Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Should the government break up Facebook? In a previous commentary, I quoted Senator Ted Cruz who observed that the current big tech companies “are larger and more powerful than when Standard Oil was broken up” and “larger and more powerful than AT&T when it was broken up.” Nevertheless, he and other senators don’t seem ready to act. But joining this discussion is Mark Hughes, the co-founder of Facebook. He concludes in his New York Times op-ed that, “It is…

Kerby Anderson One of the criticisms of the claims of human-caused climate change is that the theory predicts everything. Now, you might think that makes it a good theory. Actually, when you have a theory that predicts everything and cannot be falsified, that makes it a bad theory. In fact, it is easy to find examples of contradictory claims all being attributed to climate change. But let me give you one example. Sharks fascinate us, probably going back decades to…

Kerby Anderson Nearly half (46%) of American adults report sometimes or always feeling lonely. That same study by Cigna also found that nearly the same percentage (47%) reported feelings of being left out. That is why many say loneliness is at “epidemic levels.” Twenty-five years ago (1994) I wrote a book (Signs of Warning, Signs of Hope) making a number of predictions for the future. Chapter eight set forth the case for a coming crisis of loneliness. Years later Philip…

Kerby Anderson The former Attorney General Eric Holder started a conversation the other day on MSNBC when he was asked about President Trump’s slogan, “Make America great again.” Holder responded with this question: “Exactly when did you think America was great?” The implication was that America has never been great in the past. Vice President Mike Pence decided to respond to the question by Eric Holder with four iconic pictures on Twitter. They were pictures of Washington crossing the Delaware…

Kerby Anderson Lots of controversial ideas get promoted during an election season. We are getting our share of them this time. Eliminate the Electoral College, regulate campaign speech, and end the filibuster are just a few. It occurred to me that the best way to respond to many of these proposals is to remind Americans that our country is a republic, not a democracy. The framers recognized that the country would be quite diverse. They wanted to create a government…

Penna Dexter President Trump promised to nominate Supreme Court justices with judicial philosophies like that of Justice Antonin Scalia. He has kept that promise, perhaps no more faithfully than in his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. After graduating first in her class from Notre Dame Law School, Judge Barrett held two clerkships, the second of which was for Justice Scalia. She was greatly influenced by him. And Justice Scalia would certainly be pleased by her nomination. He wanted the Court to…

Kerby Anderson More than three in ten households in our country’s four largest cities had to empty their savings just to survive the pandemic and lockdown. This is the economic devastation of the virus and the subsequent policy decisions. Researchers at NPR, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard Chan School of Public Health examined the most serious health and financial problems facing households in these major cities. Millions of families were already living paycheck to paycheck before the coronavirus….

Kerby Anderson Over the last few weeks, I have talked about various issues that are essentially on the ballot this November. Another issue is redistricting. Now that the census is coming to an end, it will be the responsibility of state legislatures and state commissions to redraw the boundaries of congressional districts and other legislative districts. The candidates you elect to the state legislature will determine how they draw the lines of those districts. It appears that seven states will…

Kerby Anderson Many Americans are concerned about the impact that social media and Big Tech are having on society. Therefore, it is not surprising that a number of documentaries have been focusing on problems from this technology. One of the most important documentaries to come along is “The Social Dilemma.” It features an interesting blend of talking-head interviews with various Big Tech figures with a fictional dramatization of what happens when children in one family become addicted to social media….

Kerby Anderson Yesterday I talked about the Trump Administration’s decision to cancel federal training sessions on Critical Race Theory. Heather MacDonald argues that this first step should be followed by “removing identity politics from federal operations” in the sciences. The goal is to create a more “diverse” scientific workforce. Those of us who took undergraduate courses in math and science already felt that the scientific landscape was fairly diverse because we were taking courses taught by TAs from other countries…

Kerby Anderson When the Trump Administration decided to cancel federal training sessions on Critical Race Theory, you knew there would be criticism. What may be surprising is how easy it might be to respond to that criticism. For example, deans of University of California law schools signed an open letter criticizing President Trump and his administration. And then David Marshall wrote an open letter to these professors. Here are the first two points in his lengthy letter. First, the professors say…