Justice Anthony Kennedy has just announced his retirement from the Supreme Court. Everyone is talking about who will be his replacement. Much is at stake. For the liberals, it could spell the end to the precarious situation in which Kennedy’s swing vote has brought them many major victories and some small defeats. For the conservatives, … Read more
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” wrote poet Robert Frost. In the opening line to his famous poem, “Mending Wall,” Frost explores one of the mysteries of fallen human nature. Everyone feels both a need and aversion for order. His questioning of the role of walls tries to explain this contradiction. Exercising the … Read more
There was a time when the nation was ruled by a group of people that set the course for the country. Their children usually followed in their footsteps. This group of people tended to consolidate their wealth and pass it along to future generations. They formed what has been called a social elite—one that possessed … Read more
It was a small incident first reported on Twitter that later went viral. In the middle of a meal with family, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. The staff did not feel comfortable serving her party. Sarah turned the other cheek and left, … Read more
Extreme Noise Terror, Pungent Stench and Pestilence are all disagreeable topics of conversation for most people. They should be avoided in polite company. However, these repugnant things enjoy some favor in today’s postmodern society. The three topics are actually the names of death metal bands casually mentioned in a recent newspaper article. These names are … Read more
A friend of mine works at a health clinic in a medium-sized town in the Midwest. He told me about a peculiar kind of patient that comes in for treatment. They are young and old, rich and poor. They are men and women. It is safe to say they represent a cross section of America. … Read more
There is an unwritten rule among those who watch the economy. When times are good, families have more babies. Across the board, the fertility rate of women of all ages goes up and the population is replenished. Young populations and prosperity are co-related and desired in healthy economies. However, that is not happening today. The … Read more
It was not without some anxiety that I got into the van to travel some three hours to our protest in front of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 9. Even if only a few people showed up, I had resolved to be there. We would be protesting the “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion … Read more
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal brought home just how our attitudes about sexual relationships have become dangerously trivial and mechanical. It showed how we have lost the sense of decency, morality, and shame. The article reported on new apps that allow those who engage in casual relationships to tell each other what … Read more
“There is no God in this book.” Thus reads the provocative first sentence of Jonah Goldberg’s latest release, The Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy. This declaration is perhaps an unintended summary of the book about the crisis in the West. From it, … Read more
