Recent Viewpoints

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…

Kerby Anderson Some prominent figures over the last few weeks have made some puzzling statements about abortion. In fact, some would call them misleading or even deceitful, but I would rather give them the benefit of doubt. Perhaps they never thought much about abortion until the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs forced them to think about the topic. Pro-life activist Lila Rose was on the Dr. Phil program with Phil McGraw. He disputed the fact that life begins at conception….

Kerby Anderson Many colleges and universities have speech codes and other policies that narrow the realms of permissible speech. And what started on campus has made its way to the broader society. This was a topic on my radio program when one day I was interviewing the president of a Christian college and the next day I was interviewing Nadine Strossen (former president of the ACLU). Both were against the suppression of speech even though they come from different political…

Kerby Anderson It’s relatively rare for an academic paper to generate a conversation in the popular culture. But that is what happened when James Sweet published a column on the history and impact of “presentism.” He is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the current President of the American Historical Association. He criticized the idea of “presentism,” which is the tendency to view events in the past through the lens of contemporary politics. He received quite…

Penna Dexter In their effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Western governments have set aggressive deadlines. By 2030, the European Union wants a 55-percent reduction and the Biden administration promises a 50-52-percent drop in net greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide. The trouble is that fossil fuels and nuclear power currently provide 80 percent of the world’s energy needs and we are far from being on track to replace them. Author Helen Raleigh grew up in Communist China. In an op-ed for the…

Kerby Anderson “Attacks on pro-life churches and pregnancy resource centers could become a daily occurrence.” That is the conclusion of a study done through the Religious Freedom Institute. They hired a former intelligence expert to analyze the various crimes against pro-life organizations (pregnancy centers, churches) that have occurred since the May 2 leak of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision. The study concluded that such attacks would become routine if liberal district attorneys and a complacent Justice Department refuse to prosecute…

Kerby Anderson Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment practices have been in the news for some time. But there is growing evidence that the popularity of ESG mandates is fading. Alison Schrager writes that “The ESG Bubble is Bursting.” Sure, individuals would like to invest in corporations that reflect their values, but she says, “what counts as virtuous is rarely cut and dried.” Vivek Ramaswamy warns “How Woke Capital Politicizes Your Retirement.” He explains that politics have quickly come to…

Kerby Anderson If I could summarize the questions many political strategists are asking, it would come down to one question, ‘Will the voters notice?’ They may notice the problems around them, but will voters connect these policies to the politicians? Victor Davis Hanson reminds us that we live in a country that “obsesses over whether biological men can compete in women’s sports as transgendered males.” Many of us live in cities where “crime is spiking at levels not seen in…

Kerby Anderson For centuries, marriage was defined as one man and one woman. But various states and then the Supreme Court in its controversial 5-4 decision ruled that every state must recognize same-sex marriage. That was not the end of the debate. The House of Representatives recently passed the deceptively named Respect for Marriage Act to codify the Supreme Court decision. There are many good reasons to reject the concept of same-sex marriage, which I recount in our Point of…