Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson A columnist named Virginia is facing a dilemma. She lives in Brooklyn Heights and doesn’t know what to make of her neighbor who recently plowed her driveway without being asked. The neighbors are what she calls “Trumpites,” and she is a Harvard-educated liberal journalist. Rod Dreher writes about this because normal people don’t have a problem with such an act of kindness, no matter who provides it. She, on the other hand, says it is “kind of weird….

Kerby Anderson Even though Donald Trump is no longer on the national stage as president, populism appears to be here to stay. Populism can be defined as the reaction when ordinary people feel like they are being disregarded by elite groups. Many events over the last few weeks are feeding a populist perspective. Consider the topic I discussed yesterday. An average group of investors decided to buy stock of GameStop in order to hurt Wall Street hedge funds. A digital…

Kerby Anderson David Sacks is one of the founders of PayPal, so he certainly understands the tech world. He sees significant similarities between the latest GameStop stock controversy and social media censorship. The first involved hedge funds, which he refers to “as the apex predators of capitalism” who drive down companies and are “feasting on the carcasses.” The story is fairly simple. Various hedge funds “shorted” the stock of GameStop, and a group called WallStreetBets decided to damage those hedge…

Penna Dexter On his inauguration day, President Biden issued an executive order that could spell the end of women’s athletics. The order directs federal agencies to interpret existing anti-discrimination law in a manner that removes the protection Title IX of the U.S. Education Code affords to women participating in competitive sports. This issue is festering in certain states, notably Connecticut, where four accomplished female athletes have repeatedly been losing track meets to biological males who identify as females. They have filed…

Kerby Anderson Why is there so much panic and tension in our world today? There are probably lots of explanations, but Michael Brendan Dougherty puts his finger on our smartphones. He acknowledges that the pandemic and the lockdowns have contributed to the unease we feel. He also concedes that the polarization of our politics is also having a significant impact. But he goes on to explain that the smartphone is a “novel substance in our environment.” He believes it is…

Kerby Anderson I had Professor Robert George (Princeton) on my radio program recently to talk about the dialogue he has had for a number of years with Professor Cornel West. They certainly qualify as “the odd couple” given their differences in political perspectives and their different racial backgrounds. But they have forged a partnership based on mutual respect and a desire for civil dialogue. Months ago, they published an op-ed that was a summary of their common commitments. They reminded…

Kerby Anderson The political divisions in America are evident to just about anyone. Which leads to a sincere question: Are there any issues with significant bipartisan support? Actually, there are quite a number as George Barna discovered in a post-election survey. As he surveyed Republicans and Democrats, he found a half dozen issues that are supported by a supermajority of voters in both parties. Americans may be divided, but you can still find issues which voters support in overwhelming numbers….

Kerby Anderson We certainly need government regulations, but sometimes those regulations can be burdensome and therefore unnecessary. Former President Trump understood this because he came from the business world. One of his first actions was to require that two regulations be removed for every new regulation. One of the first acts by President Biden was to reverse Trump deregulation. But Biden’s latest executive order goes much further. Don’t take my word for it. Listen to what progressives and conservatives say…

Kerby Anderson Recent surveys show that millions of Americans doubt that the 2020 elections were run fairly. That is why a number of state legislators are filing bills and considering what changes need to be made before the next election cycle. In fact, Senator Rand Paul announced on one TV program what he will be “spending the next two years going around from state to state and fixing these problems.” He and other members of Congress might also spend a…

Penna Dexter During the early shutdowns back in April, author J.K. Rowling released a children’s novel in three installments for families stuck at home. She actually wrote The Ickabog during the years when she was writing the Harry Potter series. The full novel was published in  November. The story begins when King Fred of Cornucopia allows two manipulative and power-hungry advisors to convince him to embark on a quest to kill the Ickabog, a creature most of his subjects consider…

Kerby Anderson Representative Dan Crenshaw started his commentary about lockdowns but quickly focused on how our brains process risk. He wanted to help us understand why Americans see the pandemic and the lockdowns very differently. He cites research that discovered that “Democrats and Republicans differ in the neural mechanism activated during risk-taking exercises, specifically in the amygdala region. This demonstrates measurable physiological differences when confronted with risk.” For example, “conservatives overwhelmingly fill the ranks of physically riskier jobs such as…