The Lonely Realist is a bridge across the partisan gap, raising questions and making pointed observations about politics, economics, international relations and the markets. Its goal is to raise awareness and inspire thought on controversial issues that impact America and Americans, highlighting issues that should be, but rarely are, the focus of bipartisan discussion.


In seeking to promote dialogue, The Lonely Realist is not an advocate of conclusions or remedies. To the extent perceived biases leak into these pages, as they sometimes do, please ignore them. They are inadvertent missteps. 

  • “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord Acton “Or does it?” – The Lonely Realist On November 13th, responding to public pressure, the Supreme Court announced that its nine Justices had approved a code of conduct for their own behavior substantially similar to...

  • “’From rags to riches’ has a unique American meaning.” – The Lonely Realist The opportunity for money and power can drive ambition to incredible lengths heights. As Jay and the Americans sang, “Only in America can a kid without a cent get a break and...

  • “Is it better for hatred to be hidden or out-in-the-open?” – The Lonely Realist Latent hatred is dangerous. Blatant hatred can be addressed … and resolved. Humans have biases and they act on those biases, whether openly or surreptitiously. Prejudices are powerful drivers of human...

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More by TLR

America’s Different Democracy, or How Change Has Come to America*

America’s Different Democracy, or How Change Has Come to America America’s government is a Constitutional democracy that differs significantly from most other democracies, many of which do not have written constitutions and the majority of which are parliamentary. In parliamentary democracies, the country’s head-of-state is

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What is Terrorism?; How Useful are Prospectuses?*

What is Terrorism? Words matter … in their innuendos as well as in their dictionary definitions. The words uttered by world leaders matter more than others. Directly after the Boston Marathon attack by two Muslim brothers on April 15, 2013, President Obama called it a

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The Imperial Presidency

“America’s most recent Presidents have stretched their Constitutionally-granted powers to an extreme. Unless Congress acts to end the power-grab, America may be breeding a monarchy.” –The Lonely Realist Arthur Schlesinger’s 1973 book, The Imperial Presidency, reached the conclusion that the Constitution provides no real limits

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William (Bill) Natbony is The Lonely Realist, its author and originator. The opinions expressed in TLR are solely Bill’s opinions, have not been edited or reviewed, and do not reflect the views or opinions or any other person.