Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson A commentary in The Hill by Dr. Merrill Matthews had a title that was guaranteed to get your attention: “When ObamaCare Costs More than Leasing a Rolls-Royce.” He was on my radio program recently to talk about that article and many other issues dealing with tax reform. Matthews was talking to a friend who is also a tax policy expert living in Northern Virginia. His friend started looking at his family health insurance options. He was horrified to…

Penna Dexter There’s a provision in both the House and the Senate tax reform plans that would eliminate one area of fundamental unfairness in our federal tax system. Currently, taxpayers who itemize deductions on their federal tax forms are allowed to deduct taxes paid to state and local governments from their taxable income. Sounds great, but it’s not fair. Right now, Americans from red states and lower-tax blue states are subsidizing other states. The Wall Street Journal pegs the value…

Kerby Anderson David French says this happens every time he criticizes a private corporation for progressive bullying. He gets a response something like: “How do you like free markets now, Mr. Conservative? What’s your problem with free speech, Mr. Lawyer?” The problem with this response is why he wrote a column with the provocative title: “Free Speech Is Killing Free Speech.” The thinking behind the reaction is that if you support the existence of a legal right (in this case…

Kerby Anderson In previous commentaries, I have talked about how Europe and other countries in the world are facing a demographic winter, but now it seems that America is headed in the same direction. John Stonestreet talks about this in a Breakpoint commentary. A country needs a fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman in order to maintain its population. The population will shrink if that number drops below that number (unless compensated by increasing levels of immigration). Greece,…

Kerby Anderson We all know how addictive these digital devices might be, but I was surprised to see an article in the New York Post describing it as “digital heroin.” The author is a doctor at one of the country’s top rehabs and also served as a clinical professor at Stony Brook Medicine. What he says in the article is shocking. We now know that these digital devices (iPads, smartphones, and Xboxes) are a form of a digital drug. All…

Kerby Anderson We all know that the cost of living varies from state to state and from city to city. The Tax Foundation has produced a map that shows the real value of $100 in each state. Prices for the same goods are often much cheaper in Missouri or Mississippi than they are in New York or California. The same amount of money can buy more in low-price states than in high-price states. The first thing you notice by looking…

Kerby Anderson Could it be that nearly everything we have been told about sexual orientation and gender identity is wrong? A report published in the journal, The New Atlantis, seems to challenge conventional secular perspectives on these issues. The paper by Dr. Lawrence Mayer and Dr. Paul McHugh surveys over 200 peer-reviewed studies done in various social science disciplines. Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation summarizes the paper’s results. He says the major takeaway is that “some of the most…

Penna Dexter Currently, the House is considering the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In order for tax cutting to work, we must boost economic growth. The president believes we can get the economy growing consistently at 3 percent per year by cutting the corporate tax rate. Opponents of such a cut complain that it would starve the government. They ignore the dynamism that would result from cutting corporate taxes. They believe we have to accept the post-recession economic growth rate of…

Kerby Anderson One of the perennial arguments by atheists is that religion is dangerous and that religion has led to wars and untold suffering. I thought about that claim when I was interviewing Ray Comfort about his new book and video on atheism. He has some arresting statistics. One of the perennial arguments by atheists is that religion is dangerous and that religion has led to wars and untold suffering. I thought about that claim when I was interviewing Ray…

Kerby Anderson Religious liberty is one of the foundations of America, and it is a right enshrined in the First Amendment. But Mary Eberstadt is concerned about the widespread discrimination in today’s secular society. She explains why in her book, It’s Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies. Her book begins with the many stories that I have presented in various commentaries and that we often discuss on the radio each week with Kelly Shackelford of First Liberty. Then…

Kerby Anderson Thomas Sowell wrote about what he thinks is the dumbest idea in politics. Now when you are talking about politics and public policy, there are lots of dumb ideas but this one might be top of the list. He thinks that the most stupid idea you can find in politics is “the assumption that people would be evenly or randomly distributed in incomes, institutions, occupations, or awards.” He argues that this assumption is the basis for so many…