Our Sluggish National Response to the Pandemic
This is the first essay in Civic Way’s series on the pandemic and the lessons to be learned from our successes and failures. In this essay, we summarize what has happened thus far during the pandemic. In our next essay, we address the political pandemic. In a future essay, we will discuss the lessons that…
The Power of Good Governance – Part 4
Rethinking the Media’s Role in Saving Democracy This is Civic Way’s fourth commentary (of four) on America’s broken politics, with a special focus on reforming the media. The first commentary introduced the threat of extremism, the second commentary explained how extremism infects politics and the last essay offered some ideas for using good government to…
The Power of Good Governance – Part 3
How Good Governance and Informed Citizenship Can Save America This is Civic Way’s third commentary on the state of politics in America, outlining some potential strategies for improving governance, rebuilding citizenship and fixing our politics. The first commentary addressed the threat of extremism and the last commentary discussed media extremism and political polarization. The author,…
The Power of Good Governance – Part 2
Extremism’s Threat to State and Local Government This is Civic Way’s second commentary on the state of politics in America. How biased media are corrupting public discourse. How the insistence of some national leaders on relitigating the past hinders our ability to meet the future. How extremism is crippling our ability to govern, not just…
The Power of Good Governance – Part 1
How Political Extremism is Destroying America This is Civic Way’s commentary on the state of politics in America. How political extremism is putting our future at risk. How extremism must be understood to be defeated. How our two-party system, once thought to protect us from extremism, is irrevocably broken. The author, Bob Melville, is the…
The Perils of Political Extremism
A Bipartisan Call for Saving American Democracy and Forgiving Those Who Would Destroy It This newsletter introduces a brief series of essays on America’s current political climate. This series includes an analysis of the growing extremism of some Republican leaders, an assessment of the (thus far) tepid Democratic response and some promising ideas for restoring…
Realigning Critical Race Theory
Overcoming the Last Gasp of the Lost Cause This is Civic Way’s third commentary on Critical Race Theory (CRT), the campaign to discredit it and the need for a more constructive approach to eradicating bias. We discussed the political weaponization of CRT in our last commentary and introduced the CRT topic in our last newsletter.…
Critical Race Theory, Fact Versus Fiction
Exposing the Latest Diversionary Tactic in the Fight Against Racism This is Civic Way’s second commentary on Critical Race Theory, and the campaign to discredit it. In our last newsletter, we introduced the issue of Critical Race Theory. Here, we discuss in more detail how Critical Race Theory has been weaponized as part of an…
Critical Race Theory: The Devil’s Greatest Trick?
How Demonizing Critical Race Theory Allows Us to Ignore the Stain of Racism This newsletter is about the most recent political weapon for dividing Americans and resisting civic progress—Critical Race Theory. Catapulted from obscurity to celebrity in the latest culture war skirmish, Critical Race Theory has become a potent (and lucrative) diversionary tactic for avoiding…
Cancel Culture: Our Best Selves?
This is Civic Way’s commentary on Cancel Culture, the latest political battleground paralyzing our nation. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience improving governmental agencies across the US.