Customs change. Laws change. Social conventions change. Our understanding of the world changes. But certain fundamental principles—morality, human decency, dignity, and reverence for life—should not be so easily rewritten to accommodate prevailing political or...

The word fairness has become one of the most persuasive—and least defined—words in modern political vernacular.  Nearly every policy can be called fair if one focuses only on its beneficiaries.  The harder question is whether it remains fair to those who pay the...

Yesterday I wrote about the extraordinary fanaticism displayed by Japan during the closing months of the Second World War, and today I'd like to explain why that history still matters. It is easy—almost natural—to assume that our adversaries value life, prosperity,...

Eight-one years ago today, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare.   Few acts of war have sparked more debate than President Truman’s decision to use ‘the bomb’ against the Japanese Empire.  It’s an event mired in...

Those who read my posts know I sometimes drift a bit and write on ‘random’ topics, and today is one of them. ~ Highways and Byways ~ When I was in high school a math teacher told the class that the Interstate numbering system was geographically organized, i.e.,...

Hope is one of the most important psychological forces in human nature because it gives meaning to effort, sustains resilience, and fosters the belief that our actions are significant. Psychologists define hope as more than simple optimism.  It is the conviction that...

Many years ago, Bobbi and I had an experience that has stayed with us ever since.  We were spending a cold January Sunday in downtown Chicago, seeing movies we knew would never make it to our local theater back in Vail. When we arrived for the first movie, we saw two...

War may be the most complex of all human endeavors.  Military theorist Carl von Clausewitz argued that the best plans rarely survive contact with the enemy because of innumerable sources of "friction"i.e., miscommunication, weather, equipment failures, human error,...

"Loudoun County parents not 'satisfied' after school officials testify on transgender policies," read the headline after the mother of a young schoolboy told the Loudoun County Virginia, School Board that her son came home visibly upset because a girl in his class had...

I recently finished Jonathan Turley's Rage and the Republic, and I came away thinking what a thoughtful defense of the American constitutional system and a timely warning about what happens when political anger begins to eclipse constitutional principles. Turley's...