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Michael Medved
Michael Medved is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host and bestselling author. His daily three hour show reaches 200 stations across the country and an audience of 4.7 million placing him, for ten years in a row, on the Talkers Magazine list of the top ten political talks shows in the United States. Michael’s columns on politics and media appear regularly in the Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast and USA Today, where he is a member of the Board of Contributors.
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Mysteries in the Mourning for John McCain
How is it that the respect and affection for the late Senator John McCain seemed so overwhelming after his recent death, but in two energetic presidential campaigns he could never get a majority to vote for him? And what were the great accomplishments from McCain that admirers across the country were celebrating?
His most famous legislation—the McCain-Feingold...
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A Victory for Respectful Persuasion
An unexpectedly encouraging development in California should remind us that conversation can work better than confrontation in politics. The author of Assembly Bill 2943 agreed to pull it from the legislature’s agenda—dropping a new law that would have imposed severe penalties on mental health professionals who agreed to help patients wanting to overcome...
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The Question That Will Decide the Election
In the 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan secured his landslide by asking the American people: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Today, Congressional Republicans can turn the tide in a close midterm contest by posing a similar question: “Are you better off than you were two years ago?” By every standard, the answer...
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McCain’s Memory Should Make GOP Proud
The passing of Senator John McCain reminded me of why I feel proud to be a Republican. Beginning in 1980, the GOP fielded nine presidential nominees, each of whom displayed exemplary patriotism and fundamental decency.
Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush both ran for president three times, and Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney...
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The Evidence for Faith
I recently received an e-mail from a thoughtful listener who challenged my commitment to faith and God. “You’re a smart person,” she wrote, “who emphasizes evidence and logic. How then, can you give such importance in your life to something illogical for which there is no evidence.”
My answer described my experience getting involved in traditional...
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The Real Meaning of “Government of Laws, Not Men”
In middle school, I first heard the phrase that America had been blessed with “a government of laws and not of men.” That description, originating with John Adams, at first made no sense to me: men make the laws, and change them. Laws don’t draft themselves, or enforce themselves – ultimately, we rely on decent people to give life to the law and to...
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The Republican Challenge with Young Voters
Political analysts give plenty of attention to our partisan divisions according to race or gender, but not enough to the stark differences based on age.
The good news for Republicans is that the Democrats are entirely reliant on young voters. Among Americans over 30 in 2016, Trump won the popular vote by a decisive margin, but among the 19% of voters below 30...
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A Pointless and Pathetic Confrontation
When asked his opinion of the Iran-Iraq War, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger reportedly commented: “It’s a shame they can’t both lose.” Sensible observers should have the same reaction to the nutty, alt-right protestors planning to assemble in another “Unite the Right” rally in the nation’s capital, and to the...
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Voters Can Say “No” to Rail Boondoggles and Taxpayer Rip-Offs
Voters in California and Washington will decide this November whether it makes sense to sharply raise gas taxes while government squanders billions on unneeded rail lines.
In California, voters should support an initiative to overturn the liberal legislature’s latest tax increase and in Washington they can block a punishing new “carbon tax”...
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“Say Little, Do Much”
Contemporary leaders can learn from ancient wisdom, and President Trump will benefit from the 2,000-year-old advice of Rabbi Shammai to “Say Little, and Do Much.”
The President has certainly done much in his time in office, but he would gain greatly from saying less–and avoiding statements that undermine admirable actions. For instance, his...
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“Corruption”, In Context
News media portray today’s politics as incomparably corrupt, focusing on endless scandals to tarnish politicians in general and the Trump administration in particular.
But in historical perspective, corruption is far less rampant than in the past: prominent officials in the Johnson, Nixon and Reagan administrations faced criminal prosecution and a hundred...
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Are Two-Thirds of Us Really “Smarter than Average”?
Two Pennsylvania psychologists conducted a ground-breaking survey that asked 3,000 respondents to agree or disagree with a simple statement: “I am more intelligent that the average person.”
Amazingly, 65 percent agreed, and only 23 percent disagreed—a statistical impossibility, since just as many people must count as below average as above average....
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Best Nominee is Blocked for the Worst Reason
One of President Trump’s best judicial nominees has been blocked by indignant Democrats because of columns he wrote while a Stanford student 25 years ago. Yes: Stanford … as an undergraduate.
In one of these pieces Ryan Bounds argued that ethnic identity groups promote campus divisions, and in another he demanded proof “beyond a reasonable...
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An Alternative to Trump-Bashing Comedy?
USA TODAY recently hailed nine TV comedians who specialize in mocking President Trump. Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Bill Maher, Samantha Bee, Jimmy Fallon, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Michelle Wolf all identify as outspoken liberals, but that doesn’t mean 100% of the late-night TV audience wants to see Trump reamed every night. Alternative...
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At Stake in the Kavanaugh Fight: Rule by the People
In their desperate desire to block the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Democrats say they’re fighting to protect “abortion rights”, but that claim is deeply misleading. If a state legislature wants to pass laws creating a right to abortion, not even the most pro-life Justice would say that the Constitution stops them from doing...
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Scare Tactics on Roe v. Wade
In their desperate determination to block confirmation of the President’s new Supreme Court nominee, Democrats warn about the imminent threat to Roe v. Wade.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s critics suggest that if Roe goes, then abortion would be instantly criminalized and women and doctors would be prosecuted. Yet even if Roe were overturned—which is...
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