Category: Politics & Government

Opinions on contemporary political happenings and the workings of civil government.

The Graham-Eisenhower Connection

  

Yesterday in my “Religion and the Presidents” course, I shared the unusual relationship that developed between Dwight Eisenhower and Billy Graham. I say “unusual” because Ike was decades older than the young evangelist and had far more experience in the world. After all, he led the European Theater of WWII, including the daring and dramatic decision to go forward on D-Day. Yet Ike was being drawn by God into a closer examination of his religious beliefs. No achievement in this… Read more »

Crossing Rubicons

  

When I was young—very, very young—I was attracted to the Democrat party. One influence, of course, was my parents. They worked in factories and were members of a union. I particularly recall that they voted for Kennedy in 1960, and his assassination was a profound sadness in our home. As I went away to college, I leaned toward being a Democrat, but I had some rising misgivings, if for no other reason than the spectacle of the riotous events at… Read more »

The Chambers Lesson: From the Negative to the Positive

  

I discovered Witness by Whittaker Chambers back in the 1980s as I was working diligently on my doctorate in history. From my first reading, the book took hold of my spirit. More than thirty years after that encounter, it has never released its hold. I’ve used it in classes since the late 1980s, and one of my greatest teaching joys is to offer a full-semester course called “The Witness of Whittaker Chambers.” I’m teaching the course once again this semester…. Read more »

Prayer for Sound Government

  

I’ve been perusing the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and finding it to be (as the picture describes) a genuine treasure chest of spiritual devotion. I’m actually surprised by the depth of some of the prayers recorded within. I’ve never been one for written prayers because I couldn’t quite believe they come from the heart when you read them. I now realize that the wisdom of the ages in the form of written prayers can speak directly to each one… Read more »

Democrats & Infanticide

  

One of the few senators I still respect is Nebraska’s Ben Sasse. He has remained a voice of principle and conscience in a Republican party that has lost its way in the “New Tribalism” of our politics. Sasse took the lead in bringing a bill to the floor of the Senate that demands that any child born alive after an attempted abortion must be treated as a human being and given all the medical care necessary to sustain life. One… Read more »

Thoughts on Presidents’ Day

  

So, it’s Presidents’ Day. It didn’t used to exist. In my younger years, we had instead separate days to honor George Washington and Abraham Lincoln specifically, on their respective February birthdays. I’m not even all that sure what the current Presidents’ Day is supposed to focus on. People from my generation probably still consider it a commemoration of Washington and Lincoln, but what about the new generation? Is the intent to honor anyone and everyone who ever served as president?… Read more »

Resurrecting a False Secular Religion

  

We’re being treated to a resurgence of enthusiasm for the socialist/communist vision of the future. This resurgence is emanating from the Democrats, led, surprisingly, by a first-term congresswoman whose economic and historical ignorance and ability to distort facts is rivaled only by her arrogance in insisting that others are the guilty ones for distorting her distortions and that she knows what she’s talking about. Fortunately, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn’t old enough to run for president. As we now know, considering the… Read more »