Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board – Guest Essayist: James D. Best

Today's essay at Constituting America is Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, which which settled the 2000 presidential election.

The 2000 presidential election came down to who won Florida. Twenty-seven days after the election, the presidency remained undecided. Surrogates for George W. Bush and Al Gore clashed in a close-quarters fight that seemed to have no end.  Both parties persisted and refused to yield. The media filled nearly every broadcast moment and column inch of newsprint with the maneuvers and shenanigans of both parties. The pursuit of minutia, gossip, and a major scoop drove wall-to-wall reporting of the countless twists, turns, and skirmishes.

 You can read or listen to the entire essay here.

7th Annual 90-Day Study

Unexpected Recommendation for Tempest at Dawn

One of the great things about the internet is that if someone mentions you, an email alert can let you know about it. Gear Technology posted an Independence Day salutation. They also made a recommendation for Tempest at Dawn. Thank you, even though I have not a clue what "power your Skiving" means.

So if you have a quiet moment between parades, ball games, picnics, and fireworks, I encourage you to go online and get a copy of James D. Best’s book, Tempest at Dawn. This very well researched novelization of the Constitutional Convention will show just how close the entire experiment came to failing. The reasons were much the same as the conflicts that divide us today. Best presents the signers as real people, with real life problems — not as supermen sent down from some divine mountain with wisdom of another world.

Power Your Skiving

District of Columbia v. Heller ... Essay at Constituting America

Guest Essayist: James D. Best

Today's essay at Constituting America is District of Columbia v. Heller, which ruled on a long-simmering conflict about the meaning of the 2nd Amendment.

District of Columbia v. Heller provided clarity to a long and quarrelsome debate about the application of the Second Amendment. The crux of the case was whether the right to “keep and bear arms” was an individual right or a collective right associated with regulated militias. The Supreme Court (5-4) ruled the Second Amendment an individual right.

You can read or listen to the entire essay here.

7th Annual 90-Day Study