What is the Radical Middle?

The Founders of this nation represented the first Radical Middle. Back then they called it "being liberal." As George Washington said, "As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."

A Declaration of Rights for the 21st Century

Click here to hear this read by Kindra Scanlon

Our bridges are falling apart (among other things), and its Ronald
Reagan’s fault. A few hours before the bridge collapsed in Minnesota, a
news release landed (among hundreds) in my email inbox. It was from the
right-wing “Heartland Institute” and a Minnesota conservative group
calling itself the “Taxpayers League of Minnesota.” It read:

I thought of it as dinosaur blood when it dripped on my hand this morning, and it made me wonder how the US war strategy would change if Saddam made a small recalibration in his business practices.

I was about 12 and into the first year of a very brief career as a magician, in partnership with my best friend Chuck and his stepfather, the late professional stage magician Jim Edwards. Chuck and I were going to perform on a local TV show, and Edwards counseled us to “always control where your audience is putting their attention.” And the greatest of a magician’s tricks, he said, was to have the audience watch the illusion, and let them notice some small thing that they thought was the trick making it work, while you were pulling off a third and wholly unnoticed thing out of the range of their attention.