Last week President Donald Trump spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., as his predecessors have consistently done since 1953. Called the Presidential Prayer Breakfast until 1970, the event routinely attracts 3,000 or more people to pray for … Continue reading
American History & Presidents
A Never Trumpers Wish-list for Trump’s first 100 Days
Elections have surprising consequences. It is hard to know who is most surprised by the results of the 2016 presidential race: Hillary and her supporters, who have spent the last two months vacillating between tears and anger; conservative Never Trumpers … Continue reading
President Obama’s Parting Economic Shots
President Barack Obama’s executive actions during the two and a half months of his lame duck, post-election time in office provide the perfect exclamation point to his entire presidency. His antipathy for private property has never been clearer. Look at … Continue reading
Barack Obama’s Fundamental Transformation
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register. “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” So declared Barack Obama in Columbia, Missouri on October 30, 2008, on the cusp of his … Continue reading
Will Obama Pardon the Rosenbergs?
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at TribLive.com.You may have noticed an unusual amount of renewed attention being given to the Rosenbergs—that is, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. That’s because there’s an aggressive push by liberals to try to exonerate the … Continue reading
The Center Presents: Top Stories of 2016 (Part Two)
The year 2016 may likely be remembered by history as a year full of surprises, divisions, and changes. To help remember the year that was, we at The Center for Vision & Values asked some of our fellows and contributing … Continue reading
The Center for Vision & Values Presents: Top 10 of 2016
2016 has been a fantastic year for The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. We celebrated an all-time high in website traffic, an exponential growth in social media (approaching 35,000 Facebook fans), and a record number of … Continue reading
Zero Gee and I Feel Fine … Remembering John Glenn
The man for whom I was named has died. John Glenn, the last of the Mercury astronauts, died on December 9 at age 95. Five decades ago he was launched atop a refurbished Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile that had originally … Continue reading
Why the Electoral College Should Endure
Some supporters of Hillary Clinton are taking out their frustrations in a vigorous campaign to, as they say, “Abolish the Electoral College.” Their mantra is that since Clinton had a larger share of the popular vote than Donald Trump, she … Continue reading
President-Elect Trump: The New Whig President
As someone who served as a Republican delegate from Pennsylvania during the 2016 election, and as a professor of political science and presidential history, I have some fresh political-historical observations untangled from partisan gossip about Donald Trump and his future … Continue reading
George W. Bush: Deadlier Than Stalin? Our Profound Ignorance of the Crimes of Communism
“Many Millennials Think Bush Killed More Than Stalin.” Such was the surreal subject head sitting in my email box one morning. “Holy @#$%!” wrote a colleague in response. “This is mind-boggling…. This is scary, scary, scary.” It sure is. It … Continue reading
The Roots of the New Trump Order
Ronald Reagan won a convincing popular and electoral victory in 1980. Campaigning for income tax cuts, smaller government, and a resolute stand against communism, Reagan earned a mandate to carry out his conservative vision. Part of his victory was owed … Continue reading
Death by Fidel
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at The American Spectator. Fidel Castro is dead. To say those words is so strange. I’ve never known a moment when he wasn’t alive. Castro came to power seven years before I was born, … Continue reading
The Center Presents: Presidential Trivia
We here at the Center want to know how well you know the men who held the highest office in the land. That’s why we’ve created this challenging Presidential Trivia. Have fun! Thanks for having fun with our Presidential Trivia! … Continue reading
What Is Gold Saying About Trump?
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Forbes.com. Amidst the larger drama of the election last Tuesday, the financial markets staged their own little drama. When the Dow futures plummeted by hundreds of points as it began to look as … Continue reading
Donald or Hillary: You’re Hired?
As we vote on Tuesday, it is sobering to be reminded of the significance of the office of the president of the United States and the role this person has historically played in world events. The United States of America … Continue reading
The Inside Story: What Really Happened with Roe v. Wade?
Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, courts have struck down many attempts by state governments to regulate the abortion industry. Just this past summer a Texas law requiring abortion-providing facilities to meet the same health and safety standards as outpatient … Continue reading
How Trumpism trumped Bushism
When Ronald Reagan chose George H. W. Bush as his running mate in 1980, a decades-long dance among the Bush family, the Republican establishment, and the conservative movement began. Without a doubt this one choice set the stage for two … Continue reading
Trump on Russia: Historical Perspective from FDR to Reagan to Obama
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at Conservative Review. There is real danger in Donald Trump’s statements and attitude toward Vladimir Putin and Russia. “Putin likes me,” glowed Trump in a July 25, 2016 Tweet. On ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, … Continue reading
The Gong Show Election of 2016
Many of those reading this article remember The Gong Show. It ran on NBC from June 1976 to July 1978 and briefly reprised in the 1980s. It featured amateur talent, much of it rendering absurd humor. Three judges awarded ridiculous … Continue reading