Tag: Reagan

A Historian’s Perspective on Bad Times in American History

  

I don’t think there’s really any disagreement about how pessimistic the majority of Americans are about the future. Currently, all the polls reveal that pessimism.  As I survey the scene—the spiritual/moral, political, and cultural aspects [what does that leave?]—I have grave concerns as well. I plan to expound on those concerns in tomorrow’s post. But for now, I’d like to offer a historian’s perspective. Since I teach American history, I have a more in-depth knowledge of what has transpired previously…. Read more »

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

  

Did you ever have to write an essay when you went back to school in the fall detailing what you did during the summer? I’ve been away from the blog for a week now, so I thought I’d provide the reason: I was on my summer vacation. What did I do? I was in the Washington, DC, area for a family reunion. Having lived just outside DC for thirteen of my adult years, I was glad to go back and… Read more »

Heroic Heritage

  

Historic anniversaries abound this week. Yesterday was one that almost everyone in America knows: D-Day. How many, though, can talk about what took place at the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on that day? One of the most heroic actions of D-Day was the scaling of those cliffs by a special Army Ranger battalion. Their mission was to take out the guns at the top that could have devastated the invasion force on all the other beaches. Those Rangers achieved… Read more »

Faith Lessons

  

Faith is something I’ve had to learn over the years. By faith, I don’t necessarily mean the basic belief in Christian truth. That is solid and, I trust, enduring by this time in my life. But I’ve had to learn how to take steps of faith along the way for specific circumstances. And I’ve had to learn what faith is not. There was a time in my life when I thought that God was at my beck and call, and… Read more »

The Next Ronald Reagan

  

With Huckabee’s withdrawal from the Republican race, commentators are asking who will pick up what they term the “social conservative voters.” While I do recognize the basic validity of that name, it still rankles me that we have created such a divide in the conservative electorate. The conventional wisdom is that there are social conservatives and economic conservatives, and that the two groups are rather at odds with each other. That does happen, but I submit it’s an artificial division…. Read more »

The Appropriate Response to the Death of bin Laden

  

I’ve had a couple of different questions directed at me after the news of Osama bin Laden’s death. Let me use my post today to give my perspective on these questions. One of the questions is ancient—not new at all—dealing with the concept of a “just war.” There has been a strand of Christian thought that rejects the idea that any war is just. This viewpoint, normally labeled pacifism, says it is always wrong to take up arms regardless of… Read more »

Worthwhile Reading

  

If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you can’t have escaped noticing that two of my academic interests are Ronald Reagan and Whittaker Chambers. I have worked for a number of years on a book comparing the two; the manuscript is finished now, and I’m in the process of trying to find a publisher. That may be a backward way of writing a book, but I never knew when or if I would actually have time to… Read more »