In 1994, I was in my first year as director of research for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute. Part of our mission was to consider how the Army might respond to various strategic threats. Fifteen very bright people, to … Continue reading
Conservatives, don’t give up on higher education. That’s essentially the opposite of what conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, leader of the conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA, told a crowd of young people at CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action … Continue reading
With Senator Bernie Sanders once again emerging as a front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, Medicare for All has again come to the forefront of political debate. But what exactly is the senator proposing? Is it simply the expansion … Continue reading
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Exhibit 1: Elizabeth Sovel Flinn. Born in 1891, she died about this time 100 years ago, age 29, a victim of the catastrophic influenza epidemic of 1919-20, also known as … Continue reading
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at The Institute for Faith, Work & Economics. It’s election season in the U.S., and we are hearing a lot about voting. I saw a public service announcement on television, and a Hollywood actress … Continue reading
Last weekend, U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, representing a Taliban delegation, signed an agreement that could lead to substantive peace negotiations between all parties involved in what has become America’s longest war. In October 2001, … Continue reading
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at the Washington Examiner. Michael Bloomberg is spending loads of money to win the Democratic nomination. Financial disclosures made by the Bloomberg campaign indicated that as of Dec. 31, he had sunk more than … Continue reading
In a report that unfortunately received a good deal of attention, MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough asserted that today’s economy under President Trump is in worse shape than the dismal economy under President Carter in 1979. Scarborough pointed to “Jimmy Carter’s so-called year … Continue reading
In the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and in light of the scathing attacks on both Trump and potential Democratic candidates as the 2020 election approaches, the celebration of Presidents Day is a good time to rise above … Continue reading
Editor’s note: This review first appeared at Law & Liberty. Marcus Witcher’s Getting Right with Reagan: The Struggle for Conservatism, 1980-2016 is an impressive work but also one that at times frustrates and confuses. To be sure, I would … Continue reading
“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life” Plato Howard Mumford Jones, an English professor at the University of Michigan and later at Harvard, long ago commented that American colleges and … Continue reading
Troy Polamalu, who played safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2003 to 2014, has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He will enter the hall with Bill Cowher, who coached the … Continue reading
“No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.” That was the punchline of democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day public interview with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. The audience erupted into enthusiastic … Continue reading
During the week before Christmas, Congress rushed a spending bill into law. Two spending bills were introduced that Monday, a flurry of political horse-trading ensued, numerous pork-barrel favors were hastily added, and–presto–by Friday Congress had approved $1.4 trillion in discretionary … Continue reading
My father was a Presbyterian minister in rural northwest Alabama from 1961 to 1965. I came of age there, then left the University of Alabama with an M.A. in history in 1969. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Governor George … Continue reading
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at The American Spectator. The year 2019 brought some notable golden anniversaries from a wild year: 1969. Some were glorious, such as the Moon Landing; others were scurrilous, scandalous, such as the Manson … Continue reading
The initial reports read to me a bit like the losers won, but the church of my upbringing is on the verge of coming apart after decades of internal turmoil. The details of the deal will be important, but leaders … Continue reading
When you think life revolves around you then destruction is waiting at your doorstep. In a recent YouTube video, NFL star Antonio Brown, known as “AB,” passionately reached out to share his self-absorbed life. The video captured how he views himself. … Continue reading
Amidst this season of gift-giving and merry-making, let’s ponder three remarkable aspects of the nativity of the baby Jesus two millennia ago. #1. Birth to a virgin. To atheistic materialism, this seems like a fairy tale. Spiritually, though, what could … Continue reading
In the early morning hours of Christmas Day 1979, Soviet forces began invading Afghanistan. The international community was shocked by the intervention; even though Afghanistan had been unstable for some time, most assumed that the Soviet Union would stick to … Continue reading
