Articles by Alan Markow

We’ve all heard about the war on drugs, war on women and war on Christmas, but did you know there’s a war on the AARP as well? A competitive organization with political overtones, AMAC (the Association of Mature American Citizens) is trying to siphon both members and dollars from AARP (formerly the American Association for Retired Persons), longstanding leading voice of senior Americans. The reason AMAC exists is not just to compete in the insurance supplement business that is AARP’s stock and t...

Consider the possibility that we might need a nanny state – at least in some areas. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s war on super-sized sugary drinks has raised the specter of socialism and nanny state control of our lives. But the mayor is responding to a reality in modern America – we’re too fat. Our weight impacts our health, which translates into high health care costs and lower productivity. Should we do nothing about an epidemic of overeating? If we were facing another kind of medical...

California’s state parks are admired by visitors from all over. Tourists come and are amazed at the quality and quantity of the state park system and envy us our bounty. California is also broke, in part because of the many services it provides to its citizens. Well, reality has set in at the state parks, and many may be closing over the next few weeks. As part of the belt-tightening across all of state government, the parks system has been trimmed back by some $22 million. This budget reductio...

Results of California’s top-two open primary will undoubtedly leave some voters shaking their heads in consternation when they cast their ballots in November. First, there will be only a maximum of two candidates for all of the state and federal positions as opposed to a plethora of contenders representing a multitude of parties and ideologies. Second, there will be a handful of races in which Democrats oppose Democrats and Republicans oppose Republicans. “In about one-sixth of the state's legi...

In 1959, Wisconsin became the first state in the nation to embrace collective bargaining for their public sector unions. 53 years later, the voters of Wisconsin rebuffed public unions when the attempted recall of Governor Scott Walker fell desperately short of its goal. What caused the turnabout?  Early on, public sector workers were viewed as the “poor cousins” to private sector workers – accepting lower pay in trade for steady employment, good benefits and a generous retirement program. Toda...

Linda Parks thinks she can become the first “I” in the House of Representatives by not being a "me, too" politician. “Being independent gives me a platform for pushing the public good. It’s the people instead of the party,” she said in an interview with IVN. The 26th California Congressional District candidate is the only non-affiliated up against four Democrats and one Republican challenger. There is no incumbent in this newly revamped district that includes most of Ventura County in southern...

During this period of economic crises for our country and its people, one would think the priority of national leaders would be finding solutions and working together to right the ship of state. But that is far from what is happening. Instead, the top people in both major parties appear to be out entirely for themselves and their partisan positions. The conversation since Friday’s jobs numbers were released must be frustrating and disappointing to anyone hoping for caring, concern and solutions...

If the United States ends up offering an “entrepreneur’s visa” for promising graduate students and new business developers, it will be following a trail blazed in other parts of the world. The United Kingdom and Canada already offer such incentives in recognition of the value that budding business thinkers bring to their economies and their societies as well. The shame of it is that the U.S. program, proposed by bipartisan coalition of four relatively recent arrivals to the Senate – Democrats S...

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which created an environment of unbridled campaign financing through the funding of Super PACs, is now being challenged on at least four fronts.  In all cases, the challengers believe that the current atmosphere for campaign financing weakens independent voices in the electorate and strengthens a powerful few special interests. Three of the challenges were precipitated by a Montana Supreme Court finding that the state’s legislative ban on corporate ...