Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Less than a month from now will be the third set of Democratic presidential debates. The field will be smaller next time, but the question is whether the debate and discussion will be motivating for primary voters. Mark Penn, writing in The Hill, referred to the previous debates as a “panderfest.” He knows something about Democratic politics since he served as a pollster and adviser to former President Clinton and has written some important books looking at social…

Penna Dexter In each season of the television show, “The Bachelorette,” a young woman successively sends bachelors home until she finally chooses one. This season, there was extra drama in that the bachelorette,Hannah Brown, openly declared she’s a Christian and was even shown praying.  One of the bachelor candidates, Luke Parker, is also an outspoken believer. Hannah eventually gave Luke the boot from the show after he told her he was saving sex for marriage and hoped she would not…

Kerby Anderson A generation ago, driving on American roads was much safer than in many other countries with lots of open roads (like Canada and Australia). That is not the case anymore. David Leonhardt reports that our vehicle fatality rate is about 40 percent higher than the fatality rates in Canada and Australia. He says he was unaware of this country’s outlier status until he began to report on the rise of driverless cars. As you might imagine, many people…

Kerby Anderson If you have ever listened to a Dennis Prager radio program, you know he often talks about the differences between liberals and conservatives. And you would also know that he dedicates one hour to what he calls “the happiness hour” where he explores why people are happy or unhappy. So it is not surprising that he recently wrote a commentary on the subject: “Liberals and Conservatives Are Unhappy for Different Reasons.” He says that unhappy conservatives generally believe…

Kerby Anderson Steven Pinker (Harvard University) says that the left and the right at least agree on one major point: “The world is getting worse.” His new book goes into some detail to show that simply is not true. In a recent op-ed, he reminds us that, “Such gloominess is decidedly un-American.” Unfortunately, we fool ourselves by comparing rose-tinted images of the past with the scary headlines of today. Here are just a few statistics worth considering. The homicide rate…

Kerby Anderson Lots of young people say they believe in socialism but when asked to define it they don’t often give an accurate answer. But what do people who are socialists believe and what do they want to implement in this country? Jarrett Stepman went to a socialism conference and came back with a number of observations. The Socialism 2019 conference had the tag line, “No Borders, No Bosses, No Binaries.” That should give you a good idea of the…

Kerby Anderson Over the last few years, I have talked about how many times both sides of the political debate make wrong assumptions about each other. This misperception is certain to increase as we enter into this political season. Arthur Brooks provides further academic documentation for this reality. A study that appeared in the Journal of Politics revealed that the average Democrat believes that more than 40 percent of Republicans earn more than $250,000. That is a number that is completely…

Penna Dexter Often, our most satisfying friendships are with like-minded people alongside whom we work for causes we care about. When the cause is love of and concern for our nation and when the laborers are Christ-followers, certain people rise up as treasured friends. They encourage you, lead you, teach you, and make you better and more effective. At the same time, they love you. And you love them. Debbie Terry was such a friend for me. She passed from this earth last month….

Kerby Anderson For the last few decades, politicians and high-tech companies have been talking about the digital divide. They wanted to make sure that poor and underprivileged students had access to the same digital devices as wealthier ones. I have always felt there was a bigger issue that fewer people were talking about. Fortunately, Naomi Schaefer Riley addresses this in her New York Times op-ed on “America’s Real Digital Divide.” She warns that, “If you think middle-class children are being harmed…

Kerby Anderson The debate and discussion about transgender issues will continue because of a transgender ideology that has developed that is actually harmful to kids. That is one of the conclusions of the book by Ryan Anderson with the creative title: When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. The transgender ideology promotes the opportunity for children to change their gender with surgery and drugs. And parents “are told that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones may be the only…

Kerby Anderson The contemporary issues of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, transgenderism, and the hookup culture seem very different. But they all illustrate in different ways a secular hostility to the human body. That is the premise of the new book by Nancy Pearcey with the title, Love Thy Body. She was on my radio program recently to explain how each of these issues goes back to a flawed perspective of our bodies. Supporters of abortion say that the fetus is not…