Sixty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared “an unconditional war on poverty.” Using policies and programs as weapons, Johnson focused heavily on health coverage and “human capital.” His Great Society agenda also included key political reforms like the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and the 1965 Voting […]
Ben Bragdon
Staff Writer
Ben Bragdon is managing editor of the Sun Journal. Prior to that, he was deputy managing editor for news at the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Ben was previously editorial page editor for those newspapers and Central Maine Sunday for more than 10 years. Before that, he was managing editor for weekly newspapers at Current Publishing in Westbrook. He began his career as a reporter at the Piscataquis Observer in Dover-Foxcroft and editor at the Moosehead Messenger in Greenville. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Noah Feldman: Supreme Court buries the fantasy of keeping Trump off the ballot
The Supreme Court has unanimously concluded that Colorado can’t keep Donald Trump off the ballot. Section 3 of the 14th amendment, which says that a former officeholder who becomes an insurrectionist can’t hold federal office, won’t save us from a potential second Trump presidency. The court correctly rejected what I would call the National Treasure […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Assisted suicide is not health care
I have practiced medicine in the U.S. as a pediatrician and in a developing country as a family physician, caring for patients from birth to old age. As a patient, I have experienced excruciating pain. I’ve survived cancer, undergone major surgery and brought these experiences to bear in my role as physician and healer. And […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Without even ruling on Trump’s immunity claim, the Supreme Court handed him a huge victory
Given the Supreme Court’s possible responses to Donald Trump’s appeal of the D.C. Circuit’s denial of his claim of immunity from prosecution, the justices’ decision Wednesday has to be counted as a gift to the former president. That’s because the court came through for him on the most important axis: time. The court’s fairly Delphic […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: You need to know what Trump is saying at his rallies
A majority, I think (hope?), would come away without a doubt about which of the two candidates is unhinged. Hint: It isn’t Biden.
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
View from Away: NATO alliance serves nation well, contrary to what Trump says
In a few weeks, Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va., will be busy with activity as the city holds its annual NATO Festival, the longest continuous festival on the Hampton Roads calendar. It pays tribute to our region’s unique status as the home to NATO’s only command operations in North America. Owing to that long and […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Why do we talk about older people so negatively?
Age matters, but so do words. While pundits debate President Joe Biden’s cognitive fitness for office and the possible motivations behind prejudicial language contained in special counsel Robert K. Hur’s classified documents report, the rest of us have a different problem: the “elderly.” Older people themselves aren’t the issue, but the way we talk about […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Many Americans believe migrants bring fentanyl across the border. That’s wrong and dangerous
Two unrelated facts combined with a lie form a powerful and dangerous piece of misinformation that is spreading virally. The facts are that a drug overdose epidemic is killing more than 100,000 Americans a year and that far more migrants are crossing the country’s southern border than ever before. The lie is that the migrants […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Bread and circuses, American style
Primary season is fully underway and the election year is heating up. Then again, do campaigns ever really stop nowadays? There was a time when election years stood out as what Washington talking heads referred to as “ crazy season ”: politicians making wild promises, we ordinary people egging them on, and outcomes settled in […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: George Washington knew how to govern but are we willing to listen?
We all want America to flourish and prosper, but disagreements on “how” keep tripping us up. “How” is much more than picking between policy prescriptions – at its core it involves the way we treat each other, particularly those we disagree with. The person most essential to realizing America in the first place thought about […]