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Nation currently forgetting a foundation for equality

Commentary

What shall we sing to America to celebrate our 250th birthday? “This Land is Your Land” is a good one. It’s been a staple for patriotic gatherings; we all know the first verse by heart. It sings the praises of this country’s beautiful landscapes and declares that it belongs to you and me. That is America. That is what our founders wanted. But Woody Guthrie wrote this song in 1944, after experiencing the great depression, how workers and farmers and their families suffered. He wrote lyrics that the patriotic renditions cut out. It's not easy to remember or acknowledge ...

American war of independence was no revolution

Commentary

MECOSTA, Mich.—When this columnist was a newspaper reporter, one of the editors was fond of saying we needed to write in a way that would hold people’s attention when the kids were screaming, the dog was barking, and the television was on. Today’s column doesn’t follow that ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Celebrating 250 years of America

The OBSERVER’s View

Today, we Americans celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Our focus is what the document meant — creation of a new nation, a new set of ideals to form a more perfect union. But what the document itself says about the Founders and about what they intended for us is just as important, in many ways. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness …” That single sentence is familiar to ...

How a nation began 250 years ago

Commentary

Very often the thought arises of how lucky I was to be born and live out my life in the greatest nation that has ever existed on this planet. While we have our faults and we’ve made mistakes; I know that our nation is the major force for good on this planet. What follows is the story ...

Sunday was full of high notes

Commentary

Sunday was opening day at Chautauqua, and like all Sundays during the 9-week season, admission was free. Ginger, my BFF from New York City, is visiting us this week for the holiday. She joined me Sunday as the interim president of Chautauqua Institution opened its 153rd season just before the ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Mental health access still lags

The OBSERVER’s View

The fact that we have a mental health treatment capacity shortage in rural areas should come as no shock to anyone. Those in the health care industry have been talking about the lack of capacity for years. State and federal officials have heard the stories. And while we understand that it takes time to rebuild the mental health care infrastructure after it has been intentionally dismantled in well-meaning but ultimately fruitless efforts over the course of decades, work to increase mental health care capacity cannot continue at the current snail’s pace. We don’t all think about ...