Hearing the Falconer #23 ~ 31-March-2019 ~ The Green New Deal: Part 2

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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31-March-2019: The Green New Deal, Part 2
House Resolution 109: The Green New Deal
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From news reports I have gotten the impression the Green New Deal is too extreme. Let's take a look at it and find out for ourselves.

House Resolution 109 has the title “Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.”

This resolution starts with 7 “Whereas's” and then moves into 4 “Resolved's.” Two days ago we looked at the first "whereas," now today let's look at the second “whereas.”

The second “whereas” says "Whereas, because the United States has historically been responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions, having emitted 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through 2014, and has a high technological capacity, the United States must take a leading role in reducing emissions through economic transformation...."

I think it is factually true that the United States has produced a large share of greenhouse gas emissions and so it seems reasonable to say the United States should take the lead in reducing these emissions. I have no disagreement with this.

So far, so good. Next time we will look at the third "whereas."

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

Hearing the Falconer #22 ~ 30-March-2019 ~ Do we win in 2020 with ideas? Or investigations?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
30-March-2019: Should the 2020 election focus on ideas, or investigations?
Buttigieg Says Trump Can Only Be Beaten With Ideas—Not Investigations
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Do we need ideas? Or investigations? Or both?

Interesting article about interesting Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. He's only 37 years old but already has almost eight years of political and administrative experience serving as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He also served a tour of duty in Afghanistan as a naval intelligence officer.

As a political moderate I just want to focus on the title of this article: "Trump can only be beaten with ideas - not investigations." Now Buttigieg might have a more nuanced position but this title seems to imply that we should ONLY focus on ideas and NOT on investigations.

Political moderates, by definition try to avoid extreme views. Certainly, trying to beat Trump with investigations and NO ideas would be too extreme in one direction but trying to beat Trump with ideas only and neglecting investigations where there is a legitimate rationale for investigations would be too extreme in the other direction.

Certainly I want the Democratic candidates to present their best ideas to the American people. But if there is evidence of wrongdoing in the White House let's not be afraid to investigate and let the chips fall where they may!

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

Elly Peterson: "Mother" of the Moderates

Hearing the Falconer #21 ~ 29-March-2019 ~ The Green New Deal: Part 1

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
29-March-2019: The Green New Deal, Part 1
House Resolution 109: The Green New Deal
**********

From news reports I have gotten the impression the Green New Deal is too extreme. Let's take a look at it and find out for ourselves.

House Resolution 109 has the title “Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal.”

This resolution starts with 7 “Whereas's” and then moves into 4 “Resolved's.” For today lets look at the first “whereas.”

The first “whereas” lays out the various problems we can expect to see if global warming increases by 2 degrees Celsius. The problems are based on two reports from 2018.

Among other dire forecasts this section tells us that a 2 degree increase will result in “more than $500,000,000,000 in lost annual economic output in the United States by the year 2100....” That is a predicted loss of $500 BILLION per year for the United States by 2100, which is now about one lifetime away.

Another forecast mentions “a risk of damage to $1,000,000,000,000 of public infrastructure and coastal real estate in the United States....” That is $1 TRILLION.

I don't know what the US GDP will be in 2100 so I don't know how big these losses would be relative to the whole economy. Still, at least in absolute terms these are BIG numbers and BAD losses. It would be too extreme on one side to ignore these warnings. It would be too extreme on the other side to take radical action without understanding what we are doing and what the potential impact could be.

Like good moderates and independent thinkers let's find out more about the Green New Deal. Tomorrow we will look at the 2nd “whereas” in House Resolution 109.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

Hearing the Falconer #20 ~ 28-March-2019 ~ Should We Investigate the Trump Foundation?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
28-March-2019: The Investigation of the Trump Foundation
Legal Case Against Trump's Charity
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My goal is to be an independent thinker, searching for moderate and centrist positions that will give us the best chance to solve problems and build a better society for everyone. I hope you will join me!

One of the primary tools of independent thinkers, moderates, and centrists is investigations. Where there are accusations of wrongdoing it would be too extreme on the one hand to simply punish the accused person, but it is too extreme on the other hand to simply ignore the accusations.

