Recent Viewpoints

Why do so many candidates talk about their humble upbringing and sometimes even pretend to be poor? Let’s face it. Most of the presidential candidates this year are quite rich. They pay more in taxes each year than most of us make in a year. Still they tell us a story that sounds like it was taken from a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Other commentators have noticed this. Victor Davis Hanson refers to them as “Log-Cabin Candidates” and Ian Tuttle…

During this presidential campaign, we have heard references to Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. Senator Bernie Sanders says, “I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden, and Norway and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people.” Many European countries have gained the reputation of being very wealthy even though they are highly regulated and have high rates of taxation. Various studies have attempted to show this is not true. Last year there was a…

Many people are prevented from getting a job or starting a business because of state requirements for occupational licensing. In Nevada, for example, it takes six years to become a licensed interior designer. The educational and experience requirement for barbers is more than two years. An unlikely coalition of progressives and conservatives joined forces at a recent Senate 
Judiciary subcommittee meeting headed by Republican Senator Mike Lee and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. They heard testimony from the Obama administration officials…

Two questions I hear with some regularity are: What is the FBI going to do? And when is the FBI going to do it? The questions surround the current investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and apparent disregard for national security. As I have mentioned in the previous commentaries, other people have been indicted for much less. The Democratic debates and primaries are taking place right now. And the Democratic National Convention takes place a few months from now in July….

The presidential candidacy of Bernie Sanders has created an interesting debate about Democratic socialism. One of the most interesting has been the back and forth on Garry Kasparov’s Facebook page. He is a former Soviet citizen and World Chess Champion. He is now a political activist dedicated to setting the record straight about Russia and communism. Some of the supporters of the Bernie Sanders argued that socialism would be a good thing for America. Garry Kasparov would have none of…

Not long ago, students at the University of Nebraska, Kearney were polled regarding their preference for a new fast food dining option for their student union. The majority’s overwhelming choice was Chick-fil-A. But a vocal group of students objected. It’s the same old rap on Chick-fil-A. Their CEO supports traditional marriage and the Queer Straight Alliance and others at this school said allowing the chain on campus would be offensive to homosexuals — would somehow intrude on their safe space….

Should the U.S. military revise their current rules of engagement? Some candidates have talked about this by lamenting that lawyers rather than officers are making too many decisions about how to fight terrorists. In a recent column, Colonel Allen West proposes new Rules of Engagement for the 21st Century Battlefield. In the past, we understood what constituted a battlefield and appropriate rules of engagement. Much of this became confused by the time of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong “infiltrated…

If Donald Trump becomes the Republican nominee, how difficult would it be for him to be elected president? To understand the challenge, it is worth looking at the electoral map. Any Republican nominee faces some significant challenges. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to be elected president. Hillary Clinton starts with a significant advantage since there are 18 states and the District of Columbia that have voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1988. They are New England states (except…

Columnist Cal Thomas says he was going to write a column about how the Republican presidential campaign has become gutter politics. But given the comments from Donald Trump and others, he felt that the gutter would be a step up. The political campaign has descended into the sewer. It is possible that the name-calling and character assassination will diminish as Donald Trump gains more delegates and is no longer facing a challenge from the few remaining candidates. But that doesn’t…

The current vacancy on the Supreme Court highlights the ongoing debate about how to properly interpret the Constitution. The late Justice Antonin Scalia wanted the high court to interpret the Constitution the original way the founders intended. An originalist would argue that words have a distinct meaning and are written to convey that meaning to any generation. Likewise, the Constitution was written to communicate a particular meaning yesterday and that still applies today and will apply in the future. An…

One of the many proposals that Donald Trump has made on the campaign trail is to change the libel laws in America. He wants to make it easier for him to sue papers like the New York Times when editors or columnists write something about him that he believes is false. I can certainly understand why he and many other Americans would want to make it easier to sue reporters and columnists for libel. I can think back to many…