Commentary

Democrats often make the mistake of failing to talk like real people talk. They embark upon wonky policy discussions that voters hear in the same way that Charlie Brown and his pals heard their teacher, “Wah wah woh wah wah.” So as we sprint to the finish line, I have a few humble suggestions for my Democratic friends. Stop wringing your hands over how in the world elections across the nation can be so close when one party is running a cast of characters who make Lenny and Squiggy look like Rhodes Scholars. Here is the answer: there are millions of Americans who don’t wake up each morning to turn on “Morning Joe” or “Fox and Friends” before having their morning coffee.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Maryland by 2-to-1, and the party’s lock on state politics is reflected in its two U.S. Democratic senators and eight-member House delegation, which includes just one GOP incumbent. Gerrymandering has cemented the Democrats’ advantage, stripping most congressional races of suspense. Months of legal wrangling this year over a new electoral map did leave the GOP with a plausible shot at one Democratic-held district, Maryland’s 6th, which stretches west from the D.C. suburbs to the border with West Virginia. The incumbent, Rep. David Trone, has earned a third term.

I drive through counties — Howard, Harford, Anne Arundel, Carroll or Frederick — and I see earth movers tearing up the landscape and houses being built, and I think: If Baltimore was a better city, if more people wanted urban life, if there were affordable, detached single-family homes built on all the old vacant lots, the whole region would be better off: Baltimore would have a growing population and there would be more open space and woodlands in the suburbs. I had these fantastical thoughts again the other day. I drove along a stretch of Old Court Road in Baltimore County that, last I journeyed there, was farmland, or it might have been woods or a meadow. I don’t recall exactly, but it was definitely not what I found — a paved street with half-acre lots for new homes.

Bank robbery is a high-profile crime that fascinates many people. Movies have been made about famous bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and Butch Cassidy. There is even a new movie that just came out about Gilbert Galvan, Canada’s most prolific bank robber who robbed 59 banks in five years. It might surprise you – as it did me – to learn that the number of bank robberies is the lowest it’s been in half a century. That’s what I discovered while researching a book about the shift to a cashless economy. With people using less cash, I had expected fewer bank robberies. But I was startled to see that the downward trend started well before the cashless economy started springing up in the 2000s.

Schools are still feeling the pandemic’s calamitous effects. Learning loss, teacher and staff shortages, behavioral problems, and school safety are just a few of the challenges. The people serving on school boards are more important than ever, and voters in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties will decide in the Nov. 8 elections who will do so in Maryland’s two most populous school districts.

In Baltimore, voters are being asked to choose whether they are “for” or “against” 11 potential charter amendments. Many are fairly routine administrative matters, such as authorizing bonds so that the city can borrow money for certain projects, and we regularly support such ballot questions. But several stand out as worthy of analysis, either for their content or their confusing nature.

Last month, a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge deemed that Adnan Syed’s murder conviction was illegitimate, citing unreliable evidence and alternate suspects in the 1999 death of his high school girlfriend. And last week, Baltimore prosecutors dropped all charges against him. After 23 years, Syed is a free man. There’s no doubt that the “Serial” podcast, which examined his case in depth and cast doubt on Syed’s guilt, was partly responsible for the overturning of his conviction, if only in the fact that it brought the case so much attention.

With my best friend riding shotgun and my two dogs in the back seat of my Buick Encore, I made the road trip from D.C. to Chicago last month for the ordination and consecration of Paula E. Clark, the first female bishop, and first Black bishop, of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. She’s also my mom. I’m incredibly proud of her, but sometimes it amazes me we’re still celebrating women’s firsts.