Having been removed from office on a unanimous vote of the Illinois State Senate, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich shows an unsurprising failure to understand the principal virtue of the constitutional impeachment process.  Ben Franklin explained this virtue to his fellow delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.              Impeachment, Franklin said with customary drollery,…

I generally don’t read newspaper editorials, because they are so often namby-pamby or poorly-informed. For once, though, I thoroughly commend the Washington Post’s objection to the recent appointment of successor senators by our nation’s governors.  This is one more situation where the Original Charter (that is, the Constitution) did not anticipate the problem. Senators are…

This new president not only went to good schools, he seems to have remembered some of what he was taught, and has kept on learning.  His Inaugural Address had some admirable historical touches.  Indeed, the new guy showed a better grasp of history than marquee historian Joseph Ellis, who did not meet his usual standards for insight and…

   As Barack Obama and Joe Biden prepare for Inauguration Day, they can allay pre-ceremony jitters with the calming thought that it will be difficult to perform worse than Andrew Johnson of Tennessee did when he took the oath of office as vice president on March 4, 1865.  That occasion — with a Union victor in sight…

Some events reveal character.  So it is with the Senate Democratic leadership’s response to the appointment of Roland Burris to the Senate by politically radioactive Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.  The character that has been revealed, alas, is weak and stupid.   Under investigation for attempting to sell the very same Senate seat and other…

If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t posted anything since the holidays, my website was sidelined by a security breach suffered by the server that hosts the site.  Between the holidays and a less than nimble response by the host, I have been throttled far more effectively than any court order could.  (I’m actually writing…