In the days since King Charles III’s visit to the United States, it’s been impossible to avoid comparisons between the finesse of the monarch and the bluster of a president. And that, in itself, requires us to pause and ponder just how far we have fallen as a nation and drifted from our standards of leadership.
There was something jarring about watching a monarch deliver what amounted to a primer on democratic governance. Not because the content was unfamiliar, but because of the source. When a king must articulate the principles of checks and balances, the separation of powers, and the rule of law with clarity and conviction, it forces a deeply unsettling question: how did we arrive at a moment when these ideas sound more novel at home than abroad?
Read the entire commentary on Substack In The Center Lane With Herb Paine →
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Commentator Herb Paine on the troubling revival of capital punishment in the United States and Israel. -
In the midst of all the current social and political disruption, commentator Herb Paine takes a step back and reflect on how we shifted from an age of aspirations to an era of polarization. -
Commentator Herb Paine documents the Trump administration’s continuing campaign on what he calls "a coordinated effort to narrow, sanitize and control the stories Americans encounter about their own culture and history" and offers an "inventory" of the damage already done — and the implications of allowing it to continue. -
Commentator Herb Paine examines a crucial but under-explored dimension of the current moment: How the Jewish community responds ethically when Jewish continuity intersects with political power in Israel. -
One piece of Arizona's property politics puzzle involves middle housing (sometimes referred to as missing middle housing to highlight the gap between single-family homes and large apartment buildings). Commentator Herb Paine examines the concept and its practical implications.
