Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Before we head to Thanksgiving dinners, I wanted to talk about the mass shooting in California. Although the shooting and the public reactions were similar, the venue was different and worthy of a mention. For months, pundits and candidates have talked about the need for “common sense gun control measures.” Whenever I use the term on radio, I inevitably get a caller asking me what these common sense measures might be. I explain that is mostly a term…

Penna Dexter The campaign season brought some alarming advocacy of socialist ideas. An organization called Democratic Socialists of America spawned candidates who brought a mix of progressive ideas to their primaries. Most DSA-endorsed candidates lost their primaries. But they got a hearing and pushed some others to the Left. Candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became a socialist poster child. She unseated a 10-term Democrat incumbent in the New York primary and went on to win a seat in Congress. She’s 29. A…

Kerby Anderson Imagine a world in which everyone followed the ethic Jesus taught about sex, marriage, and relationships. Sean McDowell asked people to consider that when he was involved in a discussion about biblical sexuality. Here is what he said: “There would be no sexually transmitted diseases. No abortions. No brokenness from divorce. Every child would have a mother and a father and experience the love and acceptance each parent uniquely offers. There would be no rape, no sex abuse,…

Kerby Anderson Not so long ago, California was the golden state with a great future. Now, Thomas Del Beccaro says that the state government has made the state unsustainable. He is the author of the book, The Divided Era, and has served as the Chairman of the California Republican Party. Even if you don’t live in California, you can learn from some of the reasons he believes that state is at risk. The first concern is California’s infrastructure deficit. The…

Kerby Anderson Although America is certainly a divided nation, the divisions between the various tribes are not as great as you might be led to believe. Yes, the social and political debates are loud and intense, but the fringe, rather than the mainstream, gets most of the attention. A study done by the group “More in Common” discovered “The Hidden Tribes of America.” The researchers discovered that a small group (8%) in the liberal wing and a smaller group (6%)…

Kerby Anderson The term “anti-Semitism” has been loosely thrown around for years, and used recently to label the president, even though he has Jewish people in his extended family. It is about time to give specificity to a real problem that has often been redefined and demeaned by misuse. At the core of anti-Semitic thought is that Jews are the source of many social problems and thus the Jews are guilty of everything. This is what is so crazy about…

Kerby Anderson Yesterday was Veterans Day, but we are celebrating it today. This day is even more significant because it is the 100th anniversary of Veterans Day. Veterans Day began as Armistice Day. As “The Great War” (which we today call World War I) was winding down, there was a need to designate an official time for the end of hostilities. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. Fighting actually ended seven months earlier. The armistice ended on…

Penna Dexter We often hear that the War on Poverty, launched during the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, hasn’t reduced poverty. It’s true that, since 1966, the first year that saw significant spending in the War on Poverty, the poverty rate as reported by the US Census Bureau hasn’t budged. It remains at about 14 percent of the population. During that time, government transfer payments to low-income families increased in real dollars from an annual average of about $3100 per…

Kerby Anderson Progressive partisans want to reform the US Senate because of its unequal representation. Frustrated after Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as an Associate Justice, they point out that Democrat senators represent a much larger percentage of the American populace than Republican senators. That is certainly true. The votes of two senators from California (with a population of 39 million) are equal to the votes of two senators from Wyoming (with a population around 590,000). But it is also worth…

Kerby Anderson Congress has lots of unfinished business. One important item is prison and sentencing reform. The House of Representatives has already passed the First Step Act. It is time for the Senate to do the same. Recently I had Rebecca Hagelin on the Point of View radio program to talk about her commentary on “Our Failing Prisons and Faulty War on Drugs.” A few months ago, I had Star Parker on to talk about the same legislation. These women will…

Kerby Anderson In this world of social media, we have come to expect to see outrageous and irresponsible comments on various websites. But we don’t expect to read them in the New York Times. I am talking about the headline, “Transgender Could be Defined Out of Existence By Trump Administration.” This isn’t even close to true. Let me explain. What started this was the news that the Trump administration was considering returning the understanding of a civil rights statute to its…