The more that voting is glorified as a panacea, the more lackadaisical people become about preserving their constitutional rights.

Some politicians are aware of the Bill of Rights. It seems that the opposition party is far more likely to invoke it, to wave it in the air, this is what we saw from a lot of republicans during the Clinton Administration, and we are seeing the same from Democrats under Bush.

It is unfortunate that Americans are no longer aware of what the constitution says and what their rights are. Because of that, we are often very passive about what happens when the government violates those rights.

As long as enough people can be frightened, then all people can be ruled. That is how it works in a democratic system and mass fear becomes the ticket to destroy rights across the board.

Social-enterprise employees earn wages and pay taxes, reducing their recidivism rates and dependence on government assistance. They also receive crucial on-the-job training, job-readiness skills, literacy instruction and, if necessary, the counseling and mental-health services they need to move into the mainstream workforce.

Fiscal policy is not just, or even not even principally, the purview of the president.

As more time passes, people see my father for what he is - one of the last of a generation who went into government to answer a call to public service rather than to pursue a career in politics.

My dad was quite political in the Seventies. He has a definite opinion about politics and things going on in the world.