“The Witness & the President” Comes to the Reagan Ranch Center

  

My book, The Witness and the President: Whittaker Chambers, Ronald Reagan, and the Future of Freedom, has been out now since early November. I’ve had the opportunity to speak about it before a number of groups locally. It documents the impact Chambers had on Reagan as the latter read Chambers’s masterful autobiography, Witness. Chambers helped Reagan understand why people would be attracted to communism, and spurred him on to take on communism, which ultimately led to the breakup of the… Read more »

Let Fox Be Fox Once Again

  

Today’s post will be tinged with sadness—sadness over some loss of trust in what was, and still can be, the best news organization in the nation. Two decades ago, I received my news primarily through CNN and MSNBC. Fox was not yet on my cable system. Both CNN and MSNBC leaned left, but there were enough sensible people, at least a hint of balance, that I could reasonably watch them. I was delighted when Fox News finally became a staple… Read more »

Lewis & Righteous Indignation

  

C. S. Lewis, writing in Reflections on the Psalms, contrasts the anger displayed toward evil men in some of the psalms with the apparent lack of vindictiveness found in some pagan writings. Does this reveal a better spirit among the pagans? Not so, he says. He gives a personal example to illustrate how lack of anger can often be the worst response. During WWII, he was taking the train one night (as he often did, traveling to speak and then… Read more »

God’s Foolishness vs. Man’s Wisdom

  

I love learning. I’d better love it, seeing as how I live in an academic environment. Reading, studying, going deeper into a knowledge of history and government naturally draws me. Yet that plunge into knowledge can never be divorced from the proper heart motive—love of God and His ways. The temptation for people like me is to think that we have become experts, which can then border on arrogance, which is decidedly opposed to God’s will for our lives. It’s… Read more »

Trump in the Gutter

  

This past week, the Trump campaign, and the candidate himself, hit new lows morally. It all began with an anti-Trump Super Pac running an ad (I understand it was primarily on Facebook) with a revealing photo of his current wife, asking voters if this is really what they want in a First Lady. Let’s be clear about one thing: Trump has never minded showing off his various wives in any manner of dress or undress. This photo was already out… Read more »

That “Historic” Cuba Visit

  

Cuba underwent a communist revolution in 1959, spearheaded by Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and Che Guevara. At the time, many didn’t realize the ideology behind the revolution and saw it only as the rightful deposing of a dictator who had ruled for many years. It didn’t take long for the truth to come to light. Those who disagreed with the drift of this new government were either executed or became political prisoners. Cuba became an outpost from which the… Read more »

Establishment: What Does It Mean?

  

The media keeps throwing around the word “establishment.” In the almost-immortal words of The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” What is the Republican establishment, and once we have identified it, does it really hate Donald Trump? The problem is that the Republican party is particularly divided right now, and analysts keep insisting on confusing different groups who have different concerns. They insist the “establishment” is trying to… Read more »