Recent Viewpoints

Arthur Brooks reminds us in a New York Times column that “We Need Optimists.” It is actually better for you to be an optimist rather than a pessimist. Psychologists have found that optimists enjoy better physical health and have a great ability to cope with setbacks. In this coming election year, however, we need to ask whether we want an optimist or a pessimist in the White House. In the past we have had presidents who were true optimists in…

by Kerby Anderson A few weeks ago I talked about the new HUD housing rules that will have a negative impact on your neighborhood. Robert Knight has read through these rules and reports that they should concern all Americans. Writing in the Washington Times he says that the HUD rules are “loaded with repetitive rhetoric, bureaucratic gobbledygook, threats for noncompliance and enough acronyms to fill a stadium-sized bowl of alphabet soup.” But you don’t need to read all these rules…

This last month we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Back in 1990, President George Bush signed the legislation and predicted that it would make the lives of disabled people much better. It has done that. Disabled Americans have much better access to public buildings. All you have to do to understand the profound impact the law has had in America is to travel to other countries around the world. You see restaurants, museums, and churches…

A few months ago, I did a Viewpoint on the decision by Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Payments, to pay everyone in his company at least $70,000. You might remember that he did it because he read how some extra money for some people makes a big difference. Therefore, he decided to cut his $1 million salary to $70,000 and make that amount the minimum wage for the company. At the time, I predicted that it would make it…

Before the summer slips away, I want to talk about summer jobs. If you are older, you can probably remember the work experience you received by working various summer jobs. If you are a bit younger, you may not have had that same experience of working a number of different summer jobs but probably had at least one summer job. If you are a teenager, you may never have had a summer job. That’s a problem. Working a summer job…

We now have a U.S. Supreme Court decision that brings same-sex marriage to every state. But will everyone, even those who don’t believe it’s marriage, have to comply? To celebrate what they don’t believe is a marriage? To serve same sex weddings through their businesses? House same sex couples on their Christian college campuses? Employ homosexuals and transgendered people. Both the majority opinion and the dissent seem to protect the freedom of people to live according to values that are…

Is polygamy the next step in the redefinition of marriage? Jillian Keenan writes in Slate that we should legalize polygamy, and adds that “No, I am not kidding.” Frederik Deboer, writes in Politico that: “it’s time to legalize polygamy.” And he adds, “group marriage is the next horizon of social liberalism.” They remind us that many people (from Rick Santorum to Bill O’Reilly to Tony Perkins) have been warning that legalizing same-sex marriage will lead to polygamy and polyamory. The…

The argument against abortion has always been two-fold. Abortion is wrong because of what it does to the unborn baby. But there is another reason. Abortion is also wrong because of what it does to those who live. Mothers often pay a heavy price with post-abortive problems. And the society pays a price because of the coarsening and desensitization that accompanies a culture that aborts more than a million unborn babies every year. Charles Krauthammer picked up on these ideas…

Ryan Anderson, at the Heritage Foundation, has been at the forefront of defending traditional marriage. He is one of the co-authors of the book, What is Marriage? He goes on college campuses and hostile media venues to defend marriage and question the various attempts to legalize and normalize same-sex marriage. His new book, Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, deals with the subject from a number of different angles and provides practical help for people willing to…

A recent ABCNEWS/Beliefnet poll found 83 percent of Americans self-identify as Christians. But if 83 percent of the nation’s population is Christian, why do we have so many abortions and out-of-wedlock births, and so much divorce. And why is homosexual marriage now the law of the land? In other words, why is sexual freedom trumping biblical sexual ethics even to the point that — now — our laws force the acceptance of sexual immorality?  If so much of the nation…

Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, has written another book reminding conservatives that they need to reconsider how they deliver their message. Back in the early 1950s, Russell Kirk wrote about The Conservative Mind. Arthur Brooks writes about The Conservative Heart. Much of the book talks about how to address the issue of poverty. Capitalism has been a major tool in bringing people out of poverty. Yet here in this country, conservatives who champion the free enterprise system…