell games” and “budget gimmicks” and called it “a recipe for...

If you still haven’t gotten a holiday gift for someone — or anyone over the age of 12, for that matter — you’ve come to the right place. As an economist, I can assure you that not only have you done the responsible, even thoughtful, thing. It may also not...

Even health care answers to the law of supply and demand. Before the pandemic, demand for care was surging as our nation aged. Supply has not kept up. More than 83 million Americans live in areas where there’s a shortage of primary care health professionals, according to the federal government....

Most of us are tired of thinking about the pandemic. It’s ceased to be interesting news. It’s become fertile ground for politicians who increasingly seem to need a soapbox to stand on and shout from to attract votes. The more they shout, the less interesting it seems. Even reports of...

Whether you have strong convictions against vaccines, or just about the covid vaccine, or you have no particular aversion to vaccines, understanding what is going on with President Joe Biden’s OSHA-enforced vaccine mandate is important. The OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) mandate is just one leg of a three-legged...

With Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf term-limited in a state that narrowly went to Joe Biden in 2020, both Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to best position themselves for the 2022 gubernatorial race. Democrats have rallied around Attorney General Josh Shapiro; on the Republican side, it remains unclear whether a...

Western Pennsylvania is known for its three rivers: the Allegheny, the Monongahela and the Ohio. These rivers and the surrounding region provide an ecological richness along with tremendous recreational opportunities. They are biologically diverse, picturesque and among the most historic tributaries in America. And because we cherish our three rivers,...