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Avoiding the malaise

Columnists

Herbert Hoover was well-liked in his day, praised for his engineering prowess which he used to tackle major worldwide problems following World War I. He was a natural choice for president in 1928. But then the 1929 stock market crash happened, followed by the Great Depression. None of these things were exclusively the fault of Hoover, and frankly most of what his successor —Franklin Roosevelt — did to end the Great Depression worked until World War II broke out and we flexed our production muscles. But Roosevelt is remembered for ending the Great Depression and Hoover is ...

BEAD

Editorials

Remember the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which Congress passed to provide “additional relief to address the continued impact of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals and businesses?” Remember how a lot of that almost $2 trillion ended up getting spent? Sure, plenty of it fit the definition of what most expected public “covid money” would fund. Some of it went toward swimming pools, event centers and any number of other use-it-or-lose-it projects that had us scratching our heads. It was all perfectly legal, and adhered to the ...

Governance by threat, not constitutional order

Columnists

The Constitution of the United States lays out a complex scheme of governance that has mostly worked for the 237 years since it became effective with the ratification of the ninth state, New Hampshire, in 1788. There have been exceptions, of course. Abraham Lincoln took extraordinary steps to quell the rebellion of 11 Southern states. Franklin Roosevelt disregarded judicial precedent and daily reset the price of gold by whim. President Donald Trump, in his second term, has been doing something like the same thing by employing threats of actions outside traditional norms to get others ...

Grit is definitely important, but has it been overrated?

Columnists

Never, never, never give up. This quote is associated with Winston Churchill, based on his famous speech delivered during World War II. It is often used to inspire people to persevere, to hold the line, to refuse to quit no matter what—in other words, to display grit. It is a great quote. But when I started digging deeper, I found it’s actually a shortened version of what Churchill really said: “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.” The complete ...

Labor Day

Editorials

On this Labor Day weekend, many of us may be thinking of a quick retreat into summer vacation mode during the three-day break. It is a time to celebrate the return of college football and the promise of cooler temperatures. There will be festivals, parades, good food cooked outdoors for perhaps one of the last times this year and a general sense of not only celebration, but transition. Despite most public school boards’ best efforts, THIS is the traditional end of summer. And the break it offers is so appreciated because the people Labor Day is meant to honor have worked hard. ...

Are we smart enough to save schools?

Columnists

These days must be particularly troubling for Dr. Dilly as Superintendent of Randolph County Schools. We learned last week that Randolph County ranks 55th among the 55 counties in West Virginia, and WV has a strong hold on the title for the worst state on several educational ranking systems for the United States. Now the WV Board of Education has issued a state of emergency for Randolph County, and the State will take over the management of our county schools unless our Board of Education has a plan to improve the financial situation by December. The State sent efficiency experts to ...