Ross Mackenzie applies the lens of historical significance to today's headlines in his weekly nationally syndicated column. The veteran newspaper writer and editorial page editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch offers insightful commentary about current events, exploring topical subjects in areas ranging from foreign affairs and class-action lawsuits to culture and family. Mackenzie joined The Richmond News Leader in 1965, and four years later was named editor of the paper's editorial page -- a position previously held by both James J. Kilpatrick and Douglas Southall Freeman. After the 1992 merger of the News Leader and the Richmond Times-Dispatch he became the editorial page editor at the latter, overseeing the editorial and op-ed pages and the paper's Sunday commentary section. He is the only person to have directed the editorial pages of both Richmond dailies. Mackenzie was runner-up for the 1982 Pulitzer Prize in commentary, and in a long page-one story around that time, The Washington Post termed him "the most feared journalist in Virginia" possessing "one of the most ferocious styles in American journalism." He is also the recipient of Sigma Delta Chi's first Eugene Pulliam fellowship for editorial writers. Mackenzie received a bachelor's degree in history from Yale and a master of arts in political philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has written several books, including Brief Points: An Almanac for Parents and Friends of U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen (1993 and 1996) and Eyewitness: Writings from the Ordeal of Communism (1992), which he co-wrote with Todd Culbertson. He also produced a syndicated history feature with editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly. Mackenzie lives with his wife and Labrador retriever in the woods west of Richmond, Virginia. They have two grown sons, both Naval officers. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2013 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Thu, 05 May 2011 04:01:00 GMT Thu, 05 May 2011 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ And so. Today marks the last of about 22,000 written opinion pieces in a newspaper career spanning 46 years. It's time. Some summary thoughts.... -- Despite the citizenry self-describing as... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/05/05/and_now,_let_us_head_out_praying 908a3851-c3dc-474c-abd3-3696316b1d75 Thu, 05 May 2011 04:01:00 GMT With key institutions grown effete, standards of right and wrong descend into a moral miasma of relativistic goo. So today, with more Americans knowing about Miley Cyrus and Charlie Sheen than know about the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/04/28/how_to_define_contemporary_liberalism 914e1f0d-d034-48f4-8657-d242127149a0 Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:01:00 GMT What are some principal developments and changes witnessed during a 30-year career in syndication -- indeed, a 46-year career in the newspaper business? Man on the moon. Giant leaps in technology -- yielding up... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/04/21/institutional_collapse_and_flight_from_the_printed_word b918cb3b-cdea-4a89-9bac-478bb6e6fb3f Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:01:00 GMT The catalyst for a career in writing may have been Miss Krenwinkel -- my 8th-grade teacher at Skokie School in Winnetka, Ill. Along about November, she informed my parents I would not be promoted to the vaunted New... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/04/19/catalysts,_and_leaning_into_the_liberal_wind 4b3c688f-3551-4280-8d49-f4b0fc2fc557 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:05:00 GMT Comments on issues currently in the news....--At stake in November were 472 congressional seats (37 Senate seats and all 435 House seats). A record 42 doctors were candidates -- making doctors candidates in about... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/03/31/guess_the_largest_contributor_to_november_congressional_races 6aa6164a-f37e-4a21-b263-d8a98d462abf Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:01:00 GMT A selection of quotations about issues in the news.... Johns Hopkins University professor Fouad Ajami: "(In Ronald Reagan) there was never narcissism or a bloated sense of personal destiny. He gloried in the country... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/03/24/quotables_by_ajami,_ali,_moore,_williams,_palin,_thatcher,_etc 43e885fa-56e5-4955-9e40-d739f92ecca2 Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:01:00 GMT Takes on items in the news -- mostly about Barack Obama and his administration.... --Will the President's passivity regarding Libya -- his refusal at least to declare a no-fly zone so those hungering to rid the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/03/17/obamas_greatest_failing_of_all 09b964fe-bd3b-48f3-9010-5d14533e8d73 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 04:01:00 GMT Suddenly, the Libyan turmoil and its subsequent Obamian abdication of leadership have led -- again -- to heightened fears about America's energy future. The national average price of a gallon of gasoline at the pump has... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/03/10/win_the_future_or_cement_ourselves_in_the_past 0da1ed8b-c97d-4914-aaae-f751b2ac18c2 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:01:00 GMT A March mixture of comments about items in the news.... OK, so you voted for Barack Obama and still support him. If you like his over-the-top enthusiasm for public-employee union collective-bargaining rights at the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/03/03/the_simpsons_in_illinois,_the_seductress,_the_kiss_of_judas 5d092c2b-5f43-4e3a-a2fe-29e8138373d4 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:01:00 GMT On Egypt et al. let us be very clear. Joy at the expansion of liberty -- maybe even of democracy -- is the only defensible sentiment. Any policy based on regime stability alone (as American foreign policy has been... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/02/17/islamofascism,_the_internet,_and_the_liberty_contagion ecf04118-3d51-4262-9d07-7c0c62d0443d Thu, 17 Feb 2011 05:01:00 GMT The week has brought two potentially future-altering stories -- one out of Florida, the other out of the Middle East. In Pensacola, Federal District Judge Roger Vinson ruled ObamaCare unconstitutional -- all of it.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/02/03/obamacare_and_the_islamist_movement a709debf-5a78-4866-ba94-d07aa411a6eb Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:01:00 GMT Didn't you think the president gave a marvelous State of the Union address? He was so, you know, civil. Americans may crave civility, but they crave honesty more. Are you going to argue that he was... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/01/27/on_selling_change_when_trust_is_gone feb6256e-c00a-4414-9d7d-8dba5d2ad83c Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:23:38 GMT How's it going in the new year? Let's see.... --Defense Secretary Robert Gates ventured to China for strategic negotiations. But the Chinese largely stiffed him. They have recently disclosed development of (a)... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/01/13/on_china,_tucson,_delta,_chicago,_illinois,_reid,_etc 774261e2-2400-4d5a-9bdf-2422392a2eef Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:01:00 GMT Quotes on the economy as the new year begins..... David Malpass, global economist: "In its first days, the new Congress has to act on the understanding that this is a takeover, an upheaval of the old spending... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2011/01/06/econ_quotes_by_lipsky,_palin,_forbes,_malpass,_meltzer,_ruff,_etc f3600a35-5a38-4f36-a4a1-f3dddbdec5c2 Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:01:00 GMT Moving into the new year with a backward look at 2010.... What was the worst legislative decision of the passing year? The gigantically unpopular ObamaCare. And what was the year's best judicial ruling? Federal... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2010/12/30/on_holder,_clapper,_escalated_rhetoric,_the_chicago_way,_etc 4661c23a-6c5e-400a-8c89-ba334569d406 Thu, 30 Dec 2010 05:01:00 GMT