Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Over the last few weeks, the term “Marxism” has been used quite a bit to describe the philosophy of both individuals and organizations. But what does this term mean? Marxists come in different variations. I saw that when I took a graduate-level class on Marxism with students from different countries who were Marxist. If there is one central, unifying principle, it is the writings of Karl Marx that are best articulated in The Communist Manifesto. Jon Miltimore reminds…

Kerby Anderson Dinesh D’Souza has written about The United States of Socialism. It provides a good overview of the influence of socialism in our world today with good responses to the arguments used to support socialism and to criticize capitalism. He also introduces the concept of “identity socialism” which attempts to cobble together various victim groups in an effort to promote a socialist revolution. Millions of young people in our country today are convinced that socialism is superior to capitalism….

Kerby Anderson The latest cancel culture tactic is to publish the name and amount of charitable donations. Concern about revealing the names of donors has been a problem in the past. One example often cited is Brendan Eich, the Mozilla CEO who was removed from the company when critics discovered that he has donated to the California Proposition 8 campaign in 2008. Given our toxic political culture, you can imagine the impact revealing donor names would have on future donations….

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 simply Samuel…

Penna Dexter The pro-life movement isn’t over, nor should it weaken with the end of Roe v. Wade.  Getting rid of Roe has never been the movement’s sole motivator. Not so long ago, striking down Roe seemed a near-impossibility. But pro-lifers were busy supporting pro-life candidates, passing restrictions on abortion, counseling abortion-minded women, and providing for their needs. All of these efforts must continue. Leaders elected partially due to their claims to be pro-life can and should be held accountable…

Kerby Anderson Several progressive organizations have become paralyzed due to the woke activists within their organizations. Jim Geraghty writes about this and provides lengthy quotes from leaders of these organizations who have been crippled from pursuing their mission because of in-fighting within their organizations. One leader documents the inability of pro-abortion organizations like “Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America” to be effective because they have “been locked in knock-down, drag-out fights between competing factions of their organizations, most often breaking…

Kerby Anderson The Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of religious schools. The decision in Carson v. Makin written by the Chief Justice made it clear that religious parents should have the same freedom as non-religious parents. The state of Maine provided funding for parents but restricted parents from using it for religious schools. Two earlier precedents provided the foundation for the decision. In Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, the court ruled that the state could not refuse a grant…

Kerby Anderson One of the questions that seem to stump otherwise intelligent people is the question, “What is a woman?” Another apparently difficult question surfaced in California. That is the question, “What is a bumblebee?” A California court ruled that bumblebees are fish and can be protected by the California Endangered Species Act. This is merely a linguistic trick to expand the government’s reach, but there is growing evidence that several of the many woke ideas being applied to humans…

Kerby Anderson Abigail Shrier has written an essay “In Defense of Political Escalation.” You may remember that she is the author of the book, Irreversible Damage, which documents the sudden rise in young people, especially teenage girls wanting to transition. Even if you don’t accept her conclusion, her essay is worth reading because she documents so many cases of censorship that are rarely even covered by the media. Ryan Anderson and his co-author lost their ability to offer pre-orders of…

Kerby Anderson A bipartisan group of US senators have been discussing and debating gun control legislation. Democratic members of Congress and former members are heralding it as a legislative milestone. Senator Schumer is “pleased that, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Congress is on the path to take meaningful action to address gun violence.” Senator Murphy hailed the breakthrough agreement as “the first in 30 years.” Gabby Giffords says the measure will “be the first time in 30…

Penna Dexter The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has issued a report warning of a “high risk of energy emergencies during peak summer conditions” across much of the country. NERC estimates that two-thirds of the U.S. could experience blackouts this summer. Progressives want to limit our dependence on fossil fuels. They are shutting down coal plants without enough full-time power to avoid frequent and prolonged grid failure. According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, “Solar and wind are rapidly…