The Mesa Paper

Civil Rights icon and longtime Congressman, the late John Lewis, often talked about using counterintuitive “good trouble” as a means of constructive change. Can there also be a “good socialism”? One of the better ideas of the American democracy is its innate socialism, probably beginning with our radical departure from the rule of King George […]

Kevin McCarthy represents the 23rd Congressional District of California between Fresno and Lancaster. In the 2020 election, he won by 25 points, so he is well-supported by his district, notwithstanding being only one of only 11 republicans in the 53 member California Congressional delegation. In spite of being from our overwhelmingly Democratic state, McCarthy has […]

Reasonable doubt. That’s all Derek Chauvin’s defense team needed to create in one Minneapolis juror’s mind during the murder trial to avoid a guilty verdict. Just create a tiny reasonable doubt that the mountain of professional testimony, medical evidence, and eyewitness video was wrong to blame Chauvin for the death of George Floyd. It didn’t […]

The filibuster remains unchanged from last month, as it has for a couple hundred years, so the Senate didn’t act to eliminate it. The expressed original intent of the legislative filibuster was to allow a sizeable minority to have a voice when only a slim majority favored a bill. It was a creative empowerment of […]

The mere mention of the word, filibuster, causes tingles to run down the spine of every American senator. Senators in the minority party love it for its literal showstopping authority. Those in the majority quake at the thought of even a single member aborting the will of their majority (although not a 60-vote super-majority).   […]

Recent history has offered some perspective on how important things are, or should be. The ex-President became “ex,” but refused to concede and his followers sacked the Capitol in a deadly insurrection. For many readers, politics is certainly a lesser thing in life. For this political writer, though, there are degrees of importance within the […]

Now that the deposed and twice-impeached former president has gone into seclusion in that other “sunshine state,” Let the hypocrisy begin! I’m looking at you, republican members of Congress, particularly the shameful Californian Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader. Last century, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own […]

Congratulations to readers who recognize the title borrowed from the 1939 movie, “The Wizard of Oz” (not the 1900 book). Extra credit if you noticed the divergence from what Dorothy really said: “WE’RE not in Kansas anymore.” Originally the allusion to Kansas was a comfortable, normal, middle-America place. Perhaps America has moved on and Kansas […]

[ in-ter-reg-nuhm ] Literally, “between reigns.” In American politics it means the time between the election and inauguration of a new president. Last month we didn’t know what would be happening by publication time. This month we are absolutely sure of the near future. Some of it is glum and some is downright dangerous. During […]

Well, if it wasn’t enough of a challenge to write a column with some currency two weeks in advance, let’s throw in a national election that may – or may not – have been decided by the time you read this. Unhappily, some things will remain: (1) We will still be suffering the Covid pandemic […]