Preserving American Values

Our nation stands under attack … not from without but from within. American values, our politics, and our culture have been corrupted.

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Websites: www.westillholdthesetruths.weebly.com; www.preservingamericanvalues.com; www.thepracticalbuddhist.com. A graduate of Brown U. and U. of Chicago Law School, I’ve had a varied career as a legal aid lawyer, survey researcher, nonprofit executive, management consultant, composer, teacher, and author. I have authored 7 books on topics as varied as Buddhism, child rearing, and politics, the latter of which received a pre-publication endorsement from James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic. My Buddhist blog was selected as one of the top 50 Buddhist blogs on the web.

Category: The Economy

  • Trump Sides with Corporations, Not Workers

    I have written many posts about how Trump talks great about how he supports workers, but that he has done nothing that really supports them.  He does not walk the walk. All of his executive orders and other actions have benefited corporations. In this sense he is a traditional Republican—his allegiance is to big business…

  • Trump’s Different “Big” Government

    When Trump assumed the presidency again, one of his stated aims was to make government smaller, whether by getting rid of Federal employees, cutting “unnecessary” allocated funds and grants, or limiting the scope of the government’s work. So on the one hand, Trump and his MAGA allies are very anti-Federal traditional big government. And Trump…

  • Trump Scorecard: Week 9/21-9/27

    A while ago, I suggested that one thing the Democratic Party should do to counter Trump is to have a weekly new conference to highlight what Trump has done during the previous week that harms the people or endangers the country.  Democrats have not adopted my idea, so I’ve decided to put together my own…

  • Remove Prescription Drug Advertising

    At last the Trump administration is taking action that I approve of.  He has issued a memorandum that will in effect remove advertising of prescription drugs on TV, returning to a policy that was in effect until the 1990s. What is the purpose of these ads?  The pharmaceuticals industry would say that it’s important that…

  • Who Pays Tariffs – Another Big Trump Lie

    The newspapers are full of Trump’s saying that his tariffs are or will bring billions of dollars into the American treasury and thus help pay for many of the measures he is implementing which otherwise would lead to a substantial increase in the nation’s deficit. Yes … but with a big BUT.  During the 1st…

  • Mamdani and the Socialism Canard

    Every time Democrats propose having the government provide new assistance to those in need or a new regulation of business, the Republicans cry out,“This is Socialism.”  But after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, his fellow Democrats beat them to it.  They were aroused primarily, I think, because they…

  • A Democrat’s Answer to the Immigration Problem

    The issue of immigration—actually it’s just illegal immigration—has become a major concern to a majority of Americans.  I’m sure that is largely because of Trump’s vilification of illegal immigrants. But immigration has in fact been a major problem for many years, even though most Americans were not concerned about it.  It has been a problem…

  • The Ongoing Negative Cultural Impact of the Pandemic

    How many times have I heard that things are the way they are today because our practices changed during COVID, because of the then-need to distance ourselves or isolate ourselves? For example, it used to be that auditions for actors for parts in plays were done in person.  Today, there is almost no such thing…

  • The Capitalism v Socialism Myth in the U.S.

    Capitalism is usually thought of as a combination of private ownership of the resources of production with free market principles.  Socialism is thought of as government ownership of the resources of production and government direction of the economy. Republicans have criticized any effort by the Federal government to interfere with the freedoms of the private entrepreneur,…

  • The Failure of Contemporary Arts Culture, including Broadway

    Artistic culture has a role to play in society, historically.  Whether it was art, plays (e.g. Shakespeare), or music, the function of art was to lift the souls or lighten the hearts not just of the well-to-do but also the common man.  And so, until recent times, there were always a decent number of affordable…