Politics

As a retired Baltimore County teacher and TABCO member for 32 years, It would seem to me that state financial problems could be partially resolved if teacher unions would stop spending millions of dollars of teachers' dues to support political candidates when that money could be used to enhance teacher pension funds and save the state some much-needed money. Bill Huppert, Perry Hall We tell you what's happening, when it happens, for FREE: Sign-up for Breaking News Mobile Text Alerts : Text NEWS, WEATHER or TRAFFIC to 37798 Subscribe to our Breaking News E-mails Try the News@3 Newsletter

WASHINGTONWe may be missing something here, but the decision by House Republicans -- along with perhaps 40 fellow-traveler Democrats -- to drag out the disaster aid for the victims of the Midwest floods is positively bizarre politics.As Terry Branstad, the Republican governor of Iowa, using great restraint, put it, "sometimes Washington is pretty detached" from what is going on in the rest of the country.This wasn't just detached, it was out of the real world. For almost a month now, the biggest story in the country has been the record floods that have created havoc to families, farms and businesses.

Washington -- THAT WAS spellbinding television the other night when David Frost interviewed Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. But at the same time it was very revealing about the perils for the gulf war commander should he yield to entreaties that he enter politics.In two specific areas, Schwarzkopf demonstrated a lack of the political sensitivity essential for anyone seeking high political office in the rough-and-tumble of a campaign covered intensely by the news media.First, in confessing that he was "suckered" by Saddam Hussein into granting permission for Iraq to fly helicopters after the coalition assault was halted, the general displayed admirable but politically damaging candor.

WASHINGTON -- Many journalists, political scientists, members of the online politics community and citizens interested in the Internet keep repeating the same mistake. They keep asking -- after an election -- whether last year was the year the Internet had a major impact on American politics. Did it in 1996? Did it in 1998? It is asked frequently whether the year in question was "like 1960," when television transformed presidential politics by virtue of John F. Kennedy's destruction of Richard Nixon in the televised debates.

WASHINGTON -- When President Bush the other day listed his justifications for the threatened use of American force in the Persian Gulf, he again said he was "deeply concerned about Saddam's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Imagine his ability to blackmail his neighbors," Bush said, "should he possess a nuclear device." That expressed concern in turn has set off a debate over Iraq's potential to produce a nuclear weapon, and how soon.Those who say the threat is real hint of secret intelligence suggesting such a development might be a reality in six months.

Here's another example why judges should not have to get embroiled in elective politics. Only this time, the bad example was set by some judges and their court clerk, not a bunch of ward heelers seeking to undermine the sanctity of the judiciary.Suzanne Mensh, the circuit court clerk for Baltimore County, decided last month that citizens called for jury duty would benefit by a little lecture on the judicial system. Not a bad idea, on its face. But for about a year the jurors have been shown a video doing just that.

AS THE savings-and-loan scandal keeps reminding us, money is at the root of much political evil.Too many officeholders spend far too much time raising money and then pandering to it. Too many good people are dissuaded from entering public service because they lack either money, or the stomach to go after it. Too many millionaires, who used to finance political campaigns, now simply run for office themselves. This is the way the game has come to be played.Money-men today have far too much power in politics to set the agendas of incumbents.

In trying to be taken seriously by the artistic community, Frederick's Delaplaine Visual Arts Center reached beyond idyllic depictions of landscapes and ducks -- and now finds itself in danger of losing $500,000 in state funding. The contretemps illustrates again the power of visual art to offend, as well as to educate. It also demonstrates the power of politics and controversy to attract more interest -- and visitors -- to an art exhibition than cultural inquisitiveness ever could.Publicity about an anti-war painting by Austrian Josef Schutzenhofer has drawn hundreds of people to a show of artistic work dealing with problems facing society today.

AS THE writer Alan Wolfe has observed, America is a country where public issues have become private, and oddly, private ones public. This inversion degrades the quality of both our politics and our material well-being.In our country, the proper subjects for intense public debate now attract only a narrow class of policy nerds. Are the rich getting richer and the poor poorer? Is the middle class eroding? Are the banks tottering? Can average people get health care? Are public schools a lost cause?

Somerville, Massachusetts. -- The brick row house in the working-class neighborhood is almost deceptively quiet this Sunday afternoon. The only sign of a political campaign is the Bob Massie bumper sticker on the car across from the playground.As I come in, the two Massie boys are heading off with their mother to get new sneakers for growing feet that continually test the family budget. In the modest kitchen the cookbook is propped open to a recipe for pumpkin soup.Bob Massie, Episcopal minister and Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts has something rare these days: a free afternoon.