Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson No doubt you have heard the phrase, “politics is downstream from culture.” It is a way of explaining that what is at stake in our world often begins upstream in the culture. Popular culture is all around us and delivered to us through broadcast media and social media. We perceive the world through news reports, through movies, through entertainment programs, and through music. Every form of communication has a message. Sometimes it is blatant and intentional. Often it…

Penna Dexter The US Centers for Disease Control has declared April STD Awareness month. They cite the latest data to point out that Sexually Transmitted Diseases are at record levels and that young people, for behavioral and biological reasons, are at high risk of contracting STDs. The CDC’s plan of action is “Talk, Test, and Treat.” OK. But how about let’s tell kids that sexual promiscuity can be dangerous, even lethal. Be clear with them that they should practice restraint…

Kerby Anderson I often say on my radio program that we spend millions of dollars each year in research studies to validate what most mothers already know. That is certainly the case with the studies attempting to explain why certain people procrastinate. Andrew Santella writes about this in his book, Soon: An Overdue History of Procrastination, From Leonardo and Darwin to You and Me. He explains “The Real Reason You Procrastinate” in a recent article in Time magazine. People who…

Kerby Anderson The Constitution mandates a survey of Americans every decade. And the Commerce Secretary has discretion over the questions that census takers must ask. In most administrations, that would be the end of it. But Donald Trump is the president, and so just about everything that is proposed in his administration is controversial. The Justice Department asked census officials to include a question about citizenship, so they can better enforce the Voting Rights Act. Including such a question was…

Kerby Anderson Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens stirred up a discussion about the Second Amendment when he published an op-ed in The New York Times that called for the repeal of the Second Amendment. Most of the reaction centered on the fact that it would be nearly impossible. The amendment process set forth in the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a convention of states called for by…

Kerby Anderson Do we see a pattern in these school shootings? Emilie Kao recently wrote about “The Crisis of Fatherless Shooters.” She says there is a sobering theme found in the biographies of school shooters: fatherlessness. “Of the 25 most-cited school shooters since Columbine, 75 percent were reared in broken homes. Psychologist Dr. Peter Langman, a pre-eminent expert on school shooters, found that most came from incredibly broken homes of not just divorce and separation, but also infidelity, substance abuse,…

Kerby Anderson You may have noticed that sometimes people who talk about the need to practice civility need to take their own advice. In the past, this has often been a problem for progressives. They talk about civility, but often engage in name-calling and vilifying others. Their dialogue is anything but civil. Even the previous president was sometimes guilty of saying one thing and doing another. But lately, it has been conservatives who have been guilty of violating their proposed…

Penna Dexter On the campaign trail, Candidate Trump unveiled a childcare proposal that included six weeks of guaranteed paid maternity leave. Back then no one expected anything close to this to get through the GOP House. But, as Washington Post columnist George Will points out, “limited government conservatism has become a persuasion without a party.” The recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act adds a new tax credit for employers that provide paid family and medical leave benefits to employees….

Kerby Anderson Dennis Prager stirred up some controversy by saying something progressives would never let you say. As a Jew, he says that American Jews are the luckiest Jews in Jewish history. He also says that about many other ethnic groups. As I mentioned in a previous commentary, his father wrote his senior thesis on anti-Semitism in America. Nevertheless, he taught his two sons that they were the luckiest Jews in Jewish history. Dennis Prager still believes that, even though…

Kerby Anderson During this election season, we will once again see how divided we are as a nation. We see a map of red and blue states and even have maps showing red and blue congressional districts. But there is growing evidence that we aren’t just a divided country. We are essentially two countries living within the same border. Bill Bishop made this case many years ago in his book, The Big Sort. Americans have sorted themselves into various enclaves…

Kerby Anderson Imagine you were in the midst of a discussion about nuclear arms policy. And in the midst of your debate, the other person says something like this: “I don’t think it’s fair that only the United States and Russia have nuclear weapons.” You pause, and then explain that many other countries (like China, France, England, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea) also have nuclear weapons. And at that point, you might want to suggest that person learn a…