Keith Burris
The Toledo Blade
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Past articles by Keith:
John McCain was the last statesman
Editor’s note: This piece was originally published in print on May 13, 2018. It has been updated to reflect the passing of Sen. John McCain. “It’s not about terrorism, it’s about us.” That’s what John McCain said about Americans torturing other human beings as part of the war on terror. That’s what he said when his presidential ambitions would have been better served if he’d played to his… → Read More
The moral genius of Fred Rogers
Some years ago, I went to a bar with a younger friend after a musical rehearsal. The bar had a TV, and for some reason someone was interviewing, in prime time, Fred Rogers — “Mister Rogers” of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The young man looked up at the screen and said, “Now there is a great human being.” I was surprised because this fellow was hip and maybe a little cynical. He proceeded, for… → Read More
To be a liberal: Five principles
Some months ago I interviewed a young job candidate who described himself as “a classical liberal.” I would have been only slightly less shocked if he’d told me he preferred a quill pen to a laptop. Classical liberalism, so called, is about personal and social liberty. It is associated with the economist and political theorist Friedrich Hayek. In English history, one thinks of William Gladstone… → Read More
Hal Holbrook, American icon
In this Jan. 22, 2008, file photo actor Hal Holbrook poses for a photograph in New York. ASSOCIATED PRESS Enlarge Roughly 20 years ago, at a time when I was writing editorials and political commentary in Connecticut, I was given a chance to interview the great actor Hal Holbrook by phone – because the theater critic was off. Mr. Holbrook was coming to Hartford to do a show and the producers and… → Read More
Cardinal Law at the gates
Bernard Law, who came to symbolize the inability of the Catholic church to deal honestly with sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, died last week at 86. No human being should be only a symbol in the eyes of fellow human beings. But there is a reason Cardinal Law became a symbol. He, as the archbishop of Boston, enabled the abusers — serially transferring them instead of urging them into… → Read More
Light in our midwinter
The best Easter service I ever attended was in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was not really a service at all, but a song fest, or sing-along in an Episcopal church. About 200 people belted out hymns for a little less than an hour. No ritual. No program. No sermon. My favorite Christmas service is “Lessons and Carols” — easy on the lessons, heavy on the carols. And that service should never… → Read More
Trump hate diminishes the press
A FEW DAYS back I traveled to Portland, Maine — a lovely small city — for the strangest of duties. I went to Portland to take part in a panel discussion with fellow journalists on this topic: “Is the press covering President Trump fairly.” I was not keen to make this trip. Though I know Portland well and love it (it’s like a little Boston a long time ago), it seemed like a long way to go in… → Read More
Three lights for the morass
Well, we have to talk about Charlie Rose, don’t we? And John Conyers. And Al Franken. And, of course, the Alabama sociopath who locked a teenager in his car and tried to assault her. We were told last week that we should overlook such behavior because Judge Roy Moore will vote for tax reform. Really? What an astonishing assertion. How many of us have daughters? Or granddaughters who worked in… → Read More
Creeps and the culture that empowers them
What to make of the recent avalanche of sexual harassment, indeed assault, charges against Hollywood actors, politicians, and journalists. Yes, journalists: a famous critic for The New Republic, the head of news at NPR, an MSNBC and NBC commentator. Of course, they are all overshadowed by the famous actor, the famous edgy comedian, and the horseback riding, six-shooting, gay-bashing,… → Read More
Kucinich: I know why Trump was elected
A week ago today, I drove through a downpour to hear former Congressman Dennis Kucinich speak to about 40 rain-soaked people and to chat with him afterward. I’d never met him. It was an encounter with one of the last honest men in American politics. I know that many people see the former Cleveland mayor and two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination as a far-out leftie, but I… → Read More
Defenders of the faith
Way back in 1985, as a young editorial writer, I covered the funeral of Sam Ervin, the great southern Senator whose career was bookended by two things — helping to engineer the censure of Joseph McCarthy by the U.S. Senate and chairing the select Senate committee investigating the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-ups. I remember vividly the trek from Winston-Salem to Morganton for a very… → Read More
We are not helpless
We need a hero to advocate for common-sense, constitutional “gun control.” We need a Republican of national stature to break the conversation open and help pass useful legislation. For what is proposed as gun control these days is really not control at all, but, at long last, some limits. This should be a conservative position. Isn’t duty an essential conservative principle? We have a duty, as… → Read More
On the job training for Trump
DONALD TRUMP has had three good weeks as president — his best and most consistent run. He cut a budget deal with the Democrats to get quick relief for hurricane victims — voters like that kind of dealing. He is close to a deal on the “Dreamers.” He gave an intelligent and blunt speech at the U.N. He should keep it up. That is, the President should spend his political capital on stuff that… → Read More
Oostra, ProMedica transforming how we think about medicine
A few years ago Randy Oostra began asking doctors: “Do you ask your patients: Did you eat today?” Most said no. But worse than that, most looked at him as if he just debarked from his spaceship. Why in the world would a doctor ask that? What possible reason would he have? Well, every possible one. And docs are now seeing this. Medicine is changing. Randy Oostra has helped to change it and wants… → Read More
Freedom of speech, and of the press, and of the shrug
Many years ago, a friend of mine got a Christmas card from his Goddaughter. On the cover it said: “Christmas is for everyone.” On the inside it said: “Even jerks.” Only the word was stronger than jerks. I feel that way about the First Amendment. There is no exception for neo-Nazis or white supremacists. The First Amendment is for everyone. Even Donald Trump. Another friend said something amazing… → Read More
The mantle of citizenship: Civility begins with each of us
On July 4 weekend my wife and I went to a July 4 party. While watching little kids splash in a swimming pool I was privileged to talk to a young Toledo cop, and, later, a young Marine officer. They both made me feel good about the country, at a time when the country doesn’t feel very good about itself. As we all know, all too well, the United States is deeply divided at this moment in its… → Read More
Tomorrowcare should be a hybrid
Would the Republican plans to repeal and replace Obamacare make American health insurance, and by extension, health care, better? In most respects I do not see how. It is hard to imagine how replacing Medicaid with tax credits, the only big idea on the table, is a great step forward. The Senate plan is better, but it may be doomed. Republicans on the left and right flanks of the party dislike… → Read More
Let’s play charades
Years ago, as a young man, I was on a board. It was too big. There were 16 of us, I think. We had to make a decision, and it was a big one. We divided up into committees and did much homework and due diligence. We took our responsibility very seriously. We finally presented our findings to someone from the parent entity. He laughed. “This decision was made in Chicago weeks ago,” he said. I… → Read More
Journeyman finds home in Toledo as Metroparks director
The first job Dave Zenk applied for after graduating from Ohio State University was as a park manager for Toledo’s Wildwood Preserve Metropark. “I remember going home and telling my wife that they offered me the job, and she said, ‘Well, what is it exactly?’ And I said, ‘I have no idea,’ ” Mr. Zenk says with a chuckle while leaning back in his chair in a conference room inside the Manor House on… → Read More
The need for young blood
A few days ago Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson justified forcing one person off the plan commission and not reappointing another on the basis that the city needs young blood — new faces, fresh perspective, ideas that have not been floated and dismissed scores of times over many multiples of years. I was a little skeptical. Both of the commissioners who were being dumped by her were opposed to Kroger… → Read More