Month / May 2020

by Ed Achorn

Are coronavirus lockdowns running into the Constitution?

By Edward Achorn

History shows us — and the coronavirus episode has confirmed — that constitutional rights have no force unless the people get behind them.

For these rights to function, politicians must uphold the Constitution, which they take an oath to defend as a requirement for assuming the powers of office.

In addition, courts must sometimes be called into action, and then adjudicate in favor of constitutional protections.

Most of all, Americans must jealousy guard their rights if they hope to retain them.

Continue reading →
by Ed Achorn

Books we’re reading to get us through the lockdown

By Edward Achorn

With the coronavirus keeping people in more than usual, bookstores have been promoting lists of books that offer an escape from the tedium of being indoors.

I’m grateful that my new book, Every Drop of Blood, has appeared on several.

Gee Gee Rosell, writing for Buxton Village Books in the Island Free Press, chose Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as its top non-fiction book during the lockdown.

Continue reading →
by Ed Achorn

Churchill’s advice: Never, never, never, never give in

By Edward Achorn

The above picture is of yours truly on a raw day in London three springs ago, posing with the statue of Winston Churchill on the northeast corner of Parliament Square.

Churchill chose the site in the 1950s, though the statue was not installed until 1973, eight years after his death. It overlooks the Houses of Parliament, where Churchill played an immense role in his country’s life, and survival, rising to prime minister at its darkest hour, in May 1940, as Adolf Hitler prepared to snuff out Britain and control the European continent.

Continue reading →
by Ed Achorn

The press vs. the president

By Edward Achorn

It takes a sizeable ego for any president to compare himself with Abraham Lincoln. But President Trump may have had a point in doing so at his recent “town hall” at the Lincoln Memorial.

“I am greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no president has ever seen,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “The closest will be that gentleman up there.”

He gestured to Daniel Chester French’s colossal statue of Abraham Lincoln in the memorial. “They say nobody got treated worse than Lincoln… I believe I am treated worse.”

Continue reading →