On this week’s episode of The Codcast, Jim Peyser, who served as secretary of education under Gov. Charlie Baker, talks with CommonWealth Beacon executive editor Michael Jonas about the yearlong series of essays he wrote for CommonWealth Beacon on the need for civil discussion of often controversial issues in an era of polarized debate.
Civic engagement
Posted inPolitics
Pandemic shutdown has opened up civic participation
WHEN IT COMES to civic engagement, a funny thing happened on the way to the pandemic shutdown. While all sorts of aspects of daily life ground to a halt as […]
Posted inPolitics
Loopy coverage says more about media than Legislature
THE STORYLINE OF loopy Massachusetts liberals going PC-crazy was apparently too good for right-leaning national outlets to resist. But they’re hardly alone, as mainstream Massachusetts media also decided to turn […]
Posted inThe Download
Loopy coverage says more about media than Legislature
The storyline of loopy Massachusetts liberals going PC-crazy was apparently too good for right-leaning national outlets to resist. But they’re hardly alone, as mainstream Massachusetts media also decided to turn […]
Posted inOpinion
Why free speech must be defended
ON SATURDAY – and earlier this month – students around the country organized marches and staged a nationwide walkout to honor the lives of the 17 people killed at Marjory […]
Posted inThe Download
A new start in Framingham, old faces elsewhere
If you’re starting with a fresh form of government, you might as well have a fresh face. At least that’s what Framingham voters thought after giving a convincing win to […]
Posted inOpinion
Boston’s embrace of political predictability
THE EAST BOSTON NEIGHBORHOOD I grew up in was abuzz that late summer evening in 1967. The Community Club was our neighborhood “men’s club,” a place for mid-century male camaraderie […]
Posted inThe Download
Worcester power couple unplugged
Michael and Coreen Gaffney, the aspiring power couple of Worcester politics, pulled out of their races for City Council to pursue an “opportunity” they declined to talk about because “the […]
Posted inThe Download
Grateful for the generals
A hallmark of American democracy has always been that a civilian, the president, is the ultimate commander in chief of the armed forces. It is perhaps the strongest signal we […]
Posted inThe Download
Smart money in Massachusetts
Back in 1990, during his run for governor, John Silber made the somewhat controversial observation that not everyone is college material and those folks would be better off focusing on […]
Posted inThe Download
How many white supremacists at rally?
An estimated 40,000 people turned out on Saturday to say no to hate, racism, and neo-Nazis, but it remains unclear how many of the 50 people at the free speech […]
Posted inThe Download
Hating on the haters
Boston is no place for hate – and we’ll beat you and isolate you to prove it. Message sent, message received. From elected officials to the 15,000 to 40,000 demonstrators […]
Posted inThe Download
Trump’s disruptive power
Donald Trump signed 42 executive orders in his first 200 days as president. By comparison, Barack Obama, who Trump criticized for signing too many, averaged 35 executive orders a year […]
Posted inThe Download
A Metco take-down
The headline on the Sunday Globe front-page story suggested the 50-year-old school integration program known as Metco was a mixed bag, but the story painted an almost uniformly dismal picture […]
Posted inThe Download
Another side to pot billboard
A billboard dispute in South Boston is proof that people can look at the same image and see something very different. The billboard carried this message: “States that legalized […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Changing voting rites
Instead of heading out for a Sunday walk in the park, would the ability to head out for a Sunday stroll to the polls make a difference in voter turnout? […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Haven for city teens in peril
There are the periodic public squabbles that break out over who is doing what to quell violence in Boston neighborhoods and who is bears responsibility for stopping the cycle […]
Posted inMicrophilanthropy
A personal form of charity
Microphilanthropy is an occasional feature that calls attention to small acts of generosity that people do for the benefit of others and highlights little-known needs that could benefit from generosity, […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Transportation
Being smart is not enough
This is the third in a series entitled The Future of Mobility, a joint project of CommonWealth and Meeting of the Minds, a San Francisco-based organization that seeks to build alliances around […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Whither Boston?
THE RECENT DECISION of the IndyCar promoters to pull out of Boston was met by some with relief, by others with dismay. I was not a fan, and I was […]
Posted inOpinion
We need to focus more on boys
WITH POVERTY RATES at their highest in Massachusetts since 1960, it should have come as no surprise to see youth violence increase in our urban communities last summer. Recent news […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Majority rules
While it didn’t start with its passage in 1980, Proposition 2½ opened the eyes of activists to what could be done through the ballot to change the laws in Massachusetts. […]
Posted inOpinion
Remembering Alec Gray
A LOT CAN HAPPEN in 10 years. Ten years go by, enough time for the world to change irrevocably. In 10 years a job can be outsourced, or made obsolete […]