Commentary & Opinion

Opinion essays and letters from our readers.
Posted inCommentary & Opinion

A Conservatism that Once Conserved

by Editor

by Richard Manning

What is the foundation of this conservatism if it disregards what the neighbors might think, that is, ignores the community standard? This is not a small matter. A misguided notion of freedom lies at the heart of the suburban cancer on the landscape. My neighbors will tell you they moved because in rural America you are free to do as you please. Where did they get this idea? Rural America, at least when there was a functioning rural America, never advertised any such freedom. Just the opposite.

Posted inCommentary & Opinion

Why the Left has Lost America

by Editor

by Jim Rovira

The Left has consigned itself to the peanut gallery of American politics. It’s the two old guys sitting up in the balcony taking pot shots at Kermit and Miss Piggy. It’s critique, it’s negation, it’s shame. And it’s not one of us. . . . Welcome to four more years of George W. Bush after a pathetically ineffectual negative campaign run by the next idiot the Democrats choose to sacrifice on a national stage.

Posted inCommentary & Opinion

Milwaukee Artists Politically Apathetic?

by Editor

by Peter Goldberg

Although something and someone must have driven Ashcroft behind closed doors, it certainly isn’t Milwaukee’s artist community who profess to warrant attention for their expressive talents. The Dossier Project was conceived to explore the implications of the developing security state and surveillance society for our democracy and to alert Milwaukeeans to this brave, new world. Although we have had submissions from various parts of the nation, the response from Milwaukee’s artistic community has been lackluster to dismal.

Posted inEditorials

Riverwest, Crime, and Once upon a Time

by Editor

by Sonya Jongsma Knauss

Our police department won’t tell us a damn thing. All media requests must be cleared by the chief’s office; the “community liaison” has a job description that seems to be, as far as I can tell, not telling anybody anything. It seems the only way to get good information about crime or crime trends in our neighborhood is to witness it directly or belong to RNAmail, the Riverwest e-mail network with more than 300 members, who keep each other up to date on crime in the area, among many other, more positive things.