Columns ‹ Opinion
Why Don’t Republicans Name the Enemy?
In The Wall Street Journal last week, two influential billionaires — former New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a very moderate Republican, and Charles G. Koch, the libertarian chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc. — wrote an op-ed piece decrying the suppression of free speech taking place at universities across America.
You have to salute...
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Will you find a new voice?
The following is a condensed version of the commencement address I delivered on May 14 at Ashland University.
It is a high honor to be invited to your big day. My belief is that almost everyone who has walked across a stage and received a degree, whether high school, college or graduate school, remembers something of that day, their excitement, their hopes and...
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Most Important Racial Gap Closing, Not Growing
Recent figures on life expectancy bring good news for all those who care about racial justice and equal opportunity. A hundred years ago white people averaged fifteen more years of life than black people in the United States – an appalling gap that reflected oppression and poverty among African-Americans. More recently, life expectancy has improved across the...
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How Trump Became an American Idol
To understand the Trump phenomenon, consider the world of reality TV where he first forged his bond with the public. THE APPRENTICE ran for 14 years, and at its height averaged 11,000,000 weekly viewers–the same number of voters Trump’s received in the combined GOP primaries.
Another popular reality show, AMERICAN IDOL, featured a singer named Sanjaya...
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The Superhero Substitution
Comic book superheroes have come to dominate popular culture as never before: of the ten top opening weekends in Hollywood history, seven of them featured superheroes from Marvel or DC comics. Most recently, Iron Man and other luminaries from the Marvel galaxy co-starred with Captain America in CIVIL WAR, which earned nearly $200,000,000 in its first three days...
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The Scariest Reason Trump Won
There are many reasons why Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The four most-often cited reasons are the frustrations of white working-class Americans, a widespread revulsion against political correctness, disenchantment with the Republican establishment, and the unprecedented and unrivaled amount of time the media afforded...
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Three paths forward for the GOP
In early 2015 I scheduled our annual listener cruise for the first two weeks of May 2016. I assumed the GOP nomination process would be over by then.
When the pre-primary debate season seemed to point to an open convention, I told myself I would only be away for the Indiana and West Virginia contests. I’d be back for the weeks running up to the all...
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Ben Sasse, the Senate’s “Most Conservative Member,” Says We Need a Better Choice
While many smart and sincere conservatives are rallying behind our nominee-to-be, Donald Trump, Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska wrote an extraordinary letter speaking for the many millions who yearn for another choice, beyond Hillary and Donald. Wouldn’t it be great if Mr. Trump could somehow transform himself into the sort of courageous and unifying...
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Brain Dead Nostalgia Could Doom GOP
Sinking approval ratings show Republicans losing touch with the public by peddling simple-minded nostalgia for the past. A Pew Survey indicates 70% of “Conservative Republicans” agree that “compared with 50 years ago, life for people like me is worse.” That’s ridiculous: in 1966, we endured rising, not falling crime, major riots devastated our...
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Startling Good News on Teen Births
A dramatic decline in the teen birth rate should encourage those who worry about young people producing kids before they’ve even finished high school. New numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics show teen births peaking in 1957, but declining ever since – and now affecting young girls only one fourth as often as they once did. This radical...
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The Cost of Bashing the GOP
Approval ratings for the Republican Party recently sank to their lowest levels in a quarter century. According to Pew Research Center, an appalling 62% of registered voters view the GOP unfavorably. This is not just because the American people don’t like the leading candidates – Trump and Cruz – but because both candidates ran for president by bashing...
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A Dark Time in America
As of tonight, we may know if Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential candidate. And, barring unforeseeable events, it is certain that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. Those are two reasons — of many, unfortunately — why, other than the first years of the Civil War, when the survival of the United States as one country was in...
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Brokering a convention, part VI
Cleveland’s Terminal Tower was still beaming off the display of red, white and blue Rock & Roll Convention of an elephant-opposite-a-guitar logo as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan seated themselves in the studios of Lake Effect Media on the 40th floor of Cleveland’s landmark property, next to a third,...
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Media Values vs. Religious Values
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MICHAEL’S TALK AT THE CENTER FOR VISION AND VALUES ANNUAL CONFERENCE AT GROVE CITY COLLEGE
Brought to you by...
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Why the Left Loathes Western Civilization
This month, Stanford University students voted on a campus resolution that would have their college require a course on Western civilization, as it did until the 1980s.
Stanford students rejected the proposal 1,992 to 347. A columnist at the Stanford Daily explained why: Teaching Western civilization means “upholding white supremacy, capitalism and...
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Brokering a convention, part V
When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz found Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the latter was finishing a bowl of Skyline Chili 5-Way delivered to his suite at Quicken Loans Arena by an Ohio delegate who had wanted the Buckeye State governor to stay loose and relaxed.
“Ted, Ted, come in. See what you missed when you skipped Ohio? Best damn chili in the country. I didn’t have...
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