Category: Politics & Government

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

The Illusions of Hope & a Painful Truth

  

Pastor Robert Jeffress is one of Donald Trump’s most fervent evangelical defenders. He has recently tweeted the following: “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” What bothers me about this tweet is the exaltation of a man to the point that removing him from office would be tantamount to the kind of division… Read more »

God’s Law, Man’s Freedom, & Good Government: A Lewis Perspective

  

As a historian, and as someone who has also taught in a master’s program of government, I am naturally attuned to the politics of our day. That doesn’t mean I love politics or am particularly enamored of the way politics manifests itself through the aggrandizement of politicians’ egos. Yet I cannot divorce myself from it because it now seems to invade every aspect of our lives. What I do like is governing, in the sense that God is interested in… Read more »

We Live in a Foolish Time

  

This has been a dismal political season. And the real campaign doesn’t begin until a year from now. Frankly, I don’t look forward to it. Democrat presidential candidates continue their march into Far-Left Oblivion as they promote policies that even most Democrats reject. They remain particularly strident on abortion, even to the point of birth—and, in some cases, even after birth. On the one hand, they will talk about the how much they care for people that they want to… Read more »

Post 9/11: A Divided 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? On 9/11, eighteen years ago today, members of Congress stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang together. At the moment, I can’t recall if they sang… Read more »

On Bad Times: A Historian’s Perspective

  

As I survey the current state of America—the spiritual/moral, political, and cultural aspects [what does that leave?]—I have grave concerns. But I’d like to offer a historian’s perspective on bad times. Since I teach American history, I have a more in-depth knowledge of what has transpired previously. I can imagine myself transported back into earlier eras and think about how I might have felt about current events at those times. Bad moral climates, disunity, and devastating government policies have cropped… Read more »

The Great Confrontation

  

Seventy-one years ago yesterday, one of the most intense political confrontations in American history occurred in the US House of Representatives. August 25, 1948, was the day that the man on the right in this photo, Alger Hiss, was asked publicly whether he had ever known the man standing on the left side of the photo. His name was Whittaker Chambers. What was the controversy all about and why did it captivate the public for the next two years? Chambers,… Read more »

There Is No Political Solution

  

Have you ever noticed how something that was startling at first can become commonplace? Something that once garnered our attention because of its dire nature can later be handled with a shrug of our shoulders and a willingness to look the other way. Like this, for instance: Republicans hammered Obama over the national debt, and rightly so. Where are those Republican voices now drawing our attention to this huge problem? Downplaying it doesn’t make it go away. But don’t worry–there’s… Read more »