Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson In a recent commentary, I mentioned that many radio listeners object to the fact that Social Security is considered an entitlement. After all, they argue, they paid into Social Security and Medicare. Now they are receiving a partial refund of money they paid into the system. While that is true for some people, it is not true for many others. Let’s look at the numbers. A credible analysis was done a few years ago by the Urban Institute….

Penna Dexter The House of Representatives Committee on Reform and Oversight held a hearing recently on what members called “the administration’s religious liberty assault on LGBT rights.”  New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on this committee as are fellow “Squad” members, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. The hearing’s stated premise was that the Trump administration is protecting and increasing the religious liberty of religious “zealots” who are discriminating, violating so-called LGBT rights, in the name of…

Kerby Anderson One time when I was speaking on the subject of entitlements, someone reminded me of the scene in the movie “Cinderella Man.” The scene is relevant to our current debate on entitlements. In the movie, Russell Crowe plays boxer James Braddock in the real-life story of a man who went from dockworker to champion. Braddock is living in a dingy tenement in New Jersey sharing little food with his wife and children. But even at this low point…

Kerby Anderson In this highly politicized culture, we see that more and more people are called racist when using the label is inappropriate. Dennis Prager has been watching this and even seen the label used against him. His commentary not only tells his story but provides some insight on, Why the Left Calls Good People Racist. After he spoke at a Turning Point event, the vice provost for diversity at Purdue University claimed that Prager said “slavery was not bad.”…

Kerby Anderson Many years ago, Walter Williams wrote a column with the controversial title “Gullible Americans.” I thought about it now that Democrats seem ready to nominate a candidate who is planning to raise taxes.  In his column, he reminded us that during the legislative debate about the 16th amendment, President William Taft and congressional supporters argued that only the rich would ever have to pay federal income taxes. When the amendment was enacted in 1913, only one-half of one…

Kerby Anderson Has Christianity made a positive impact on Western civilization? Most Christians would respond positively, with wholehearted agreement. In the past, atheists have usually pointed to how religion has been abused and misused and rarely acknowledge the contribution of Christianity to society. Richard Dawkins is one of the most prominent New Atheists. Yet even he has begrudgingly admitted that a belief in God has made a difference. He expressed his fear that the removal of religion would be a…

Kerby Anderson Credit goes to Senator Ben Sasse who has tried to get the US Senate to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act. This time, it was filibustered by 41 Democratic senators. Let me remind you that the bill would merely require doctors to provide medical care to infants who survive an attempted abortion. You might think that would be standard medical procedure. But you would be wrong. Some who oppose the bill counter that the legislation is unnecessary or…

Penna Dexter Even if you’d rather not worry about it — and you can certainly put me in that category — coronavirus is, if not front and center, at least brewing below the surface for most of us. On weekends, I read Peggy Noonan’s column. She’d planned on writing her latest piece about presidential politics: the South Carolina primary, Super Tuesday, etc. “But,” she wrote, “my mind kept tugging in another direction.” We can’t just say of this virus, it’s “over there” and…

Kerby Anderson For the last approximately 100 years, Americans knew what type of person they wanted in the Oval Office. It was someone with executive experience. Most of the time it was a former governor, but sometimes they would settle for a general or even a business executive. The list is rather obvious. You had Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor Jimmy Carter, Governor Ronald Reagan, Governor Bill Clinton, and Governor George W. Bush. Add to that General Dwight Eisenhower, along…

Kerby Anderson A number of pro-family leaders are starting to ask if Sesame Street is safe for kids. Of course, this isn’t the first time that question has been asked. But recent events are the reason for asking the question with even greater concern. For more than 50 years, the television show Sesame Street has been a program that parents could endorse. It had lovable characters and even taught children some basic educational concepts along with important social skills. Sometimes…

Kerby Anderson In a recent presidential debate, Senator Bernie Sanders defended his candidacy by proclaiming that he was trying to “give a voice to people who after 45 years of work are not making a nickel more than they did 45 years ago.” It was a powerful statement, but it deserves more scrutiny. Let’s begin by acknowledging that the graphs of wage growth since 1975 are essentially flat when adjusted for inflation. There’s more to the story though, but let’s…