Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

The “United” States aren’t any more

The “United” States aren’t any more
Getty Images

Nelson is a retired American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court from 1993 through 2012, having been appointed to the court by then Republican Governor Marc Racicot.

Politically, our Country is a train wreck: polarized, partisan, and divisive. We have lost our moral compass: no longer united in the underlying democratic principles that gave birth to our republic; failing to work together to address existential threats to the continued survival of our species and many of the plants and animals upon which we depend for that; refusing to celebrate and honor our diversity and our individual, inviolable human dignity; unwilling to move our evolutionary needle forward in what may well be the geological blink-of-an-eye we have left to accomplish that; and staring into the abyss of authoritarianism and fascism.


Our federal legislative branch, Congress, is a joke—a taxpayer-funded food fight, populated with prima donnas, demigods, and, in large part, old white men and women. While the two major parties have always had different ideologies, there was a time when they could work across the aisle to govern for the good of the Country. But, now, what passes for governance is no longer of the people, by the people, and for the people, but, rather, of the party, by the party, and for the party—indeed, worse: of the extremists, by the extremists, and for the extremists.

And then there’s the executive branch, the presidency. The incumbent who, by many metrics has done well by the Country but is seen by many as to too old for another four years plus is likely to now get sidetracked by existent or non-existent ties to his sons problem is up against the most likely challenger: impeached twice, facing 91 counts of state and federal criminal charges, and according to The Washington Post fact checker has made 30,573 false or misleading claims in over four years.

Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court: partisan; ignoring precedent; insuring that the right of women to control their own reproductive choices will be a political decision, instead of the medical one it is--and, encouraging paternalism, patriarchy and misogyny, in the process; throwing voters under the bus of politicized state suppression and subversion of our sacred right of suffrage; facilitating sectarianism along with homo and trans phobia under the guise of free speech and religious liberty; and unwilling to establish its own code of ethics, while tolerating a level of corruption that would, very properly, result in the impeachment or recall of offending jurists in those states that still value fair, independent and impartial courts.

Is there a remedy before our democracy dies? In the short term, I doubt it. The train has already jumped its tracks.

But in the long term? Maybe; if Americans come to their senses, and if we recapture what used to be our “united” states, our moral compass.

It may take living under authoritarianism for a while. But, every people that has, eventually has thrown off these chains of fascism—and, in doing so, has executed, or driven into exile their oppressors.

Where will we start? Probably by making some basic amendments to our federal Constitution.

We must dump the Electoral College. We must impose term limits on every elected and appointed official, jurists included--20 years or age 70, whichever comes first. We must guarantee in the most unassailable terms possible one-person-one-vote, human dignity, no discrimination, and the true equality and civil rights of every human being.

We must impose firm campaign spending limits and financing regulations. Money must not equal speech. It is insane that America spends billions of dollars and endures years of campaigning to elect those who are supposed to be representing We the People. If we cannot elect public officials in three months, with voters taking the time and interest to determine candidate qualifications and ideologies based on factual messaging, then we truly deserve the train wreck along with the partisan hacks we presently elect.

We might adopt a parliamentary system--one requiring coalitions of those elected to join together to form a working government.

Indeed, as King Arthur was dying he uttered: “The old order changeth, yielding place to the new, and God fulfills Himself in many ways, lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”

What started as the good custom of our United Republic, has been corrupted by extremist partisan politics and venal politicians.

It is time for the old order to change--and yield place to a new one.

Read More

MAGA says no to Trump & Kennedy’s junk science

U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions after making an announcement on“ significant medical and scientific findings for America’ s children” in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Sept. 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Federal health officials suggested a link between the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy as a risk for autism, although many health...

(Getty Images)

MAGA says no to Trump & Kennedy’s junk science

President Trump stood at the White House podium, addressing a room full of reporters.

“First, effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of…ah-said-a…well…let’s see how we say that.”

Keep ReadingShow less
On Live Facial Recognition in the City: We Are Not Guinea Pigs, and We Are Not Disposable

New Orleans fights a facial recognition ordinance as residents warn of privacy risks, mass surveillance, and threats to immigrant communities.

Getty Images, PhanuwatNandee

On Live Facial Recognition in the City: We Are Not Guinea Pigs, and We Are Not Disposable

Every day, I ride my bike down my block in Milan, a tight-knit residential neighborhood in central New Orleans. And every day, a surveillance camera follows me down the block.

Despite the rosy rhetoric of pro-surveillance politicians and facial recognition vendors, that camera doesn’t make me safer. In fact, it puts everyone in New Orleans at risk.

Keep ReadingShow less
An illustration of two people holding legal documents.
llustration by Olivia Abeyta for palabra

Proof of Citizenship, No Proof of Safety

Claudia, an immigrant from Chile who lives in suburban Maryland right outside Washington, D.C., watched closely as the Trump administration ramped up its mass deportation campaign during the spring (Claudia, not her real name, asked to be identified by a pseudonym because she is afraid of federal immigration agents).

She went online and watched countless videos of masked, heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents breaking the car windows of immigrants to wrestle them out of their cars, and detaining people at their workplaces, like restaurants, car washes, and agricultural fields. Many of her friends told her about ICE sweeps in heavily Latino apartment complexes near her home.

Keep ReadingShow less
Protest sign, We the people.
Protests have been sparked across the country over the last few weeks.
Gene Gallin on Unsplash

Why Constitution Day Should Spark a Movement for a New Convention in 2037

Sept. 17 marked Constitution Day, grounded in a federal law commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. As explained by the courts of Maryland, “By law, all educational institutions receiving federal funding must observe Constitution Day. It is an opportunity to celebrate and discuss our Constitution and system of government.”

This week also marked the release of an important new book by the historian Jill Lepore: “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution” (as reviewed in the New York Times in a public link). Here’s an overview of her conclusions from the publisher:

Keep ReadingShow less