Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson In a previous set of commentaries, I talked about the interview Nick Pitts and I did with Jonathan Haidt on his book, The Coddling of the American Mind. Then I saw an essay that quoted his earlier book, The Righteous Mind, where he talked about “the conservative advantage.” As a liberal, he wrote the book because he “was convinced that American liberals did not get the morals and motives of their conservative countrymen.” In one study he did…

Kerby Anderson The political justification for more government intervention into America’s health care system is the claim that health care is a right. Proponents of the Affordable Care Act in the past made this claim. Current members of Congress pushing the Medicare for All Act also make the claim that health care is a right. Let me start by saying that health care is not a right, at least as properly understood. But even if you accept that it is…

Kerby Anderson For the last few decades, we have been scolded by everyone from radical environmentalists to simple back-to-nature advocates that we have an overly industrialized society. It must be dismantled. We need to adopt the ways of the past. I thought about this when reading a commentary by Jeffrey Tucker. He was watching a video by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who was trying to explain why the earth is headed for an ecological disaster and why we probably shouldn’t be having…

Kerby Anderson Is it possible that sometime in the future, the US Senate will end the filibuster? When he was a Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid ended the filibuster for judicial nominees. That was done to help President Obama get nominees through Senate confirmation. Now it is helping President Trump with his nominees. David French is concerned that Democrats might want to end the filibuster in the future, and that “could break American politics.” He raises this question because of…

Kerby Anderson Venezuela is a total economic and humanitarian disaster. Inflation is rampant. The inflation rate has already exceeded two million percent. All supplies (including toilet paper) are in short supply. Medicine is unavailable in most of the country. Food shortages along with the crumbling economy have forced people to change their eating habits. All are losing weight and battling malnutrition in what has become known as the “Maduro diet.” President Nicolás Maduro is the one of the reasons for…

Penna Dexter Tennis great, Martina Navratilova is speaking out bluntly against the trend in which athletes who are born male but identify as female are increasingly allowed to compete in women’s sports. Navratilova is a lesbian and has promoted women’s professional sports and LGBT causes for decades. Now, for speaking the truth, she’s in hot water with her tribe. In a recent op-ed published in the Sunday Times of London, she wrote: “To put the argument at its most basic:…

Kerby Anderson Not only is the US government in debt, but many of its citizens are in significant debt as well. Economists announced that credit card debt for Americans has now reached a new height of $1.02 trillion. Matt Schultz is a senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. He says, “This record should serve as a wake-up call to Americans to focus on their credit card debt.” He adds, “Even if you feel your debt is manageable right now, know that…

Kerby Anderson When the US debt officially reached $20 trillion, some listeners asked who owns this debt. In the past, we were assured that the national debt wasn’t a big deal since “we owe it to ourselves.” I never thought that comment was very reassuring then. It simply isn’t true now. The US borrows heavily from foreign countries, especially the Chinese. And this creates the first problem: foreign influence. One former member of Congress put it this way: “whoever pays…

Kerby Anderson According to a new U.S. Census Bureau report, the millennial generation has been reversing some of the social trends that were true of previous generations. For example about one-third of all millennials still live with their parents. They also apparently rely on them financially as well. The millennial generation is also postponing marriage, having children later, and buying homes later. Instead, they are pursuing education and various job opportunities. Many of these reversed trends have taken place recently….

Kerby Anderson So often we hear that the “vast majority of Muslims are peaceful.” While that is certainly true, the claim doesn’t go far enough. Many years ago, William Kirkpatrick wrote about “The Vast Majority Myth.” He countered this idea with three propositions. The first proposition is that “the vast majority of people are peaceful, until they’re not.” It is easy to find examples of people who were peaceful for a long time and then quickly turned violent. The vast…

Kerby Anderson Will orthodox, Bible-believing Christians find it harder and harder to buy and sell in America? If you had asked that question a few decades ago, people would have thought you’d lost all rationality. But that is a question Rod Dreher rightly asks in a recent editorial. He points to the decision by Vanco Payment Solutions to cut off services to a Christian ministry because it is listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Hate Map.” The Ruth Center…