Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Today is the 4th of July, and I thought I would take a moment to talk about the origin of the ideas in the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson said that many of the ideas in the Declaration came from John Locke. Jefferson also gave credit to the writer Algernon Sidney, who in turn cites most prominently Aristotle, Plato, Roman republican writers, and the Old Testament. Legal scholar Gary Amos argues that Locke’s Two Treatises on Government is…

Kerby Anderson Are non-citizens voting in our elections illegally? One side says this is a non-existent problem. The other side believes it takes place more than we might imagine. Who is right? A groundbreaking study by professors at Old Dominion University in Virginia attempted to compile scientifically derived illegal voting numbers using the extensive Harvard/YouGov study that asks questions of thousands of voters. They concluded that as many as 2.8 million non-citizens voted in 2008. But the Harvard/YouGov professors who…

Penna Dexter The July 4th holiday is another reminder of military sacrifice. Fighting for a fledgling nation, the troops faced death, injury, and extreme discomfort in service of their cause. It’s no different today. That our military maintain its focus on national defense and readiness for war is as important as ever, perhaps more so given their responsibilities around the world. It’s a blow to military readiness that all branches have been forced to prepare for this month’s deadline to…

Kerby Anderson President Trump has vowed that his one trillion dollar infrastructure plan won’t repeat Obama’s “shovel-ready” mistakes. We will see. Some believe his plans will fizzle. But even if he is able to get funding for these needed repairs, he will face a regulatory blockade that will make it hard to get much done quickly. George Will’s column earlier this month talked about “America’s Endless Infrastructure Mess.” He quotes from Philip Howard who believes we must revamp the way…

Kerby Anderson More and more social commentators are starting to write and express their deep concern about what has been happening on university campuses. Bernard Goldberg recently wrote about the “Cowards of Academia.” He welcomed the summer so that we don’t have to hear about “those sanctimonious liberal snowflakes” that have taken over college campuses and prove that “the lunatics have taken over the asylum.” One asylum that got his attention was Evergreen State College in Washington State. They have…

Kerby Anderson In an earlier commentary, I talked about how Dennis Prager argues that we are in the midst of a type of civil war. He believes the country is as divided as the real Civil War that divided states. David French argues that we aren’t really in a civil war but are certainly drifting toward divorce in this country. I will leave for another day a discussion of this intramural debate about divisions in this country. They both acknowledge…

Kerby Anderson Earlier this month there were a number of marches against sharia law in at least 20 cities organized by the group, ACT for America. They claimed that, “sharia law is incompatible with American Law.” In previous commentaries I have suggested you remember the numbers 1-8-14. Sharia law contradicts the First Amendment, the Eighth Amendment, and the Fourteen Amendment. There are other conflicts between sharia law and American law, but all you need to do it remember the numbers…

Kerby Anderson You might expect a nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget would be asked about his or her background in economics or experience in government service. Instead Russell Vought was asked about a theological post that defended a decision made by the administration of Wheaton College. Daniel Davis said the questioning turned into “nothing less than theological interrogation, and in the end, excoriation.” David French argued that it showed how “religious ignorance breeds progressive…

Penna Dexter At Army bases across the country mandatory transgender integration training began last week that will extend to all officers, non-commissioned officers and civilians who work with soldiers. The United States Army is preparing leaders to deal with biological men being allowed in women’s showers, gender transition care — including gender reassignment — funded by the taxpayer, and even “male” pregnancies. The policy undermines privacy, already in short supply in the military. It requires that service members’ sleeping, bathroom…

Kerby Anderson There was a time fifty years ago when we had fewer safety devices and less parental supervision, yet most of us survived. Some of us had accidents, but others were lucky to get out of childhood without even as much as a broken bone. Edward Kosner writes about accidents in his column on “How Not to Step on That Banana Peel.” He quotes from Steve Casner (author of the book, Careful: A User’s Guide to Our Injury-Prone Minds)…

Kerby Anderson Senator Ben Sasse writes in his new book about, The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance. He recently took some material from the book and wrote about “What Happens When We Don’t Raise Kids to Become Adults.” He tells the story of being tapped to become president of Midland University at the age of 37-years-old. The board of directors did so because Ben Sasse had the reputation as a “turnaround”…