Category: Politics & Government

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

Shades of the Carter Years

  

I remember it well. It was during the final years of the Carter administration—the rise of militant Islam. The birthplace was Iran under the severe rule of the Ayatollah Khomeini. He had chased the Shah out of the country and taken over, along with his fanatical followers. Khomeini determined that the United States was the Great Satan. Therefore, it made no difference to him that the U.S. embassy was officially American soil; his hordes stormed the embassy and took more… Read more »

9/11 & the Two Visions of America

  

Can anything new be said on the anniversary of 9/11? Maybe we don’t need to hear anything new; perhaps we just need to be reminded that there are those out there who hate us. However, what is meant by “us?” America, you say? Yes, in the abstract, but what comprises America anymore? Do I with my Biblical worldview represent the true America, or do Planned Parenthood—as one example—and Barack Obama constitute the real America? On 9/11, eleven years ago today,… Read more »

Nadarkhani’s Release

  

Youcef Nadarkhani is free. The pastor who has languished in an Iranian prison for nearly three years was released on Saturday. He had been condemned to die for his faith, but he is now with his family. This is a personal victory for him, and I am grateful he has persevered and overcome the privations he suffered. He has proven his faith is genuine; he was willing to suffer a martyr’s fate for standing up for the truth of the… Read more »

Concerns–Weather & Otherwise

  

President Obama addressed the admiring throng last night at the 20,000-seat indoor arena in Charlotte rather than the Bank of America stadium [the name of which was never to be mentioned because it smacked too much of the one-percenters]. That stadium would have held more than 70,000, which is slightly less than the outdoor venue four years ago in Denver when he walked out onto the stage decorated with Greek columns. Now that I think of it, a Greek motif… Read more »

Bill Clinton & the Collective Amnesia

  

Bill Clinton is going to be the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. The leaders of the party have concluded that he is the man to inspire the minions. They believe he is popular enough in the country at large to draw significant numbers to their side. If that last assumption is true, we are a country that is suffering collective amnesia. Somehow we have forgotten this man’s arrogance, his attempt to radicalize policy (until he realized it wasn’t… Read more »

The Lakeland Rally

  

  The Republican convention ended on Thursday evening, and right away the next morning, both Romney and Ryan showed up just down the street from me. For whatever reason, the Romney plane was at the Lakeland Regional Airport; they chose that as their departure place rather than the Tampa International Airport. That means they had to drive from Tampa to Lakeland, about a 45-minute jaunt by bus. Since they were going to be this close, I figured I should travel… Read more »

Voting Republican with a Clear Conscience

  

Now that Mitt Romney is the official Republican nominee for president, it’s time I shared a few thoughts on why I believe I can support him. As many of you know, he was not my first choice. He wasn’t even my second or third. In fact, as the primary season began, I pointed to two people as non-starters for me as the potential Republican nominee: Donald Trump and Romney. During the primaries, I had flirtations with a couple of the… Read more »