The most recent non-business book I've read was a respectable biography of R. Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps



The most recent non-business book I've read was a respectable biography of R. Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps

Viewpoint -- Democracy In America

Some thoughts about what democracy means as the presidential and congressional elections approach.

By John S. McClenahen

For a relatively young nation, the United States has a rather long and rich history of defining democracy. From colonial town meetings to the Iowa caucuses. From the Revolution to state referenda. In the words of J. Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, Alexis de Tocqueville, Walt Whitman and Hunter Thompson, Frederick Douglass and Vine Deloria Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. On the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal and in the cover stories of Time and Newsweek. On the television networks' nightly newscasts and in the unreported exchanges between neighbors. On the 'Net. And in the horror of wars and in the peace that passes understanding.

[Excerpt]

I've spent most of my professional life working in Washington, D.C. I am admittedly addicted to American politics. The most recent non-business book I've read was a respectable biography of R. Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps, the first director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, U.S. ambassador to France, and, of course, John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law and husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The looming Capitol building never fails to impress and inspire as I move east toward it along Pennsylvania Avenue. But more impressive to me this year are those people outside Washington, D.C., who in their comments and questions are taking the upcoming elections seriously. These are people who seem truly concerned about democracy in America.

When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before. Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and can you come up with a Political Funny?

Read the stories and leave your comments.