The good and moderate solution for independent thinkers is to have a fair investigation to find out the truth. It is extremists who defend or condemn without knowing the facts that can only be uncovered by a thorough investigation.

One example is the accusations made against the Trump Foundation. As a Democrat I am no fan of Trump but I cannot just assume these accusations are true. On the other hand, I can't just ignore them either. What we need is an investigation.

According to this article these are some of the accusations: “Trump is accused of, among other things, using charitable assets to pay for portraits of himself, make political donations, pay for advertisements for Trump Hotels, settle lawsuits involving his business, and improperly intervening in the 2016 election.”

Also: “... the president personally signed federal tax returns – under penalty of perjury – swearing that his foundation wasn’t used for political and/or business purposes, and we now know there’s quite a bit of evidence that suggests it was used for both.”

In this case, as always, let's try to follow the independent and moderate course of having a fair investigation so we can find out the truth.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

Hearing the Falconer #19 ~ 27-March-2019 ~ Federal Reserve Policy Shows an Example of Moderation

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
27-March-2019: Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged
Federal Reserve Shows an Example of Moderation
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The Fed looks for the right balance between interest rates that are too high and interest rates that are too low.

In December the Fed was predicting two interest rate increases for 2019.
Now they are saying there will be none.

This change comes as predictions suggest that economic growth in the United States might be slowing down and unemployment starting to increase.

Federal reserve policy is a great example of moderation in action.
If interest rates are too high they can strangle the economy.
If they are too low, the economy might grow too fast and trigger inflation.

During the financial crisis that began in 2007-2008 the Fed eventually dropped interest rates all the way to zero trying to help the economy get moving again.
Over the last few years they have been slowly raising interest rates to avoid overheating the economy and also to give themselves room to react by lowering interest rates if there is an economic downturn.
Obvivously you can't lower interest rates if they are already zero!

**********

The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Hearing the Falconer #18 ~ 26-March-2019 ~ Should Judge Jeanine Have Freedom of Speech?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
26-March-2019: Should Judge Jeanine Get Freedom of Speech?
Judge Jeanine Off the Air for Two Weeks
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Freedom of speech for Jeanine?

Conservative pundit Judge Jeanine made some offensive comments on her FOX news show recently and now it seems that she is off the air, at least for a couple of weeks.

Trump is outraged by this. Many FOX fans are outraged. I suppose many liberals are pleased.

Should political moderates be outraged or pleased? First, we should remember that Fox is a company and, within certain broad limitations, companies can hire who they please, fire who they please, and make whatever rules they please for their employees.

But, for now, let's consider freedom of speech more broadly. When people say things we hate it would be too extreme in one direction to do nothing about it at all, but it seems too extreme in the other direction, especially if we value Freedom of Speech, to silence the person whose speech we hate.

The correct and moderate response to speech we hate is to SPEAK against it. To publicize contrary views. To counter wrong with right, lies with truth, ignorance with knowledge, prejudice with tolerance, and darkness with light. This is the moderate and centrist way. The one thing we cannot do, if we want to preserve freedom, is to silence the speech we hate. That is too extreme and too dangerous.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

Hearing the Falconer #17 ~ 25-March-2019 ~ No Collusion! Now What?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
25-March-2019: No collusion! Now what?
The Attorney General's Summary of the Mueller Report
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What is the moderate approach to the Mueller report?

The Attorney General has told us that Mueller did not find collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. He also decided there will be no charges for obstruction of justice.

On the other hand, the Mueller report is stressing that there WAS Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller's team actually brought charges against Russian military officers for their efforts to interfere in American politics.

Given this result it would be too extreme on one side to continue focusing on collusion. Mueller could not find indictable collusion. Let's accept that and move on. But, it would be too extreme on the other side to ignore Russian interference. The Mueller investigation underscored what intelligence agencies had already told us: the Russians DID engage in psychological warfare and cyber attacks on the United States in 2016.

The moderate response to the Mueller report is to shift our focus from Russian collusion to Russian interference and work to ensure there is no further interference in 2020.

