Posts by HillFaith
WORKING ON CAPITOL HILL: Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
By Bret Bernhardt No doubt this question has bounced around in the minds of nearly everyone who has worked on Capitol Hill, especially in the holidays, which is a time to reflect and take stock heading into a new year. The long hours, relatively low pay, and frustrations that accompany working on the Hill all…
Read MoreWHAT DO YOU THINK? Why Does God Sometimes Seem So Hidden?
Have you ever experienced a tough time in your life when things just never seemed to go right, your friends and family were of no help, and even when you sought Him in prayer, God seemed not to care what happened to you? I have and odds are you will as well at some point,…
Read MoreTHINK ABOUT THIS: How To Know When The Cumulative Evidence Is Overwhelming
There are times when, no matter what the evidence shows, the conclusion to which it points is, for whatever reason, so difficult to wrap our minds around, or so contrary to what we have long believed, that we simply refuse to accept it. That description undoubtedly fits a lot of folks working on Capitol Hill…
Read MoreHow A Mint-Green Blazer Turned An Invisible Hill Aide Into A National Celebrity
There’s a maxim from the 60s that says “everybody gets 15 minutes of fame” and maybe that explains why Russell Dye made the Style pages of The New York Times earlier this week. Whatever the reason, the reality is Dye, a Republican communications aide to Rep. Jim Jordan on the House Committee on Oversight and…
Read MoreSTAFF MOVES: Look Who Is Getting Promoted On The Hill
Recent Staff Moves, As Reported By Legistorm: There’s a new deputy chief of staff for Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and the name is Jefferson Deming. Deming is moving up from the legislative director slot in the same office. He’s a 2012 Vanderbilt University graduate in political science and government. As the accompanying photo from his…
Read MoreWORKING ON THE HILL: If You Use Your Office’s CRM, You Need To Know This About That
Every one of the 535 congressional offices has one of these, and every one of them requires continuous attention from at least one staffer and helps everybody else do their jobs. They are the Constituent Management Systems (aka CRMs) that, according to legbranch.org’s Samantha McDonald and Melissa Mazmanian, “help offices manage the ever-growing volume of…
Read MoreMYTH-BUSTERS: No, Christians And Muslims Do Not Worship The Same God
It’s a truism in much of today’s ecumenical efforts that Christians worship the same deity that Muslims do because both are monotheistic, that is, they each contend there is one god, not many. The reality is that there are profound differences between the essential concepts of God held by orthodox Christians and the two major…
Read MoreWORKING ON CAPITOL HILL: Young Congressional Aide Reveals How He Makes It In D.C. On $45K
Victor Yang has worked on Capitol Hill for three years, presently as legislative assistant to Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and previously as a staff assistant to Rep. Charlies Crist (D-Fla.) and an intern for Rep. Juan Vargas, another California Democrat. Even if you’ve never met Victor, he may look familiar to you because he appeared…
Read MoreLooking For A Job On Capitol Hill?
Check out this five-part HillFaith series by Bret Bernhardt, former chief of staff for Senators Don Nickles (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). Bernhardt has a wealth of experience, insider insight, how-tos and obscure terms (know what a “golden reference” is on the Hill?), plus lots of helpful links. The Best Resources for Finding a Job On the Hill Where Your…
Read MoreTHINK ABOUT THIS: Free Will Is Impossible If We Live In A Strictly Material Universe
Among the attributes that most distinguish humans from all other creatures is our ability to perceive alternative courses of action and to make choices among those alternatives. That’s called “free will.” Our laws and system of justice assume we all have this unique ability. But if we live in a material universe that is a…
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