Whether in celebrity culture or in our Facebook-mediated interactions, we live in the age of the human being as a public brand. So there's nothing surprising about the reaction to the recent disclosures about the National Security Agency's unprecedented surveillance program. In our cult-of-person...

Last week, the Maine Legislature voted to raise taxes on struggling Maine families and small businesses to pay for increased government spending.  Rather than right-size unsustainable programs, most Democrat and some Republican legislators decided that state government still isn’t big ...

I cannot write this the way I want. Doing so would invade the privacy of too many people. But I can’t be silent, either. Recently, you see, President Obama spoke before a conference of mental health advocates at the White House. It is necessary, he said, to remove the stigma of menta...

Ever since President Clinton "did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky," whatever remains of standards seem to have fallen even lower among people who hold offices and positions once thought to require good behavior and strong moral character. Last year, several Secret ...