The following is a summary of the April May 2013 issue of the St. Croix Review:
In "Image and Substance" Barry MacDonald presents examples of skillful politics by first-term Republican Senators.
Allan Brownfeld, in "The Imperial Presidency: A Bipartisan Threat to Constitutional Government," questions whether the president should have the authority without check to kill an American citizen with a drone strike; in "Concerns Are Growing about the Use of Drones - Both Abroad, and in the Future at Home," he points out the use of drones by the government, law enforcement, and private individuals will pose a threat to privacy in the future; in "Despite Declining Public Approval, Congress Continues to Do (Self-serving) Business as Usual," he says politicians are motivated by self-interest - getting reelected or gaining more power - not the pubic interest, and they will remain so until the incentive structure changes; in "Absence of Fathers Is Leading to Many of the Social Problems We Face," he lays out damaging consequences, especially to blacks.
Paul Kengor, "The End of the Reagan Era?" emphasizes the American public's "schizophrenic voting behavior," and he has an optimistic take away; in "The Fiscal Cliff: What Would Reagan Do?" he believes that Reagan would never raise tax rates; in "On Russia's Adoption Ban," he suspects the ban reflects Vladimir Putin's panic at Russia's shrinking population - a legacy of abortion; in "The Presidential Blame-Game," he notes examples of low and high character in the behavior of six presidents; in "Hugo Chavez: Faithful to Death," he writes a final assessment of the Venezuelan dictator.
Mark Hendrickson, in "The Democrats Are in Denial Over Their Spending Addiction," accuses not only Democrats but also Republicans of being on a spending binge; in "Obama's State of the Union was Well Designed to Gull the Gullible," he fact checks the president's many statements; in "Erasing Ronald Reagan: The Illiberal War on Truth," he shows how the Left destroys the reputations of their opponents, after they die, and how they "mutilate" the truth; in "Brent Musburger, Phil Mickelson and Me: Encounters with Political Correctness," he writes about how aggressive, obnoxious, and pervasive political correctness is; in "Obama Can Make His Own Reality, But Laws of the Universe Won't Necessarily Adhere," he surveys the many Obama fantasies for which Americans will pay dearly.
Herbert London, in "Everyone Is a Judge," compares our elections to "American Idol" or "Dancing with the Stars."
M. Lester O'Shea, in "What Needs to Be Done and How It Can Be Done," broadly surveys present issues and challenges facing Republicans, and he fashions a course of action.
In "Reconciling Economic Policy and Defense Requirements," Murray Weidenbaum says that our spending on the military has been trending downward for a long time, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.
In "New Vistas for the Sexual Revolution," Thomas Martin comments on the question in Germany whether animals are able consent to sex with humans.
Jigs Gardner, in "Casting Up Accounts," ponders his entire experience farming in Vermont before he moves on to new ventures.
In "Robert Caro's Johnson," Jigs Gardner describes Caro's volumes on President Lyndon Johnson's personality: "crude, coarse, driven by an outsize ego, relentless in his drive for power."
Bobby Cole, in the "Americans at Work Series: A Manager of Plants," explains the business of growing plants on order in greenhouses.
