With Ted Cruz having dropped out of the 2016 presidential race, there will be a string of eulogies seeking to autopsy his campaign. At least some of those critiques may hit the mark. In particular, Cruz’s campaign strategy went awry … Continue reading
Politics
Conservative Solutions for Just Wages
There is much talk and action right now on the issue of a minimum or “just” wage. Typically, those who favor raising the minimum wage tend to the liberal camp. However, some of those who want to raise the minimum … Continue reading
Cruz vs. Trump: Comparing their Tax Proposals
As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz battle to become the Republican nominee for president, it is time to closely consider their policies. Although both propose cutting taxes, the details of their plans are very different. Ted Cruz is proposing a … Continue reading
Putin Sends a Message to Obama
“Si vis pacem, para bellum” (“If you want peace, prepare for war”) On April 11-12, two Russian SU-24 fighter-bombers made repeated low-level passes over the USS Donald Cook, an American destroyer sailing in the Baltic Sea. The ship’s crew recorded … Continue reading
What’s the Deal with a $15 Minimum Wage?
Arguing that no full-time worker should be paid so little as to live in poverty, Bernie Sanders supports increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020. This is part of his plan for reducing income inequality in the United … Continue reading
“Pigasus” for President: Chicago 1968 speaks to 2016
“The mob is the mother of tyrants.” –Diogenes of Sinope In late August 1968, two months after an assassin killed presidential candidate Senator Robert Kennedy and shortly after Republicans nominated Richard Nixon for president, the Democrats gathered in Chicago to pick … Continue reading
Talking Trump … Dealing with the Mouth of the Republican Front-Runner
With Donald Trump now such a prominent voice, many of us are confronted with the necessity of explaining him and his behavior to our children. I recently wrote of one such moment. I was watching a Republican presidential debate as … Continue reading
Is it in the Genes? Trump as Businessman
Donald Trump was, of course, famous long before he began his presidential run. That fame rested on his decades-long career in real estate. Though there are heated arguments currently between Trump and commentators regarding his net worth, there is no … Continue reading
Having a “Trump Talk” with Your Kids
I was watching a Republican presidential debate as my eight-year-old, John, sat next to me. Donald Trump, the front-runner, looked left and ripped Ted Cruz as a “liar” before seamlessly pivoting right and skewering Marco Rubio as a “sweating choke … Continue reading
No Need to Consider Judge Garland—An Eight-Member Court Can Work
With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia the Supreme Court is left with one chief justice and seven associate justices. President Obama has nominated Merrick B. Garland, chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, who was a Clinton … Continue reading
Explaining the Mystique of Donald Trump
How can we explain the surprising electoral success of Donald Trump, especially in light of his lack of political experience, limited knowledge of and specificity about policy issues, and crude and insulting rhetoric? Who supports him and why do they … Continue reading
Can Trump Win a General Election?
This is not an argument for what should happen or what I’d like to happen in the November presidential election, but about what would likely happen in a Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton race: Clinton would win, and probably by … Continue reading
Trump isn’t the Problem, He’s the Symptom
After the Michigan primary, there has been a predictable round of handwringing from the GOP about why Donald Trump keeps winning despite being neither a Republican nor a conservative. A lot of answers have been bandied about: there are too … Continue reading
Vote for the Crook, it’s Important
Like many Americans, I learned my first real civics lesson watching my mother vote. Unlike many, my first lesson was fairly depressing. I grew up in southern Louisiana, and in the 1991 gubernatorial election David Duke, a former Grand Wizard … Continue reading
AUDIO – V&V Executive Director on Bill Bennett’s “Morning in America”
To discuss the Republican presidential primary, the executive director of The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College—Dr. Paul Kengor—joined bestselling author, commentator, talk show host, and President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of education—Dr. Bill Bennett—on his “Morning in … Continue reading
Is it Voter Fraud Season? Let’s Hope Not
In recent years there have been far too many cases in which elections in America have been rigged. As a result of court involvement, the guilty parties have in some cases spent time in prison, in some cases been released … Continue reading
Claiming the Republican Party: Bushism, Trumpism, or Conservatism
The 2016 Republican presidential nomination is a collision course of competing political and cultural views of America. The nomination is a ferocious war among different cultural, economic, and philosophical forces attempting to lay claim over the Republican Party, and South … Continue reading