Tag: principles

Principles vs. Pragmatism

  

I chose the title “Pondering Principles” for my website because I believe that we are called by God to be principled people. I’ve taught hundreds of students the distinction between being principled and being pragmatic. Definitions are essential. Here’s how I have explained what it means to be principled. Principles are what I would call the “big truths” out of which other truths naturally should flow. Truth must be our foundation for all things, and we must not give only… Read more »

Presidential Integrity: Grover Cleveland

  

We’ve had 47 presidencies in our history. Some were exceptional, others impactful one way or another, and a few almost entirely forgettable. The presidents after the Civil War up until Theodore Roosevelt, in the minds of probably most Americans, may fall into the “forgettable” category primarily because we truly have forgotten them. We focus on George Washington (as we should for the precedents he set) and Abraham Lincoln shouldering the burdens of a terrible civil war. But some of those… Read more »

Ronald Reagan & American Conservatism

  

Later this month, I return to campus as an adjunct professor to teach two upper-level history courses. I like my limited schedule that allows me to choose which courses to offer each semester. One that I’ve chosen for this fall is “Ronald Reagan and Modern American Conservatism.” It’s a course I’ve taught regularly in the past fifteen years, but never has the need for it been so urgent. Why? As I survey the current political landscape, I see a crisis… Read more »

In Praise of Courage & Integrity

  

I haven’t written much about politics this year. The reasons are as follows: first, my primary goal is to focus on the teaching I’ve been doing on Scripture, C. S. Lewis, and church history—that, in my view, is of greater importance; second, frankly, I’m rather sick and tired of all the phoniness, egos, and power plays. Politicians have always been prone to those sins, but they seem to be more prominent now than in any time in my life. This… Read more »

Position over Honor, Politics over Principle

  

For all of my adult life, I have been a strong advocate for what I believe are the true values of American conservatism. Constitutionalism and the rule of law formed cornerstones of my political philosophy early on. The natural outgrowth of those beliefs are policies that keep the federal government dealing only with federal issues. Those beliefs allow state and local governments to rule in their respective spheres. The greatest cornerstone, though, has been my Christian faith. When I look… Read more »

Socialism/Communism: Symptom of a Deeper Problem

  

Those who know American history also know that the push for a more socialist society is nothing new. Eugene Debs, the perennial presidential candidate for the Socialist Party during the early decades of the twentieth century received a rather impressive number of votes, especially in 1912. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal pushed us closer to the socialist vision with the rise of government oversight of the economy and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society offered the kind of federal government intrusion that few… Read more »

When Loss of Liberty Was Real

  

I love liberty, properly understood as something that also entails personal responsibility. I’m also alert to attempts to undermine genuine liberty and have been so most of my adult life. Yet I want to clearly differentiate what is a real threat to liberty and what is not. One conservative commentator recently posted this on Twitter: Dropped by a department store to buy a toaster oven. Mandatory hand sanitizer squirt and mask. One way aisles and if you deviate from the… Read more »