**********

The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Hearing the Falconer #16 ~ 24-March-2019 ~ Is Bernie's Medicare For All Too Extreme?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
24-March-2019: Is Bernie's Medicare for all scheme too extreme?
Explaining Medicare for All
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Bad idea from the left.

Bernie's Medicare for all proposal would cover virtually all medical expenses and consumers would pay nothing. This is too extreme.

On the other hand we cannot leave consumers with no help at all paying for medical care. That would be too extreme on the other side.

I think a more moderate proposal would be to expect consumers to pay their own insurance premiums or medical bills up to something like 10-20% of their annual income. For expenses above the amount paid for by consumers and insurance companies the government should kick in an amount equal to something like 20-30% of the expected annual GDP each year. Once all limits are reached consumers would be on their own, but, sadly, there are always limits to what we can do, both as individuals and as societies.

We should also keep private health care facilities such as hospitals and insurance companies while requiring them to follow appropriate regulations. This is the good and moderate solution. Public ownership of these companies would be too extreme one way, while having no rules and regulations would be too extreme the other way.

By the way, I would also like the government to offer strong incentives for insurance companies and healthcare companies to both increase the quality and decrease the costs of their services. This could be done with either tax breaks or even cash bounties for great innovative ideas.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Hearing the Falconer #15 ~ 23-March-2019 ~ Should society pay reparations to descendents of slaves?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
23-March-2019: Should society pay reparations to the descendants of slaves?
Democrats and the Reparations Issue in the 2020 Campaign
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Good information on the complex issue of reparations for the descendants of slaves.

First of all, this article mentions calls for official government studies of the need for reparations. As a moderate I believe that studying is ALWAYS a good moderate position on any issue so, by all means, lets have the studies. The more we know, the better.

Also, it should not be controversial to say that people who need help should get help. Whenever societal forces are causing harm to some members of a society the society should be willing to help out.

When we get to the specific issue of paying reparations the issue is a little more complex.

Clearly, if one person or group harms another person or group, the person or group harmed deserves reparations; they should be compensated for the harm done. It would be an extreme view, and wrong, to argue that people or groups that have been harmed should not get compensation.

On the other hand, it seems that it would also be an extreme view, and wrong, to collect reparations for a harm done 1000 years ago.

A good moderate position would be that we should pay reparations to people who are directly harmed and maybe we should go back a generation or two and then stop. For now, I would argue that if an individual can show harm, that resulted from the actions of others, to themselves or their parents or grandparents, let's support reparations. If the harm was done farther back in the past than that let's argue that there needs to be some statute of limitations.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Hearing the Falconer #14 ~ 22-March-2019 ~ Do we still need the electoral college?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
22-March-2019: Do we still need the electoral college?
Elizabeth Wants to Kill the Electoral College
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A good idea from the left.

Elizabeth Warren is right: it is time to end the electoral college.

In the early days of America the electoral college was intended to be a check on the will of the people: if the people elected someone unfit for office the electors could step in and choose someone else.

That can't happen anymore. Virtually all electors are now legally required to vote for whichever candidate won the popular vote in their state.

The electors have become rubber stamps.

We don't need rubber stamps.

It is time for the electoral college to go!

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Hearing the Falconer #13 ~ 21-March-2019 ~ What Can We Do About the Opioid Crisis?

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

**********
21-March-2019: What can we do about the opioid crisis?
Will Drug Companies be Held Accountable for America's Opioid Epidemic?
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Important information about the opioid crisis.

This article is an interview with Barry Meier, author of Pain Killer, which is about the origins of this opioid crisis which killed 40,000 Americans in 2018 alone.

One point Meier makes is that when prosecutors settle lawsuits against the drug manufacturers this often serves to hide vital information that could help us address the crisis.

While communities are desperate for money to address the crisis political moderates will want to move cautiously to make sure the guilty people are punished and the innocent are not.

We should never punish companies for developing drugs or manufacturing drugs or selling drugs. We should punish companies for lying about drugs or hiding information about the dangers associated with drugs.

And what about the Doctors who wrongly prescribed or over prescribed these dangerous drugs? Let's not forget their responsibility either.

We need good pain medications to improve the quality of life for suffering patients. What we need to punish is just the MISUSE of these pain medications.

Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Indpendent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority