Recent Viewpoints

Penna Dexter The president has released his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. He wants bipartisan buy-in and it’s true that infrastructure bills often pass with strong bipartisan support. But, when we think of infrastructure, we think of airports, ports, waterways, bridges, and highway systems. Only about 7 percent of the proposed spending for this plan is devoted to such projects. Add infrastructure-related projects like upgrading water systems, expanding high-speed broadband, modernizing the electric grid, and improving infrastructure resilience and you have…

Kerby Anderson The long-established rules in society seem to be changing. Victor Davis Hanson describes “Ten Radical New Rules That are Changing America.” Let’s look at a few of them. First, money is a construct. Politicians seem to believe that money can be created out of thin air and that the national debt no longer matters. Previous presidents and administrations at least acknowledged that the money was real and that the debt had to be paid back. Second, laws are…

Kerby Anderson Today is usually considered Tax Day. But this year the federal government moved that day to May and to June for Texas residents. A more important date is Tax Freedom Day. That is the date when your tax burden is lifted. It is calculated by dividing the official government tally of all taxes collected in each year by the amount of all income earned in each year. Put another way, it is when you are no longer working…

Kerby Anderson Lester Holt (NBC anchor) recently explained to his audience that “fairness is overrated.” He argued that the “idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in.” The example he used is certainly one that everyone would accept. “That the sun sets in the west is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time and attention. But he went on to expand this trivial example…

Kerby Anderson Would investments by the federal government and state governments help improve America’s infrastructure? The answer is obviously, yes. Is the current bill before Congress about much more than rebuilding America’s infrastructure? Again, the answer is obviously, yes. The president and his administration promoted it as a “once-in-a-lifetime” infrastructure bill. Given the fact that it will cost at least $2 trillion, you could certainly say that. I say at least, because other politicians are asking for $4 trillion, and…

Kerby Anderson Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic House members considered removing an elected member of Congress and replacing her with another Democrat. That did not happen because the Democrat decided to withdraw, leaving the elected Iowa Republican in the House of Representatives. This incident raises lots of questions. The Constitution does allow Congress to disqualify an election, but that power hasn’t been used in decades and has been reserved for when there has been serious misconduct. The congressional election…

Penna Dexter The Equality Act has passed the House of Representatives and awaits a Senate vote. It’s a priority for the president who says he wants it passed in his first 100 days. The law makes sexual orientation and gender identity protected categories under civil rights law. Elevating public protections for LGBTQ activities diminishes protections for religious people and organizations. The Equality Act would define much of what churches, and religious people and organizations do as “public accommodations.” So, religious…

Kerby Anderson Mike Huckabee warns us about the influence of Big Tech in a recent commentary. He understands that everyone knows that Big Tech has been in the business of collecting data on each of us to sell to advertisers. But then he asks, “did you know that they’re also selling information about us to federal agencies? He explains that these companies have been collecting data from different services and then use artificial intelligence to understand our personality traits. Apparently,…

Kerby Anderson Michael Shellenberger has been working in the environmental arena for decades. But he began to become more concerned when he was hearing claims that “billions of people are going to die” unless we implement radical, draconian environmental policies. Early on in his book, he explains why he decided to part company with some of the environmentalists and set the record straight. “Much of what people are being told about the environment, including the climate, is wrong, and we…

Kerby Anderson The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in 2020 have been devastating to life and livelihoods. But some think it provides a model for what must be done in the future to address the problem of climate change. Some see it as a “test run” for a new climate-driven economy. That was essentially the argument at the UK Climate Assembly that met last year. One speaker noted that in order to deal with the threat of the virus the government…

Kerby Anderson Dr. Michael Brown writes about not always trusting your own echo chamber. I always encourage my listeners to read widely because you might miss important perspectives and arguments that will challenge your thinking. He begins by quoting from DC Circuit Court Judge Laurence Silberman, who I discussed yesterday. He argued that two of the most influential papers (New York Times and Washington Post) “are virtually Democratic Party broadsheets.” He also added that nearly all television “is a Democratic…