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Good Citizenship Starts Way Before You Can Vote… Make It A Habit

Good Citizenship Starts Way Before You Can Vote… Make It A Habit

We should cultivate good habits, nurture them and discard bad habits. Habits can be constant life companions – both the good ones and the bad ones. Perhaps young people could…

Leaving the Service

Leaving the Service

Eventually, every service member will leave the military and return to the civilian ranks. Every one of us at some point thought about what our last day in uniform would…

Testimonial Recruitment Units (TRU’s) – Special Military Recruiting Teams

Testimonial Recruitment Units (TRU’s) – Special Military Recruiting Teams

Recruiting for military service has followed a similar style and function for many years. Each branch of service has its own staff of recruiters, promotional campaign and messaging themes. The…

Tyranny of the Administrative State? – Another View

Tyranny of the Administrative State? – Another View

Is the U.S. administrative state becoming a tyranny comparable to that of King James of 17th century England? John Tierney makes this case in a Wall Street Journal article…

Addressing Our Blind Spots

Addressing Our Blind Spots

We all have implicit associations which can lead us to display biases for or against certain groups of people. The associations that arguably disturb people the most are that white…

Demographic Shifts and Military Recruitment

Demographic Shifts and Military Recruitment

In the United States, we have our military to serve and protect us. The military is made up of brave men and women who sign up to answer the call…

What If There Was No Civil War?

What If There Was No Civil War?

The turmoil over removing Confederate statues has torn the county apart and fueled riots. To quote the author William Faulkner about the South, “The past is never dead. It’s not…

What Does It Mean to Be Responsible as a Public Servant?

What Does It Mean to Be Responsible as a Public Servant?

Shortly after becoming president, John Kennedy had to decide whether to "green light" a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro. Kennedy won respect for accepting responsibility; Trump was criticized for seeming…

Measuring What Matters in Policing

Measuring What Matters in Policing

We now know what the police do operationally and managerially makes a huge difference in the safety of residents and communities. This is welcomed news. As we think about the…

State Budgeting: You Can Bend but Never Break Me

State Budgeting: You Can Bend but Never Break Me

Budget dysfunction—the delayed appropriations and threatened shutdowns, with a sprinkling of harsh rhetoric—has permeated the federal government. But states, those “laboratories of democracy” that are closer to the people, have…

An Old Glory Story

An Old Glory Story

Last week, I thought a lot about the meaning of our American flag. Our world is filled with symbolism for those who notice. …