FDR

Latest Posts in FDR

December 2025 Magazine

My latest novel, MAYA DARLING, is my good gift to the world. I wrote the novel in the aftermath of getting shot. Getting shot and almost dying had nothing to do with the story, but it does impact how I feel about gun violence. The image of Santa Claus wearing a bullet proof vest captures the surreal sense of unease pervading our culture during these precarious political times, both in America, and all over the world. Please check out the Campaign Video of Santa Claus suiting up on Christmas Eve. 

 


The Fair Society: It's Time to Complete FDR's New Deal with National Health Insurance

Social insurance was originally conceived as a way to cover/protect everyone “from the cradle to the grave”, as the British prime minister Winston Churchill put it back in 1943 (a term that Franklin D. Roosevelt also used). However, in this country the American Medical Association (AMA), among others, fought vigorously against government health insurance, and so it was excluded from the original Social Security Act in 1935. It's time for a major political climate change (and the needed votes in Congress) for a long overdue set of measures to finally achieve national health insurance! 


Why did the Parties Switch as Conservative & Liberal?

The Democratic and Republican parties have flipped their basic philosophies since being founded. Currently, we strongly associate each with being conservative or liberal. We often assume that conservatives are Republicans and Democrats are liberals. But it was the opposite for approximately the first 80 years of our nation’s founding. 


“Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance.” –Virgil

I've been reading more about the sacrifices that Americans made without much hesitation during World War II. Many of those sacrifices can be traced to President Roosevelt’s powerful fireside chats (1933-1944), for which families gathered around a radio to listen.


The Coronavirus Cassandra: Are You Listening?

The Coronavirus Cassandra:  Are You Listening? A Pulitzer Prize winning public health journalist who predicted the coronavirus pandemic is warning us now about the “collective rage” yet to come.  So, how will we respond? The only way to avoid “collective rage” is with collective change.