Ronald T. Wilcox is a faculty fellow at the National Marriage Project and professor of business administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
He is the author of “Whatever Happened to Thrift.”  This column originally appeared at http://www.stateofourunions.org, a joint effort of the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values.

Benjamin B. He was a chemistry major in university in China, later going to seminary there and receiving a master’s degree. He received a doctoral degree in ministry after coming to the United States, and has a pastor in the Chinese Christian Church of Charlottesville for 10 years.

The Obama administration has three major foreign policy decisions to make by year’s end: whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, how to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program, and how much pressure to exert on Israel and the Arab countries to end their conflict over Palestine. Afghanistan clearly tops that list.

I can no longer afford to be me. At least not the me I wanna be. All those luxuries I’ve added to my life over the years — the highlights, the pedicures, the nice nails — were all rooted in a little dabbling here, some experimenting there. But now they’ve become needs, adding up to more than my limited budget can tolerate.

My ex-home state of Michigan is far worse off economically than Virginia.

All this unpleasantness being broadcast smack dab in my living room makes a bizarrely cynical-yet-Pollyanna kinda gal like me who just wants a little cheerful programming want to run for cover.

The science is clear: The world is getting warmer and will continue warming in the years to come. But how much warmer the world will get is largely within our control. If we continue to burn more fossil fuels each year, the outlook for the planet is dire. But if we can reduce our emissions of global warming pollution and shift to a clean energy economy, we can still prevent the worst impacts of global warming.

Thomas Jefferson wrote about global warming. Extensively, in fact, both in relating correspondence from friends in Europe describing the warming and in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1781). He described a mild warming trend of the same rate as we saw over the past century, now slowed.

The University of Virginia Board of Visitors last week formally initiated the process that will lead to the selection of the successor to its current president, John Casteen, by appointing a search committee.

Nowadays, instead of doodling with pen and paper, with Twitter you can doodle with your words.

Virginia’s vibrant political culture, which once listed right and now writes lists, has discovered a central list of a few dozen flagrant factoids.

Stabilizing Afghanistan is a more complex task for President Obama than Iraq was for George Bush. 

There’s at least one scientist who claims that a derivation of a very common virus somehow mutates in an unlucky chunk of the population.

When the Charles Manson look-alike ventured into the store where I was doing a book signing, I wasn’t surprised. It was fate, I knew it.

That girls (and parents) succumb to marketing to such a degree that they prefer dolls that look like hookers is to me somewhat disillusioning.

The next two months could be a dangerous time for the nation’s security.

I can barely get my head around the latest burst-economic-bubble drama, since I’m still reeling from the tech-boom-gone-bust of eight years ago.

When politics is at its most divided, testy or negative, people are more open to demanding change.

Politics has left a bitter taste, but I see a groundswell of candidates who are trying to instill a modicum of respect in the political process. I feel encouraged.

The Albemarle County Natural Heritage Committee recently told the Board of Supervisors that its success was endangered by a lack of support.

Two issues will dominate November’s presidential election: energy costs and lagging U.S. economy, and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Opinion polls show that John McCain is stronger on foreign policy than Barack Obama, but Obama leads McCain on dealing with the economy.

Many of us who grew up in black communities in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s now constantly have to look over our shoulders when visiting.

Ironically, President Bush sought to don the Jefferson mantle by claiming, “We honor Jefferson’s legacy by aiding the rise of liberty in lands that do not know the blessings of freedom. ...” But no president before George Bush tried to make aggressive promotion of democracy the overarching strategy of U.S. foreign policy. And Jefferson “abhorred war,” and only reluctantly countenanced war in self-defense. He would turn over in his grave to hear that his beloved country had justified “a war of choice” and occupation in the name of pushing democracy.

A fundamental question for U.S. presidents and policymakers is this: Under what circumstances is the United States justified in going beyond economic sanctions and propaganda to the use of armed force to oust a dictatorship? The answer should be obvious: Only when a vital U.S. interest is at stake in that country.

There is a perception that any combination of options other than the current plan can be strung together to create an approvable plan. That is not the case. Any plan would have to go through the same process we just went through, and there is no guarantee that it would ever be approved (as in the Buck Mountain example). Also, it is unlikely that another plan would emerge that would obtain the community support that the current plan has. 

Two weeks ago Scotland’s top political leader, Alex Salmond, told an audience at the University of Virginia that Scotland deserves to be independent from Great Britain. He cited Thomas Jefferson’s principle of self-government as the basis of his claim that Scotland should “become its own country”

For as long as I can remember, my now 17-year-old son has aspired to a career in politics. I have fretted often about his career choice, having worked in politics on Capitol Hill back in the ’80s, before the tone there turned irrevocably hostile.

Any candidate, Democratic or Republican, who wins the presidential elections will face a great challenge of understanding Iran.

He’s not the first in this campaign to want a fresh start. When she launched her presidential bid in January 2007, Hillary Clinton called herself “the most famous person you really don’t know.” She wasn’t hard as nails. To the contrary, she’s tough enough – and warm and caring besides. She’s still fighting the image battle.

I for one am most grateful that one particular candidate no longer holds the prospect of breaking bread at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four to eight years: Dennis Kucinich. And it’s nothing personal against him. Really it’s not.