Recent Viewpoints

Penna Dexter When President Bill Clinton announced his nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsberg to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993, he said she “cannot be called a liberal or a conservative. She has proved herself too thoughtful for such labels.” Though conservatives didn’t buy that, the Senate confirmed her, 96-3. On the Court, Justice Ginsburg was a powerful force for progressive social policy. Justice John Paul Stevens’ retirement in 2010 left Justice Ginsberg as the most senior liberal on the…

Kerby Anderson We are a divided country, but it may be worse than we imagined. An article in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discussed what is called “motive attribution asymmetry.” That’s a technical term for the assumption that your ideology is based on love and your opponent’s is based on hate. Put another way: we are the good guys, and they are the bad guys. They discovered that the average Republican and the average Democrat today are…

Kerby Anderson In a previous set of commentaries, I talked about the interview we did with Jonathan Haidt on his book, The Coddling of the American Mind. Then I saw an essay that quoted his earlier book, The Righteous Mind, where he talked about “the conservative advantage.” As a liberal, he wrote the book because he “was convinced that American liberals did not get the morals and motives of their conservative countrymen.” In one study he did with Jesse Graham…

Kerby Anderson The US Senate as an institution is sick and dysfunctional. Senator Ben Sasse, playing the role of physician, provides both an accurate diagnosis and recommended cures. But I fear that the Senate will prefer to remain sick. His first recommendation is to “cut the cameras” since most of what happens in committee hearings “isn’t oversight, its showmanship.” Senators give speeches that are chopped up and shipped to the local media. The senators aren’t trying to learn since they…

Kerby Anderson On my radio program recently, one of my guests mentioned that it is nearly always assumed that any racial disparities are due to racism. When there is a significant difference between black and white citizens, certainly racial prejudice or discrimination should be considered. But it shouldn’t always be the assumed conclusion. Mario Loyola believes we can often find other explanations. For example, according to reports from the New York Police Department, “black men are arrested and prosecuted in…

Kerby Anderson As we get closer to Election Day, some people are asking the “what if” question. What if the ballots in some states aren’t confirmed by the time the Electoral College meets in December? What if neither presidential candidate wins the Electoral College vote? Those are important questions that I hope we don’t have to answer in real life, but here are how those questions should be decided according to the Constitution. The procedure is set forth in Article…

Penna Dexter Here’s good advice for everyone to remember as we enter election season: “Never trust a stranger with your ballot.”  This comes from Ken Blackwell, the former Mayor of Cincinnati. It’s particularly timely because, this November, universal Vote By Mail will take place in more than the few states where it’s already practiced. This differs from absentee voting in which a voter requests a ballot to mail back by election day. Universal Vote by Mail means ballots are sent…

Kerby Anderson Charles Mizrahi was on my radio program recently to talk about his article, “Prosperity and Generosity: The Biblical Roots of Capitalism.” Although we often talk about the Bible and capitalism, this interview was a bit different because he is Jewish and used Old Testament passages to promote the idea of free enterprise. He wrote his article because he was so disturbed by politicians and young people bemoaning our economic system. Instead, they were calling for more government programs…

Kerby Anderson Less than two months before a national election, lawsuits are being filed to change election laws. In Georgia, the law used to require that absentee ballots that arrived after Election Day were to be set aside and eventually destroyed. A federal judge now has ordered Georgia officials to count all ballots postmarked by Election Day even if they arrive days later. A similar injunction has been filed in Pennsylvania. A lawsuit in Ohio is challenging the need for…

Kerby Anderson Back in July, one social commentator concluded that even the most prestigious public-relations firms could not have come up with a more effective advertising campaign for gun manufacturers than what was happening in the streets. While riots were breaking out in our major cities, protesters were marching with “defund the police” signs. Many Americans who never planned to buy a firearm were having second thoughts. A civilized society expects a level of law and order. It depends on…

Kerby Anderson During this presidential election, we will likely hear pundits talking about flipping courts. Will a reelected President Trump continue flipping courts, or will a President Biden be able to flip courts back? When Trump took office, Democratic appointees had a majority in nine circuit courts. By contrast, Republican appointees only had a majority in four circuit courts. It is also worth mentioning that judges appointed by a Republican president don’t always render a conservative opinion, while nearly all…