Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson More than three decades ago, I wrote and recorded a week of radio programs on “The Decline of a Nation.” One of the days I focused on the decline of the family and quoted J.D. Unwin. I was encouraged to see that in a recent Breakpoint commentary John Stonestreet quoted from this Oxford sociologist who published a book in the 1930s summarizing his research. In it, he described 80 tribes and six historical civilizations over the course of…

Kerby Anderson Everything you know about income inequality, poverty, and other measures of economic well-being in America is wrong. Former senator Phil Gramm was on my program to make that case recently. He is the co-author of the book, The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate. I might mention that his co-authors hold very different political views than he does, but they do agree that we need to get the facts right before we have a policy…

Penna Dexter A couple of weeks ago, Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill restricting abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. This action drew mixed reactions from pro-lifers. In an op-ed for Politico, Rich Lowry began by declaring: “Boy, did Lindsey Graham step in it.” Mr. Lowry titled his piece: “In Defense of Lindsey Graham.”  In it, he explains why the senator was right to propose what amounts to “a consensus GOP position” on abortion. The House has effectively…

Kerby Anderson In a recent commentary about being a champion of truth, Jonah Goldberg made a passing comment that deserves more attention. He noted that “Marian Wright Edelmen named her outfit the Children’s Defense Fund in part because it made it easier to say opponents of her preferred policies were ‘anti-child.’” He went on to argue that “the whole anti-racism racket depends on the same rhetorical sleight of hand.” He explains that “it’s not good enough to say you’re opposed…

Kerby Anderson The crisis of men and boys is well known and well documented. My radio interviews with Dr. Warren Farrell about his book, The Boy Crisis is but one example. Jordan Peterson has been speaking and writing about his concerns for many years. The latest warning comes from a David Brooks op-ed in the New York Times and the publication of a new book by Richard Reeves, Of Boys and Men. For example, boys are struggling in the classroom….

Kerby Anderson Judge James Ho serves in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He made news the other day when he announced that he would no longer be hiring law clerks from Yale Law School. To understand why he announced this, we need to go back to a commentary I wrote six months ago. A law professor at Yale put together a panel that included Monica Miller (a secular progressive associated with the American Humanist Association) and Kristen Waggoner (a…

Kerby Anderson Access to abortion has become a campaign issue in part because of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. A recent article argued that black women will no longer have easy access to abortion in some states, with the implication that this will be bad for the African American community in this country. Alveda King wonders how “abortion access can benefit black females when it so starkly impacts black babies”? Of the roughly 930,000 abortions performed…

Kerby Anderson What should our elected officials do with the FBI? Charles Cooke tries to make the case for dismantling the FBI. Some suggest that the FBI and Justice Department merely have a few “bad apples.” Others argue that these bureaucracies are a whole orchard of bad apples. The current examples of FBI overreach are significant. He begins with a quote from New York Times columnist Bret Stephens who is appalled at the fact that a high-profile politician could be…

Penna Dexter Last week the Republican party unveiled its legislative priorities. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy released the “Commitment to America,” a four-pillar agenda for the GOP should it retake the House. It’s a sort of Republican platform for the midterm elections presented by the man who will likely be Speaker if the House flips to the Republicans. The plan emphasizes economic prosperity, national and border security, constitutional rights, and holding the current administration accountable. Specifically, it promises to do…

Kerby Anderson Twenty years ago, I did an interview with Bernard Goldberg on his book, Bias. I bring it up because his analysis has stood the test of time. At the time, he was the first media insider to reveal what many of us suspected about the background and attitudes of the people who determine what you read, see, and hear in the media. There were other studies (like the Lichter-Rothman studies) that also provided insight. But Bernard Goldberg’s book…

Kerby Anderson One commentator has suggested that the November election would be a “fentanyl election.” That term might be confusing, so let me unpack its meaning. Voters in these midterm elections are concerned about many issues ranging from inflation to crime. But one of the principal concerns is the lack of border security. Drugs are on the minds of Americans, especially fentanyl. It’s a synthetic opioid that is supposedly 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and useful in…