V.B. Price

When the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote 2600 years ago that “character is fate,” he set the conditions for centuries of intense introspection on the part of perhaps millions of people. What is character? How is it formed?  How does it direct one’s life? Are we born with it?  Does it grow in us through the direction of wise and loving parents and friends?

Zach Wahls, a sixth generation Iowan, told the Iowa Legislature a few years back when it was contemplating banning same-sex marriage, that “not once” in his l9 years had he “ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple. And do you know why?” he asked the legislators.

“Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character.”…

If anyone tells you again that voting in a presidential election is a meaningless exercise, remind them of June 2013 when the Supreme Court became once again, as it has off and on throughout its history, the most powerful branch of government, for good or ill.

The United State has fallen into a pit of political absurdities so chaotic, so brutal, and so cruel that many of us have become desensitized to the torturous, slow ruining of lives that poverty in our country causes every minute of every day.

We’re so mesmerized by the viciousness of our politics that rich lawmakers have no qualms about taking food out of poor people’s mouths, passing laws that diminish their only hope to get an adequate share of life’s basic substance through food stamps…