Stephen Gottlieb

1 week ago | wamc.org | Stephen Gottlieb

I never thought of my birthday as a particularly significant event. Plus it’s pure hearsay because I can’t remember being born at all. And it would be fine with me to keep my current age a couple of more years. But now WAMC has decided to start its Spring fund drive on my birthday. So I’ve decided to treat all contributions to the station as a birthday present and cheer for each one!That said, I’m worried about our country’s future.

2 weeks ago | wamc.org | Stephen Gottlieb

We’re just back from some travel in Ohio to see family, friends and even a couple of doctors. One of our hotels was serviced by porters who were refugees from Afghanistan. I was using a cane because of a problem with one of my legs. So, one of the Afghani porters was trying to do everything he could for us. I figured I needed to keep using my arms and legs but this gentleman, with the best of intentions, was preventing me. My wife tried to tip him but he refused.

3 weeks ago | wamc.org | Stephen Gottlieb

Everybody likes to think that individual enterprises built this country. But that confuses a piece of the story with the whole thing. In fact, the federal and state governments played a large part in building this country, and the Constitution was written with that very intention. As far back as the eighteenth century, this country’s founders were planning roads and canals to open the country up. Jefferson built what was called the National Road. New York built the Erie Canal.

1 month ago | wamc.org | Stephen Gottlieb

Trump keeps trying to rule by executive order, including, most recently, defunding public broadcasting. Someone I know was trying to differentiate what Trump is doing by executive order and what other presidents have done. So let me explain. Presidents have no power, zero, to rule by executive order. They have the power to execute the laws. Execute means to carry out. That’s all.

1 month ago | wamc.org | Stephen Gottlieb

Trumps’s government efficiency staff went through Peace Corps offices recently. Trump tried to dismantle the Peace Corps in his first term. And he has already “eliminate[d] key pillars of America's soft power,” including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Voice of America and attacked the depth of knowledge and experience at the State Department.