Tom's Take
Thomas Putnam
Tom Putnam is a retired pediatric surgeon who lives with his wife, Barbara, in Rockland. He serves on a variety of nonprofit boards, as well as municipal committees, and is a communicant of St. Peter's Episcopal Church.
Additional Column Posts (1 - 14 of 14)
Again, time to pull out
Mar 08As I said in July 2010, it is time for the U.S. to pull out of Afghanistan. At that time, General Petraeus had just replaced General McChrystal as ...
What is America's middle class?
By Tom Putnam - Dec 23Democracy should assure legal freedoms. This means that all people should have the opportunity to pursue their wildest dreams, as long as they ...
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Man creates, works, or looks for jobs
By Tom Putnam - Nov 17Once humanity evolved from being hunter/gatherers, the first large scale job opportunities would seem to have involved those associated with ...
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Arab spring – Western fall?
By Thomas Putnam - Aug 18The Arab uprisings last spring were inspiring. The recent rioting in England is depressing. They all involved young people, enabled by cyberspace, ...
Do we need more or less government?
By Tom Putnam - Jul 16Who does better: People on their own or people cared for by government? When you think about it, that depends upon whom you are considering. ...
Do Arabs want democracy?
By Tom Putnam - May 08When youth in Tunisia and Egypt revolted against their governments at the beginning of this year, the West believed their ultimate goals were the ...
Middle Eastern evolution: Toward democracy?
By Tom Putnam - Feb 19Democracies evolved during the later part of the 18th Century, arising in what we call today the Western World. Prior, countries were ruled by ...
Restore America's greatness
By Tom Putnam - Jan 27What do our politicians mean? Are we talking about our greatness following the Revolutionary or Civil Wars, or Martin Luther King? Or, are we ...
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Was invading Iraq a mistake?
By Tom Putnam - Dec 10In 2003, under the presidency of George W. Bush and following the apparently successful cleansing of Al Qaeda from Afghanistan, the U.S. invaded ...
Is democracy in decline?
By Tom Putnam - Oct 04What is happening to our democratic world? Our belief that democracy is the ideal form of government is being threatened over the last decade by ...
Should politicians have advanced degrees?
By Tom Putnam - Aug 16Today, our politicians have as much power over us as do our physicians. Maybe even more so. Physicians are required to have advanced degrees in ...
The Nieman Fellows Weekend
By Tom Putnam - May 28The weekend of May 21-22, in spite of the fog, was wonderfully illuminating for those who attended the annual Nieman Fellows Weekend at Point ...
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Crossroads. Are we ready to back off?
By Tom Putnam - Apr 01Ever since Muammar Gaddafi began killing his rebelling citizens in Libya, the United States has been dithering about what to do; and our “ditherer-...
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Understanding the human animal
By Tom Putnam - Feb 07VillageSoup has offered me the opportunity to periodically share some of my thoughts and comments about the United States and its place in the ...
