American Happiness, Divine Damnation?
As Passover and Easter near, the heart and mind turn more intently to questions of the divine. How do we in the grubby business of […]
Donald Trump on Love and Justice
One of the most revealing moments of Donald Trump’s presidency so far went completely unnoted. “We all learned a lot,” he said following his recent […]
Who Knows America Best? Politicians Can Teach Professors
In January I was invited to address the City Tavern Club on the occasion of the club’s annual Reagan Dinner. This year it was a […]
Drowning the Swamp
President Trump heeded the urgings of his putative friends and vociferous foes for a uniting speech to Congress. The nags got what they deserved: Trump’s […]
Like Peace, Consensus is Not the Absence of War
In Leviathan (1651), writing about the state of nature as war, Thomas Hobbes famously noted: “For War consisteth not in battle only, or the act […]
The Rescue of Flight 93
Henry Olsen is in the front rank of American political analysts. His involvement in practical politics plus the depth of his scholarship allow him to […]
Illegal U: An Immigration Scam in Plain Sight
The often desperate measures foreigners take to enter our borders—crossing deserts being packed into trucks, and surviving unspeakable brutalities—rightly provoke our anger and evoke our […]
Donald Trump and the Meaning of Com-Promise
This week marked the 154th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address and it reminds us that the liberty we enjoy has purposes that transcend the things […]
It Did Happen Here—How Fascism Came to America
Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 satiric novel about a fascist takeover, It Can’t Happen Here, has made a furious comeback at the expense of the maligned […]
On the Corruption of the Military Academies
A recent West Point graduate, still serving in the U.S. Army, shocked admirers of the venerable American military academy with his candidly pro-Communist views. How […]
Puerto Rico as Progressive Playground
President Trump’s press conference in Puerto Rico made clear that whatever the island’s political designation may be, Puerto Ricans are Americans and he will act […]
To Be Great the U.N. Must Defend Democratic Sovereignty
“I’ve listened to countless speeches in this hall, but I can say this: None were bolder, none more courageous and forthright than the one delivered […]
Professor Trump’s Lessons for Higher Education
Following some elite campus visits with his daughter, the morose father lamented that one cannot simply opt out of college. Such a defiance of convention […]
Trump’s Coming Victory Over Identity Politics
Amid the turbulence of the past few weeks, it has been President Trump who has kept his head while others have lost theirs. Trump may […]
Lessons My Nazi Student Taught Me
Recent events invite me to recall my Nazi student. Back in the late 1970s I taught college extension courses at military bases in the Pacific […]
The Triumph of ‘Dunkirk’
PISTOL ….Well, bawd I’ll turn, And something lean to cutpurse of quick hand. To England will I steal, and there I’ll steal: And patches will […]
Religious Liberty Fireworks at the Supreme Court
Legal fireworks concerning religious freedom exploded in what some commentators hailed as the most important case of the term, Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, decided […]
Coarse Correction: The Real Significance of the 2016 Election
About a year ago, the respected Harvard political theorist, Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., wrote an op-ed about Donald Trump for the Wall Street Journal titled, […]
Mitch Landrieu: Monument Man for a Lost Cause
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has made a much-heralded case for removal of four Confederate monuments he suddenly found the cause of great evils. “The […]
Romancing Reactionaries: Andrew Sullivan, the Left, and Not Getting It
“Donald Trump is not being reasonable…. But, then, man does not live by reason alone, fortunately. Trump, who believes that excess can be a virtue, […]