Recent Viewpoints

March 25, 2020
Gerrymandering- Districts most extreme

Kerby Anderson By now you have probably received an envelope in the mail that says, United States Census 2020. You are supposed to go online and fill it out before April 1. There are many reasons why you should do so. The most important reason is the fact the census count will determine how many representatives you will have in the future. The state you are living in has changed significantly in the last ten years when the last census…

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March 24, 2020
depressed woman

Kerby Anderson Often when I talk about the “deaths of despair” affecting so many young people, I am asked, “why are so many unhappy?” There are a number of reasons, but first let’s discuss how serious this problem has become. In the US, the suicide rate quadrupled for young men (ages 15-24) and doubled for young women from 1946 to 2006. Another study found that “suicidal thinking, severe depression, and rate of self-injury among US college students more than doubled…

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March 23, 2020
Trump press briefing covid-19

Kerby Anderson Let me begin with a question. What do you think of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic? Your response probably ranges from a belief that some of the government’s actions could have been better to a belief that it was a botched operation from the beginning. Many pundits and politicians say the administration’s response has been a disaster. That harsh assessment may be overdone and unfair, but let’s assume it is accurate. That leads to a…

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March 20, 2020
Italian Hospitals struggle

Penna Dexter After the Coronavirus pandemic dissipates, perhaps we’ll ask why some countries got a better handle on patient recovery than others? There are early hints that outcomes have a lot to do with how dependent countries’ systems are on direct government financing of health care. In Italy, doctors know how to treat severe cases. But they need ventilators in intensive care units. They simply don’t have enough beds or equipment to do the job. Or enough doctors. We hear…

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March 20, 2020
IRAQ-POLITICS-POVERTY-INFRASTRUCTURE

Kerby Anderson Perhaps you have been involved in a political discussion with people and wondered how they could be so naïve about foreign policy or criminal justice because they just wanted to believe every person is basically good. Perhaps you have been sharing your faith with someone who rejected the idea of a savior because he or she rejected the idea of human sinfulness. So many people in America are naïve about human nature, evil, and sin because they live…

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March 19, 2020
The Price of Greatness

Kerby Anderson Two of the founding fathers that deserve more attention are Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. While the Hamilton musical provides us with some perspective and entertainment, I would recommend the book by Jay Cost, The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy. He was on the Point of View radio program to talk about his book. These two men belonged to a political movement with three fundamental foundations. The first was the commitment…

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March 18, 2020
A House Divided - Lincoln

Kerby Anderson Many writers have talked about the fact that America seems to be in the midst of what is often called a civil war of values. Victor Davis Hanson provides an in-depth analysis of “The Origins of Our Second Civil War.” Globalization, he says, “had an unfortunate effect of undermining national unity.” While some became billionaires in high tech and finance, most other Americans lost out. To make matters worse, the elites blamed the losers, clingers, and deplorables for…

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March 17, 2020
The War on Humans

Kerby Anderson Are humans the enemy? Should animals have constitutional rights? Should peas be granted personhood? These questions may sound ludicrous. Nevertheless, professors and leaders in environmental rights groups are asking these questions and providing bizarre answers. Wesley J. Smith was on Point of View radio talk show to discuss his documentary “The War on Humans.” You can watch it on YouTube and also order the companion e-book. You will quickly see or read that these questions are not satire…

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March 16, 2020
Social Security banner

Kerby Anderson In a recent commentary, I mentioned that many radio listeners object to the fact that Social Security is considered an entitlement. After all, they argue, they paid into Social Security and Medicare. Now they are receiving a partial refund of money they paid into the system. While that is true for some people, it is not true for many others. Let’s look at the numbers. A credible analysis was done a few years ago by the Urban Institute….

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March 13, 2020
AOC, A Pressley, R Tlaib

Penna Dexter The House of Representatives Committee on Reform and Oversight held a hearing recently on what members called “the administration’s religious liberty assault on LGBT rights.”  New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on this committee as are fellow “Squad” members, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. The hearing’s stated premise was that the Trump administration is protecting and increasing the religious liberty of religious “zealots” who are discriminating, violating so-called LGBT rights, in the name of…

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March 13, 2020
cinderella-man-movie-clip-screenshot-stealing-sausage

Kerby Anderson One time when I was speaking on the subject of entitlements, someone reminded me of the scene in the movie “Cinderella Man.” The scene is relevant to our current debate on entitlements. In the movie, Russell Crowe plays boxer James Braddock in the real-life story of a man who went from dockworker to champion. Braddock is living in a dingy tenement in New Jersey sharing little food with his wife and children. But even at this low point…

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